Proposed Children and Families (Wales) Measure
Consultation Response
CF39 - Scope Cymru
Introduction
Scope is a national disability organisation whose focus is people with cerebral palsy. Our aim is that all disabled people achieve equality and enjoy full human rights. Scope has a particular focus on disabled people with high support needs and complex impairments.
Scope provides a range of services to disabled people including information, education, transition, employment and residential accommodation as well as campaigning for disabled people’s human rights and equality across England and Wales. For more information on Scope’s work visit: http://www.scope.org.uk/
Consultation Comments
Part 1 of the Measure deals with eradicating child poverty. In particular, Scope Cymru believes paragraph 6.1 offers the Assembly Government real potential to reduce the barriers to childcare for parents of disabled children. Paragraph 6.1 states that "a local authority must secure that childcare of a prescribed description is available free of charge for such periods as may be prescribed for each child of a prescribed description in its area.”
An estimated 55% of families with a disabled child live in poverty. They face up to three times the costs of families with no disabled children, yet are more likely to be unemployed and be on low incomes. Only 3% of mothers of disabled children work full-time and 13% part-time, compared to 27% and 39% of other mothers. Enabling parents with disabled children to work or train is a critical step towards alleviating their situation.
The past ten years has seen a significant expansion in both the supply and demand for childcare in Wales. Many parents now see childcare as an essential service that enables them to work or study. In recognising this, Government has accepted that it has a central role in ensuring that the childcare parents use is safe and provides the best possible development for their children. It is also committed to using resources strategically to ensure that childcare is of good quality, but also available locally at an affordable price. The Assembly Government has expressed a vision of childcare as part of a modern welfare state, available to all parents who need it.
Section 26 of the Childcare Act 2006 gives Local Authorities a duty to undertake childcare sufficiency assessments, the first of which must be completed within one year of the duty coming into force in April 2008, if this has not already been completed in 2007.
Childcare sufficiency audits reveal that children with disabilities only occupy around 1-3% of childcare places.
NCMA recently undertook a piece of research, funded by the Assembly Government’s New Ideas Fund, to look into the provision of childcare for disabled children. The research found that many parents with disabled children want to use childcare. Of the 97 parents who were interviewed, 74% said that they would like to use childcare if suitable childcare was available to them. However, over 90% of these parents also said that it was difficult to find childcare that was accessible and able to meet their child’s needs.
Scope Cymru would like to see a duty incorporated into the Measure to ensure that local authorities are charged with ensuring a minimum level of childcare places for disabled children. The Assembly Government needs to recognise that it is estimated that 7% of children and young people in the UK are disabled. In Wales, this translates to 65,000 children and young people aged 0 to 25 years and 43,000 children under 16 years of age.
Scope Cymru welcomes the commitments in Part 4 of the proposed Measure to ensure that:
a local authority must secure sufficient play opportunities in its area for children, so far as reasonably practicable (60.3)
in performing its duties under this section, a local authority must have regard (amongst other things) - (a) to the needs of children who are disabled persons (within the meaning of section 1 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (60.5)
Play is vital for all children. It is the way we explore the world about us and our place in it. Play offers opportunities to relax, express feelings, experience success and failure, to learn about communication, our physical capacities - the list is endless.
Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child recognises
"the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts”.
The Children Act (1989) stated that "Children’s need for good quality play opportunities change as they grow up but they need such opportunities throughout childhood to reach and maintain their optimum development and well being.”
In 2002 Contact a Family undertook a survey with parents of disabled children on play and leisure facilities. Only 52% of parents commented that they take their child to the local playground. The main complaint was the inadequate provision of changing facilities for disabled children, with parks and playgrounds being the worst in provision. Whilst the Welsh Assembly Government allocated £250,000 during 2008/09 to development changing places for children with disabilities at five cultural venues, more needs to be done to increase the availability of changing facilities to widen the opportunities for disabled children.
Inclusive play means all children and young people have equal access to good quality local play provision. This means that they can play with others or alone as they wish in a rich play environment that supports their play needs and gives them access to a wide range of play opportunities. Engagement between disabled and non-disabled children is crucial if we are to enhance respect and awareness in future generations. Social barriers such as fear, embarrassment or discriminatory attitudes need to be tackled so that an accessible play space is also an inclusive one in which disabled children and their families feel welcome.
Submitted by Scope Cymru, April 2009
For further details contact Ian Ross, Policy and Campaigns Officer (Wales), on ian.ross@scope.org.uk
