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The Northumberland Learning Disability Partnership Board

"Working together to improve the lives of people with a learning disability in Northumberland"

Paul Mackay your Co-Chair representative on the Northumberland Learning Disability Partnership Board.

Janerep

Jane Mackay User Forum Representative

Paul and and Jane are also members of the Northumberland User. Members of the User Forum attend many events regionally and nationally to represent the views of people with a learning disability in Northumberland.

What is the Learning Disability Partnership Board?

On the 20th March 2001 the Government published a White Paper about people with learning disabilities called Valuing People.

The Paper said what the Government thinks about learning disability services.

The Government believes that people with a learning disability should have the right to:-

Legal and Civil Rights

Support to be independent

Have more choice

Be included in their local community

Valuing People is about new opportunities for people with learning disabilities and their families. Valuing People talks about the changes that are needed to help people with learning disabilities live the life they want. One important way of making these changes happen are Learning Disability Partnership Boards.

Partnership Boards bring people from different organisation's and from the wider community together to work to put Valuing People into action locally.

The Learning Disability Partnership Board is responsible for:-

Working on planning for people with a learning disability in Northumberland

Local Plans asked for in Valuing People, and producing reports where needed

Helping people with a learning disability and carers say what they want and check that their views have been listened to

Keeping others up to date with what is going on and how things effect them

Checking that the right services are opportunities are available in Northumberland and that they are working properly

Making sure that the plans are put in place and that changes happen

Members of the Partnership Board meet together to share important decisions about how services are planned and run. They make decisions about how money will be spent on services for people with learning disabilities.

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The Northumberland Partnership Board - what we are planning to do in 2009 - 2010

The Partnership Board will:

be aware of, and collect information about, everything which affects the lives of people with a learning disability, working toward the targets set by Valuing People Now

know what targets the sub groups are working towards and how they are performing.

The Partnership Board has set the following priorities for the Forums and Sub Groups during 2009 - 2010

Meaningful involvement
To help people have all the information they need to make decision about things which affect their lives.

Advocacy and Self Advocacy
To make sure people have all the information they need to make decisions about things which affect their lives.

Transitions - the move from child to adult
To make sure that young people know about the services which will be available to them as adults including heath, finance/money. employment and housing.

Person Centered Planning
To make sure that care plans are written talking account of the person's life goals as well as the practical problems to be overcome.

Self Directed Support - Personal Budgets
To make sure people have access to all the sources of money available to them as well as the help to get it. This will give more people responsibility for managing their own care.

Service Modernisation

Performance Monitoring
To make sure that any plan we make fits in with other work which is happening for the good of the person as a whole for example education, health, nursing, benefits. To make sure people can use services where they live.

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Valuing People Now: From Progress to Transformation

If you would like information on Valuing People Now: From Progress to Transformation click here.

Valuing People Now: From Progress to Transformation says what the Government thinks should happen for the next three years and what the the big priorities should be and how we can all make those things happen.

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Learning Disability
Development Fund
How the money will be shared out during 2008
and 2009

From 2008 the Learning Disability Development Fund will be given to Local Authorities because they do a lot of the work to make Valuing People happen.

The LDDF will be given to Local Authorities as part of their Area Based Grant money (this money is given to each area in England).

Some of the money given to Local Authorities will be used to work on:

	• Personalisation
	• Supporting people into paid work
	• Supporting people to live in their own home
	• Reducing health inequalities

These are the big priorities in Valuing People Now. This work will be done with Learning Disability Partnership Boards. It means that Partnership Boards will be involved in decisions about local services.

To make sure that this happens – Partnership Boards membership will
need to include senior staff from social services and health.

Because the LDDF money will be part of the Area Based Grant money, it will be important for Partnership Boards, Local Authorities and people that understand learning disabilities have a good way of working together.

It is important that Partnership Boards think about all the money that is available to support People with Learning Disabilities and not just the LDDF.

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