Valuing People Now and Ethnicity Scott Watkin Co-National Director for Learning Disabilities Debbie Robinson Valuing People Now London Regional Programme Lead

Presentation Content What do we know? What does Valuing People Now say? The ethnicity work The challenge for us all So how do we change practice? Some examples of best practice For further information

What do we know? People with learning disabilities from BME communities often experience ‘double discrimination’ In some rural areas people from black and minority communities are less visible because there are very few of them; services may not meet their needs

What do we know? People often receive insufficient and inappropriate services due to: lack of cultural sensitivity wrong assumptions language barriers discrimination

What do we know? There are increasing numbers of children and young people from black and minority ethnic communities with more profound disabilities and special educational needs

What do we know? Information and recording systems do not always seek to identify or reliably record numbers of people of learning disabilities from black and ethnic minority ethnic communities Often, not enough is known about local communities when planning services

What do we know? We have the law to support equality of access, but people are still not fully included: In a 2006/7 survey, 48% of partnership boards stated that they had not carried out a race equality impact assessment In a 2008 report, only 30% of partnership boards were regularly involving anyone from a black and minority ethnic community

What does Valuing People Now say? Work programme to raise the issues with all agencies to ensure local services are designed and commissioned to support genuine inclusion of people from black and minority ethnic communities This will include working with the National Advisory Group on Learning Disability and Ethnicity (NAGLDE)

What does Valuing People Now say? Appoint someone to lead the work around ethnicity Revise and republish ‘A Framework for Action on Ethnicity’ for partnership boards Ensure people from black and minority ethnic communities benefit from all work programmes

The Ethnicity Work We are working with NAGLDE on a programme of work that includes: Strengthening NAGLDE as a national forum with elected members Strengthening the links between NAGLDE, the National Forum of People with Learning Difficulties and the National Valuing Families Forum Identifying and strengthening regional capacity to deliver outcomes

The Ethnicity Work Identifying best practice across the country and sharing it via some ‘events’ Commissioning work to identify best practice and gaps in advocacy for people with learning disabilities from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities Commissioning work around family advocacy including BME families

The Ethnicity Work Working with black carers organisations to ensure they are aware of the needs of family carers of people with learning disabilities Revising ‘A Framework for Action on Ethnicity’ for partnership boards The appointment of someone in the national team to lead this work and to make sure that people from black and minority ethnic communities benefit from all work programmes

The Challenge for us all Making sure that the voices of people with learning disabilities and family carers from BME communities are represented at all levels Raising awareness and changing practice on the ground so that all people get the services they need – and in culturally sensitive ways

So how do we change practice? Building blocks and opportunities: Healthcare for All: data and information collection – joint strategic needs assessments (JSNA) and individual care assessments Direct Enhanced Service – health checks and ‘reasonable adjustments’ Public Health Observatory

So how do we change practice? Building blocks and opportunities: Learning disability performance and self assessment framework Equality Impact Assessments (EQIA) New annual self assessment reporting for Partnership Boards

So how do we change practice? Building blocks and opportunities: Individual plans person centred plans health action plans personal budget support plans care plans - Information, choice and involvement in decision making are essential to empowering people

Some examples of best practice Camden local advocacy services accessible to, and appropriate for BME communities Newham South Asian women’s drop in sessions to support person centred planning

Some examples of best practice Redbridge and Waltham Forest funding a paid BME inclusion worker with a learning disability to support people to be involved in local service planning Greenwich recruitment of development worker to help local teams to meet the needs of people across diverse ethnic communities

For further information National Advisory Group on Learning Disability and Ethnicity www.learningdisabilities.org.uk National Learning Disability and Ethnicity Network www.lden.org.uk Ethnicity Training Network www.etn.leeds.ac.uk

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