Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

THE BILL IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE BILL!

As expected my private member’s bill was talked out last Friday after 5 hours of debate. The Bill, just to recap, was to try and improve the amount of short breaks (respite care) on offer to the heroic families of the 100,000 most profoundly disabled children in this country. This has dominated my life since Christmas, has led to many meetings with disabled children, carers, health professionals and government ministers. (Thank you to so many of you who have sent me messages of support.)

To see the government exercise its Parliamentary muscle last week and drive the Bill into the long grass may seem like a huge disappointment.

But in fact, we have made a lot of progress on this issue in the past few weeks, which I firmly believe will result in positive action. Ministers have announced their own review into this crucial issue in the past few weeks and have made more funding for families caring for disabled children a priority in their comprehensive spending review. They also announced last week a new package of help for emergency respite care for all carers.

But there is even better news. The minister with primary responsibility for this sector and I made last week to Enfield in North London to see how short break support could be best organised for local families when the council, health and the voluntary sector all prioritise and work together in an imaginative and flexible way. It was inspirational: families there got a menu of options and could choose the kind of short breaks that suited their family. If every local council provided support like Enfield, thousands of families in this country would be so much better off.

So the government have agreed to fund work on identifying best practice in this sector so it can be spread everywhere. They will be working with the same campaign team as I worked with to help bring this about.

All in all, a positive outcome. Of course I would have preferred my Bill to go sailing through. But the only thing that matters is that these hard-pressed families get better support to enable them to keep going.

And if, over the next few months, promises do not get kept, then this November there will be another ballot for private member’s bills and someone lucky enough to come in the top ten will have another crack at this.

posted by Nigel on Friday, March 02, 2007