Valuing People cuts spark alarm

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.”