Disabled Persons (Independent Living)Bill [HL]

My Lords, much well respected research—for example, that headed by Professor Sir Michael Marmot at University College London—has clearly demonstrated that lack of autonomy in decision-making, lack of control over one’s life and lack of feelings of self-respect and status can shorten one’s life by several years. We know that disabled people tend to live shorter lives than able-bodied people. How iniquitous it is, therefore, to rob people of the autonomy that we all ought to take for granted, sometimes thereby robbing them of a crucial aspect of quality of life and, sometimes, of years of life itself. That is one reason why I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Ashley, on his Bill, which is of the utmost importance and relevance to disabled people of all ages, as well as to us all. His vision and leadership in this field and the work of the Disability Rights Commission in preparing the Bill are to be admired. I declare an interest as patron of New Beginnings, an alliance of organisations from all sectors that encourages people into work and, once in work, to have a career and develop it. I am also a patron of SHARE, a London initiative providing vocational and skills training for people of all ages with physical and mental disabilities—sometimes very severe ones—and chief executive of a think tank. I am vice-president of Age Concern, where we continually consider the impact of the ageing of society on people of all ages and on society as a whole. Independent living is a policy priority. We know that existing demands on carers, usually family members, will increase and that the increasing care needs of an ageing population will mount up if we do not do something to get our priorities right. Evidence consistently shows that people want to remain independent as long as they possibly can. The Bill is welcome because it recognises the right of disabled people to the same control, freedoms and opportunities to make choices as the rest of the community has. It gives people the right to choose to have direct payments and thus determine how their services are delivered. It is inclusive; it demands inclusivity. It covers people of all ages, thus removing some of the iniquitous distinctions in support for people aged 65 and over. It is now well known that, if you acquire a disability, you had better do so before you are 64, otherwise you will be deprived of many of the benefits that other people can take for granted. It recognises that discrimination is the single biggest factor impacting on the mental health and well-being of older people in this country. The Bill gives disabled people a single assessment of their needs. At the moment, we know that the silos in departments and among authorities responsible for providing services prevent many people from getting the services that they need—certainly in the way that they would like. It gives people some choice as to how services are delivered, which gives them autonomy and a sense of control that they have never really experienced before. At last, it places a duty on statutory authorities to co-operate, to pool resources and to promote independent living. The Bill would remove the scandalous current situation whereby private and voluntary sector homes do not come under the definition of a public authority with regard to the Human Rights Act. We know that there are cases under review at the moment in which people have been treated appallingly because of that awful loophole in the law, which I know the Government want to do something about—I hope that the Minister will be able to assure me that the Bill would get rid of it. The Bill will also allow for review of care for those people who are in institutions against their will. That is an abuse of the right to autonomy, which is what we are talking about, but it is also an appalling situation when people who would like, and need, to be in some form of institutional care, because they cannot manage in their own home, cannot always get access to that care because of a shortage of places. The Bill would remove a lot of unfairness in that respect. The Bill makes the case for a proper debate on the very important issue of how care is funded now and, more important, how it will be funded in the future. But this is not just a Bill that will increase the cost to the nation; it will relieve a lot of pressure on carers—60 per cent of informal carers are women still—and as a spin-off it will give them a chance to participate more in the workforce. It will therefore promote gender equality and better family life. We know the difficulties that many carers experience in trying to fulfil multiple roles in difficult situations. The Bill will also bring social and economic benefits in later life to many people who at the moment are excluded from many such benefits. I wish the Bill a successful passage through this House and another place. It will help to ensure a better quality of life for people in our society who deserve no less if we are to be called civilised.