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Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People

Fourth Advisory Group meeting

The fourth meeting of the Project Advisory Group took place on Thursday 16th September 2004, and was attended by:

Maria Eagle MP, Chair (Minister, DWP)
Sheila Fletcher , on behalf of Yvette Cooper MP (PUSS, ODPM)
Jane Campbell (Chair, Social Care Institute for Excellence)
Christine Lenehan (Director, Council for Disabled Children)
Bert Massie (Chair, Disability Rights Commission)
Sally Witcher (Chair, Disability Employment Advisory Committee)
Stephen Aldridge (SU)
Bruce Calderwood (DWP)
Gareth Davies (No.10)
Anne Frye (DfT)
Nicholas Holgate (HMT)
Phil Snell (DfES)
Claire Tyler (SEU)

The Group welcomed the direction of the report and the draft recommendations.

The main points arising from the discussion of the four main chapters - independent living, early years, transition to adulthood and employment - were as follows:

>> The independent living chapter was welcomed and should be fully integrated with the other chapters. The Group welcomed the focus on Centres for Independent Living and advocacy.

>> There was a discussion that the proposals should be fully rolled out and not left to isolated pilots. The housing section should be strengthened.

>> The early years chapter was welcomed. It will important to factor in early interventions for children with complex needs. Links to housing should also be brought out. The challenge will be to get local authorities and PCTs to accept their responsibilities towards disabled children.

>>  Children's issues should also be integrated into the institutional mechanisms and other chapters.

>>  The transition to adulthood chapter is strong on health, social care, formal education, employment and person-centred planning but needs more on leisure, relationships and sexual health. There should be greater clarity about supporting parents, young people and young people at transition. In addition, the Connexions service is not meeting the needs of disabled young people and should be reviewed.

>>  The employment chapter should highlight the need to change the approach of employers as well as increasing the employability of disabled people. The staged approach to employment was welcomed as was the focus on case managers. Employment targets for disabled people are challenging because of the range of sub-groups within the population of disabled people. Access to Work is a valuable programme, especially at transitions.

>>  There should be a promotion of exemplar employers in the public sector. And implementation should take advantage of the proposed Public Sector Duty. The report should tie-in with positive work already happening in the employment sector e.g. BOND, Pathways.

>>   In general the report should also take account of supporting others, such as social workers, along with supporting disabled people. There will need to be support at a local level for the recommendations to be fully implemented.

>>  There is a gap because the report's remit does not include older disabled people.

>>  Feedback on the process of the project was positive. The group said that the project had been good at engaging with a range of different stakeholders and also a range of ideas.

This was the final meeting of the Project Advisory Group.