§ 11.8 pm
§ Dr. Evan Harris (Oxford, West and Abingdon)I want to present a petition calling for an end to cuts in social services provision that have been forced on Oxfordshire county council by the underfunding of successive Governments. It is from Mr. Kevin Preen, a man with learning disabilities, and his organisation My Life, My Choice, a local self-advocacy organisation run by and for people with learning disabilities in Oxfordshire; from Mrs. Wendy Preece, the parent of a child with complex disabilities; and from members of the organisation Force, a group of local parents, carers and supporters who have been campaigning actively to preserve and develop services for disabled children and their families in Oxfordshire, along with other campaigners in Oxfordshire.
Those service users, carers and campaigners have collected over 20,000 names. This is one of the largest ever petitions from a single county.
The petition states:
Wherefore your Petitioners pray that the Honourable House of Commons will ask Her Gracious Majesty's Government to respond to our grave concerns by setting up a review of social care funding to make social care a higher priority; to ensure that adequate respite care is available by right for those who need it; and to guarantee a minimum level of provision so as to promote more widely and inclusively the health and well-being of service users and carers within their local communities.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.
§ To lie upon the Table.