Disabled Persons (Independent Living)Bill [HL]

My Lords, I take this opportunity to thank your Lordships' House for the very warm welcome that I have received and noble Lords for their kind words of wisdom and advice since my introduction. I also thank all the staff of the House for their kindness in helping me move around the House. I have no sense of direction and I often think that a satellite system would be most useful. I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Janner of Braunstone, who was Member of Parliament for the constituency of Leicester West, when I was growing up. It is from him and his dedication to his constituents that as a child I was inspired to understand the real value of freedom, democracy, pride in one’s country and social justice. It is a great privilege to have this peerage bestowed on me and to seek to contribute to the proceedings of your Lordships’ House alongside the vast experience and knowledge of other noble Lords. I pray that, with your Lordships' support and guidance, I can play a small part. The Bill raises some very important points and I welcome the opportunity for debate that it allows. Before continuing, however, I declare an interest as an independent sector provider of care to help support independent living. Care provision for those experiencing disability at birth or from illness or age-related processes, regardless of whether the disability is physical, mental or emotional, deserves much greater support and investment. I am very pleased to see that my party leader, David Cameron, has placed great emphasis on looking at issues of care provision. Provision is currently fragmented: care levels can vary between different authorities, the systems are often very complicated and bureaucratic, and duplication in some services can lead to great confusion about who is in charge of specific services. The sector is very much the poor relative of the health service and responsibilities are often divided among many partners—the health service, social services and the independent providers, all of whom have budgets which leave them strapped for resources and who most likely cannot provide the levels of care and support that many of us who are able bodied so readily enjoy. The Bill raises a debate on life choices and opportunities, about access to services that enable people to live as independent and full a life as possible. However, I believe that the debate should also include the contribution made by non-paid and paid carers who are often the most important factor in the service package provided to support independent living. Life expectancy has greatly increased because of medical achievements. As it continues to increase, ever greater numbers of people will suffer age-related disability. I do not think that the resulting strains on services have been factored into the forecasts for care level requirements. Huge shortages of professionals already exist, including occupational therapists, district nurses, properly trained social services staff and carers. With the additional factor of people’s desire to remain independent but with support in their homes, it is easy to see how many will find themselves failing to access services that should allow such arrangements to be a right and not just an aspiration. I return to the role of carers, both paid and non-paid. Carers save the state huge sums by providing the support and the care that big institutions often cannot provide. Yet, time and again, people are failed by the systems under which they live. Respite care is often a lifeline for these families but is so difficult to access. It is valiant of political thinkers to try to evaluate the value of care support, but such evaluations are valueless if they do not include the offset in real value that carers bring by supporting disabled people’s desire for independent living. I could offer noble Lords several examples from the care that I provide but I shall provide only two. The first concerns a rather tall lady with a wheelchair that is totally and utterly unsuitable for her body length. Her feet drag if the wheelchair is pushed. She is therefore confined to her house and completely limited regarding activity outside it. She has been waiting months for someone to come and assess her for a new wheelchair. The saddest part is that her situation was poorly assessed initially; she certainly has not grown several inches in height during or after assessment. So, her only contact with the outside world consists of my two carers who attend her basic needs three times a day. There are many such tales. Our discussion on the Bill will highlight the failings that we need to address before we can find new and better solutions to support people with independent living. In conclusion, I thank noble Lords for giving me the opportunity to speak in this debate. Many of the issues will be debated further and I should like to contribute to that debate. This area of concern is very close to my heart. Day in day out I try to enable people to lead as independent a life as possible and I know the difficulties that they and their families face trying to access the means to help them to do so.