§ Mrs. CaltonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the extent to which the recommendations in Circular HSC2001/016:LAC(2001)23 have been met by local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [150098]
§ Dr. LadymanWe issued the implementation guidance Circular HSC 2001/016: LAC (2001)23 in August 2001. The guidance followed the publication, in March 2001, of the White Paper, 'Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century' (Cm 5086). 'Valuing People' set out our proposals for improving services for people with learning disabilities, their families and carers said that it would take a minimum of five years to make the changes it described.
327WOur first annual report to Parliament on learning disability, 'Making Change Happen' (HC 514), published in April 2003, gave a comprehensive report about the progress made on implementing all of the objectives in the White Paper. A copy of the report is available in the Library and was sent to all English right hon. and hon. Members. The report shows that we have made good progress since 'Valuing People' was published, but that there is much more to do to achieve all its aims. Further progress will be reported in our second annual report in April.
The Learning Disability Task Force monitors the progress of 'Valuing People' and reports to the Government on this. Its first report, 'Making Things Happen' was published in January 2003 and a second report is due in February.