§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will assess the benefits of providing vulnerable adults with the same protection as is given to vulnerable children. [104366]
§ Mr. HuttonWhile the majority of adults are well looked after by their families and paid carers, research has shown that abuse of vulnerable adults is nevertheless widespread. The protection of vulnerable adults who are at risk of abuse is therefore vital, and is a major concern of the Government.
In recent years the Department has funded a national helpline, run by Action on Elder Abuse, which enables people to seek advice on how to deal with incidents of abuse. The Department also has funded the production of training materials aimed at helping managers and care staff in residential care settings for older people better to understand the types and causes of abuse of their residents, how to expose abuse, and how to prevent it happening in the first place.
Currently, the Department is leading the work on producing guidance for developing multi-agency codes of practice for dealing with abuse of vulnerable adults. The consultation period of the draft guidance has now ended, and the final document titled "No Secrets" will be published shortly.
To offer further protection to vulnerable adults at risk of abuse, the Care Standards Bill, now in another place, contains provisions for a statutory work force ban mechanism to parallel that in the Protection of Children Act 1999.