Brooks backs disabled Children Bill

Brooks Newmark joined other sponsors of the Disabled Children (Family Support Bill) last week when fellow Conservative MP Gary Streeter brought the Bill to the House of Commons.

Braintree’s MP Brooks Newmark joined other sponsors of the Disabled Children (Family Support Bill) last week when fellow Conservative MP Gary Streeter brought the Bill to the House of Commons.

The Bill, which was part of the Every Disabled Child Matters Campaign, was backed by Contact a Family, the Council for Disabled Children, Mencap and the Special Educational Consortium. It aimed to ensure that disabled children and their families have the right to be assessed for and provided with suitable short breaks.

There are 770,000 disabled children in the UK and that more than half of families with disabled children live in poverty. Meanwhile there are 3,000 disabled children on waiting lists for family-based short breaks and not getting these can rip families apart.

Lisa Scott Lee, Mencap celebrity ambassador and former Steps member, said at a press conference before the Bill was debated, ‘My experience of having family members with a learning disability has given me a real insight into the lives of families who care for a loved one. It is a full time job and without short breaks a family can soon reach breaking point. It is vital that families get regular, planned breaks to allow them to do the ordinary day-to-day stuff together that the rest of us take for granted.’

During the debate Brooks drew attention to the amount of money that could be offset against the cost of the Bill’s proposals due to early intervention. He said. “It has been estimated that carers of all kinds save the Treasury £57 billion a year, a significant fraction of which is saved due the number of parents and their families who care for a disabled child. We have heard those numbers before. When the alternative to disabled children being looked after by their parents can cost up to £200,000 per child per year for full-time residential care, it is easy to see how that staggering sum can be reached.

“It is simply a false economy for the Government to suggest that the cost of a duty to provide short breaks is unwarranted, given the potential cost of family breakdown that can be caused by the inadequate provision of short breaks… The fact remains, however, that early intervention through a duty to provide better access to short breaks has the potential to save far more money than it would cost.”

Unfortunately the Bill is now extremely unlikely to be passed into law. Using Parliamentary procedures governing the passage of Private Member’s Bills the Government has stopped the Bill in its tracks by drawing out the debate until time ran out to vote on its outcome.

Dame Jo Williams DBE, Mencap Chief Executive, said “We congratulate Gary Streeter MP and all the other MPs who supported this Bill, and we are extremely disappointed that the Bill didn’t go through. We believe strongly that families should have a right to short breaks. The simple fact is that the vast majority of families with severely disabled children who need breaks don’t get them. That is why we need an entitlement to breaks.”

Brooks said after the debate, “I am extremely disappointed that this important Bill, which has received so much support from Members of Parliament, the voluntary sector, the public and even individual Government Ministers, has failed to pass this vital legislative hurdle. All those involved in the campaign have worked extremely hard to make this Bill a reality and we must continue to keep up the pressure.”

Photo: Brooks Newmark, Gary Streeter MP and Lisa Scott Lee, Mencap celebrity ambassador and former Steps member, join some of the Bill’s supporters.