Basingstoke’s MP, Maria Miller raised the important work done by local charity Speakeasy Advocacy during Parliamentary Questions on Learning Disabilities Mortality Review in the House of Commons on Tuesday 8 May.
Maria said “The biggest challenge that many learning-disabled people have is simply making their voices heard. Their legal entitlement to advocacy is not always upheld by health professionals, who often misunderstand that entitlement. Will the Minister look into the commissioning of advocacy services, and, indeed, the understanding of the Equality Act 2010 among NHS staff, to ensure that more learning-disabled people have access to organisations such as Speakeasy Advocacy in Basingstoke, which supports more than 600 people with learning disabilities in north Hampshire, helping to give them the voice that they so badly need?”
Caroline Dinenage Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Care responded “My right hon. Friend is a fantastic champion for equality issues in her role as Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee. I take on board everything that she has said, and I will certainly look more closely at the issue that she has raised.”
You can read the full transcript at https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-05-08/debates/3E558901-109C-4306-9C9D-B88A563E617E/LearningDisabilitiesMortalityReview#contribution-8DDCF6FC-3F9F-4D4F-952A-1454374CEC0B