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Adults with Learning Disabilities

May I start by thanking my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) both for chairing the Joint Committee on Human Rights so effectively and for leading the debate this afternoon with his usual commitment and intelligence? I thank him for his kind words—he said that the hearts of Ministers and their policies are in the right place—and for warmly thanking us for our commitment. He also talked about the need for a cultural change if we are to progress this agenda. I will say more about that in a moment. I will endeavour to answer all his questions, but if I fail to do so I will ensure that we write to him on any of the specifics on which he was asking for clarification. This has been a good, thoughtful, provoking debate across Government, with all parties involved. I know that the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend, East (James Duddridge) has had to leave the Chamber, but none of us can sit here and listen to the cases of abuse that he and my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon described without feeling tremendous revulsion at what has happened. I am unable to comment on individual cases that are still the subject of investigation, but we understand, and expect the report that was mentioned to be published shortly. Certainly, preventable deaths of people with learning disabilities are unacceptable. If anything positive comes from tragic cases of neglect uncovered in "Death by Indifference", it must be a reminder of the need for constant vigilance across local services. The Mencap report, together with the Joint Committee's report, "A Life Like Any Other?", provided us with an urgent call for action to apply better safeguards across the system, to improve the skills and sensitivities of professionals and, above all, to ensure that a person's human rights are sacrosanct, both in public services and in the way that wider society responds to people with learning disabilities. We listened to those concerns and responded decisively. My right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, West (Ms Hewitt) promptly commissioned Sir Jonathan Michael to chair an independent inquiry. I am pleased to say that Sir Jonathan himself acknowledged our progress since then. He said that the steps taken in "Valuing People Now"""will significantly reduce the risk of untreated ill health and avoidable death that my inquiry found."" I will come back to "Valuing People Now" in a moment, but first I want to make a broader point about the clear commitment across Government—I speak as a Health Minister—to developing policies in line with the Joint Committee on Human Rights' recommendations. On health, last year's NHS review is a case in point, with its focus on patient quality and patient experience as the driving force for reforms. That philosophy is now codified for future generations in the new NHS constitution. In social care, "Putting People First" provided the same call for local services to become more responsive and more sensitive to the individual needs of service users and their carers. That general philosophy, which I hope is shared by all parties—the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) mentioned the personalisation of services—provides the bedrock for more specific reforms that we have introduced. They include the first national dementia strategy that we published last month; the carers strategy—hon. Members referred to carers' important role for adults with learning difficulties—and the independent living strategy that we published last year; our ongoing work to promote dignity and respect throughout all health and social care settings; and the development of the social care Green Paper, which is due this spring. All those policies have come just from the Department of Health in Richmond house, but the same commitment stretches throughout Whitehall in a whole host of wider commitments. The work of the social exclusion taskforce is ongoing, and when I was a Minister in the Cabinet Office, I had responsibility for its work. That and this year's new opportunities White Paper have put a spotlight on improving social mobility among the most excluded groups. Our cross-Government public service agreement 16 will increase the number of adults with learning disabilities in paid work—that was raised during our debate—and in settled accommodation over the next three years. The hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (John Barrett), who speaks for the Liberal Democrats on the subject, mentioned our new strategy on employment for people with learning disabilities, which is due this spring and will present a specific action plan to support people in finding and remaining in work. All those measures within the Department and across Government are underscored by our commitment to ratify the UN convention on disability rights. As hon. Members have said, the Command Paper and explanatory memorandum were laid before Parliament on 3 March. Our ambition is to achieve that ratification in the spring, and I confirm that we signed the optional protocol on 26 February. Mention has been made of the Commission's support for a positive human rights duty, and I want to put on the record that section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 makes it explicit that it is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way that is incompatible with a convention right. In addition, section 9(1)(d) tasks the Equality and Human Rights Commission to""encourage public authorities to comply with section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998"," so we are not persuaded that additional legislation is needed. In "Valuing People Now", we are bringing together all the work that I outlined.