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Adults with Learning Disabilities

I very much agree with my hon. Friend. I shall say a little more about Parliament later, but the main political parties ought to consider whether it is possible to produce electoral material in easy-read format. Much material is produced in minority community languages, and I produce a lot of localised information in those languages. However, my hon. Friend is right to say that producing such information in easy-read format can be difficult. The Committee made a series of recommendations on parenting. Too often, it is assumed that adults with learning disabilities cannot look after their children properly. That leads to family break up and the forced removal of the children, with associated harm to the children and their parents. Often, all that is needed is some targeted support to keep a family together, allowing parents to demonstrate that they can look after the child, and that they can respond to risk in a way that is both proportionate and necessary. For instance, we were given the example of a learning difficulties mother being asked to demonstrate on a robot baby that she could look after her child; she found it rather difficult to relate to the robot, so it was not a good test. The Government's good practice guidance should reduce the risk of parents and children being wrongly separated as a result of such unjustified assumptions. However, we heard evidence that the guidance is not being implemented. Routine information that is normally given to parents without learning disabilities is not provided in an accessible way to those who have such disabilities. How is the Minister monitoring the implementation of the guidance, and what can he do to deal with examples of bad practice?