News

Cuts to the government's learning difficulties policy team may hamper efforts to ensure the Valuing People programme is implemented.

Sources close to the Department of Health say it is no longer possible to identify any policy officer working specifically on Valuing People, where once up to 12 people worked on learning difficulties issues.

This follows the replacement of the DoH's disability policy branch by a broader cross-client group team.

The Valuing People support team has urged the government to put pressure on councils and health bodies that were failing to implement the programme. But some believe the cuts will make this impossible.

Andrew Holman, head of learning difficulty charity Inspired Services, said Valuing People was no longer "being driven at central policy level".

A DoH spokesperson said: "There is still a team with learning disability policy as a major focus."