5. Statement by the Minister for Children, Older People and Social Care: The Learning Disability: Improving Lives Programme

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:57 pm on 3 July 2018.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 4:57, 3 July 2018

Thank you, Julie, very much. The prime legacy of that earlier strategy is indeed the philosophy of this in taking it forward. So, it is cross cutting, it is very much driven by stakeholders, it is very much that lived experience approach rather than a top-down Government-driven one that says, 'Here are the easy answers'. That philosophy of working, and in taking forward the work streams on the recommendations, is what is probably the greatest guarantee that this will be well focused, well targeted and will deliver the right results. 

In terms of the adults with learning disabilities outside Wales, I don't have a precise figure to hand, but I know you'll be interested to know that what we are developing at the moment is some more, I would suggest, progressive thinking about how we can develop the models, including bespoke support that will allow us to not rely simply on out-of-county, and out-of-Wales when it does happen, and to make sure that adults with learning disabilities are actually placed within the communities, within the support structures that they know. We have some innovative work going on at the moment within Government and with stakeholders to try and develop those models that are a different thinking on the way forward on this. 

You asked for details on the actual numbers within Wales. Now, I don't have those to hand. I have the UK figures to hand, but not the Wales-only figures. What I can say is that we do now have, as one of the areas of priority, a national steering group improving health outcomes for people with learning disabilities, and this has a couple of sub-groups that are looking at these specific areas. So, I think, as the group evolves, I'm sure I'll be able to come back to the Senedd and update people on what we're identifying in terms of numbers, but also what we're identifying in terms of solutions for that going forward. But I think this is something that we're very hopeful that the group will actually focus on.