Disabled People: Independent Living

Viscount Tenby Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover]

We remain very committed to trying to ensure that independent living is taken forward. There is a strategy that we have inherited, and we will look at how best to take it forward. I realise that there is pressure on local government. At the moment, we are trying to ensure that this does not have an impact on the most vulnerable. That message has already come through from the Budget. A commission will be set up on long-term care. These are areas that must be urgently addressed because we realise that individuals and their carers and families are under a lot of pressure. We must take this forward in the most effective way possible.

[Viscount Tenby]

My Lords, the Government favour supported living as an alternative to residential homes. However, because there are quite a number of residential homes still in existence, will funds be made available to enable the transfer to a supported living pattern to take place? I declare an interest as chairman of a residential home for women with learning and physical disabilities.

[Baroness Northover]

It is extremely important that the kind of provision that best suits an individual is the route that we go down. We must look at what the individual most needs, what they wish to have and what their carers and family feel is most appropriate for them. A lot can be done in different environments. It is very interesting to see how new technology may assist people who wish to stay at home, by ensuring that they can do that safely. There are all sorts of possibilities for people and it is important that provision is led by the individuals concerned.