§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What consideration they are giving to the report Finding a Voice: Supporting the Brothers and Sisters of Children with Disabilities, presented to the Children's Research Fund by Dr Peter Burke and Sue Montgomery; and whether they will be taking action on the support of siblings. [HL1307]
§ Baroness BlackstoneWe recognise the importance of supporting the siblings of disabled children. We therefore welcome the publication of the research report as a further source of evidence underpinning our work in supporting services to disabled children and their families.
Through the Government £885 million Quality Protects programme, set up to improve children's services, we are increasing the provision of support services to families of disabled children, including short-term breaks. This will help all members of the family including siblings. A key component of Quality Protects is to improve the assessments of the needs of disabled children and their families. As recognised in the report, the Practice Guidance accompanying the Government's new Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families stresses the importance of the relationship between disabled children and their siblings and states that assessments should take account of the views of siblings.