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People with learning difficulties

questioning Leeds MPs

13th March 2015

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Contents

Page

Introduction

3

Who came?

4

The questions

5

The answers 7

Get in touch

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3

INTRODUCTION

Connect in the North, Dimensions, The Bridge (part of Health for All

in Leeds) and Parliamentary Outreach all worked together.

We planned the event and ran it together.

We wanted to encourage people with learning difficulties to vote

in the May 2015 General Election.

We decided to run an event where people with learning difficulties

could ask questions of Leeds MPs and learn why it is important to

vote.

We invited all the Leeds MPs.

2 agreed to come.

They were Greg Mulholland (Liberal

Democrat) and

Fabian Hamilton (Labour).

Neither of the Conservative MPS were able to come.

After the event we sent them the questions and asked for their

answers. Stuart Andrew (Conservative) gave us his written answers.

We ran the event at the Bridge.

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WHO CAME?

Over 50 people came. Most of the people who came were people

with learning difficulties.

Cathy Wintersgill from Connect in the

North welcomed everyone.

Gary Hart from Parliamentary

Outreach ran the morning session

about voting.

Dave Robinson from Dimensions

chaired the session in the afternoon

where people with learning difficulties

asked questions of their MPs.

Carl Shaw and Rob Ellerby From

Dimensions filmed the event and took

photos.

Martin Brennan from the Bridge set up

the PA (Public Address system).

Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat)

and Fabian Hamilton (Labour) both

came.

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THE QUESTIONS

People with learning difficulties had lots of ideas for questions.

They voted for the questions they most wanted to ask

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These are the 6 questions people with learning difficulties asked

Questions Votes

1. What will your party do to help

people with learning difficulties

get jobs?

a. Also, what about education

to help people get jobs?

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2. What will you do to get us more

involved in sports?

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3. What will your party do to allow

us to use our bus passes before

9.30?

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4. Should wheelchair users have

priority over prams on buses?

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5. What will your party do to make

the benefits system simpler and

less scary?

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6. Want will you do to keep us

safe?

a. Including on buses

b. And on roads

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What will your party do to help people with learning difficulties get

jobs?

a. Also, what about education to help people get jobs?

Leeds North West

Greg’s answer – we need more support for people and more

tailored support. People need support to get into work and to stay

in work. We need to focus more on those it’s harder to help. We

also need to provide support for employers.

The government’s Disability Confident campaign aims to change

employers’ attitudes to employing disabled people.

About education - All local authorities have to publish their “Local

Offer” saying what they provide for people with “special

educational needs”. We want to continue work to improve

education which will help people get jobs.

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What will your party do to help people with learning difficulties get

jobs?

a. Also, what about education to help people get jobs?

Leeds North East

Fabian’s answer – I agree with Greg’s points. We also need

economic growth and an end to austerity. We need to create

more jobs and end discrimination.

A good example of creating new jobs is what Crossrail has done in

London. Crossrail is a publically owned and funded company. They

have created lots of new apprenticeships.

Government contracts that say a company must employ a certain

number of disabled people could help. Developments like a tram

for Leeds could create more work opportunities for people.

The system already exists to train on the job. Education after age 16

continues to be a priority.

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What will your party do to help people with learning difficulties get

jobs?

a. Also, what about education to help people get jobs?

Pudsey, Horsforth, Aireborough

Stuart’s answer

As a Party, we have launched a £3 million Supported

Internships trial which was launched in 15 further

education colleges. This helped people get paid jobs,

voluntary work and further education. All colleges can

now create Supported Internships.

As part of this, the trial involved a structured learning

programme that is tailored to the individual needs of the

person, and it will equip them with the skills they need for

the job, with the help of expert job coaches.

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What will you do to get us more involved in sports?

Leeds North West

Greg’s answer

There is a sport for everyone. We need to find out what stops

people taking part in sport and do something about it. That could

include things like stadium design.

The Equality Act is very important. We need to change attitudes. I

am involved with the Rhino’s Foundation. Through the Foundation I

try to encourage more people to get involved in rugby

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What will you do to get us more involved in sports?

Leeds North East

Fabian’s answer – we need to change social attitudes and do

something about prejudice. We need to educate people as

prejudice is a barrier.

My motto if “Fairness, Justice and Equality”.

Both Fabian and Greg said that they will come to the Leeds

Learning Disabilities World Cup in June.

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What will you do to get us more involved in sports?

Pudsey, Horsforth, Aireborough

Stuart’s answer -

Sport England receives funding from the Government to help

people with learning difficulties play sports. They run a lot of

programmes for people with different needs.

The legacy of the Paralympics has seen more people with learning

difficulties compete in sports.

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What will your party do to allow us to use our bus passes before

9.30?

Leeds North East

Fabian’s answer

I don’t know what Labour’s position on this is, but I will find out and

take this issue back to my party. In my opinion public transport

should not be profit making. Councils should run public transport.

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What will your party do to allow us to use our bus passes before

9.30?

Leeds North West

Greg’s answer

I need to feed this back to the Liberal Democrat party. We are

consulting people with learning difficulties about barriers to work

and this is probably one of them.

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What will your party do to allow us to use our bus passes before

9.30?

Pudsey, Horsforth, Aireborough

Stuart’s answer

Unfortunately, this is an issue for bus companies. It is an issue for

people who are trying to get to college or to a job before 9.30

though, so I would be happy to discuss this in Parliament if I am re-

elected in May.

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Should wheelchair users have priority over prams on buses?

Leeds North East

Fabian’s answer

I don’t know, that is a hard question. Buses need to be more

adaptable so that it doesn’t have to be choice between

wheelchair users and people with pushchairs.

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Should wheelchair users have priority over prams on buses?

Leeds North West

Greg’s answer

At the moment wheelchair users get priority. It is often possible for

pushchairs to be folded up. This isn’t usually possible with

wheelchairs.

It should always be possible for someone who uses a wheelchair to

get on a bus.

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Should wheelchair users have priority over prams on buses?

Pudsey, Horsforth, Aireborough

Stuart’s answer

Wheelchair users should be given access on a bus, and it

should not be a case of people having priority. Buses generally

have extra room for wheelchair users, and it is important that

this area is reserved for them with enough room for both

wheelchairs and prams.

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What will your party do to make the benefits system simpler and

less scary?

2.

Leeds North West

Greg’s answer

The new Universal Credit is intended to make things simpler.

The work capability assessment (brought in by the last

government) has had problems and is being changed. We hope

this will make it better for people with learning difficulties and

people with mental health issues. This will be an issue for the next

government.

Many people complained about ATOS. They have now been

replaced by Maximus.

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What will your party do to make the benefits system simpler and

less scary?

Leeds North East

Fabian’s answer

I would take the private sector out of it. ATOS only made profits

when they met targets for saying that people could work, when

they couldn’t. That way they made more money.

We need a simpler system with simpler language.

This, and the last, government have tried to reduce benefits by

making it harder to claim.

We also need to change attitudes. We all pay taxes including

VAT. Benefits are not charity they are a right.

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What will your party do to make the benefits system simpler and

less scary?

Pudsey, Horsforth, Aireborough

Stuart’s answer

My Party has already made the system simpler by giving

people control over their own budgets. By having health and

care plans, we hope that people will feel they have the

support to meet their needs.

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Want will you do to keep us safe?

a. Including on buses

b. And on roads

Leeds North West

Greg’s answer

Everyone has the right to feel safe. We have made progress in

recognising hate crime.

We need to educate people through school and beyond. We still

need to do more. This includes listening more to people with

learning difficulties. We need to train bus drivers. They should report

disability hate incidents or face disciplinary action.

Speak to your councillor if there are problems with cars where you

live. “Brake” is a charity with ideas for improving road safety. They

want to increase penalties for driving offences.

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Want will you do to keep us safe?

a. Including on buses

b. And on roads

Leeds North East

Fabian’s answer

Children learning together from the age of 4 would help to reduce

prejudice

We need to train bus drivers to deal with bullying. It is hard without

conductors. If it was a public service there might be conductors.

It is important to police any anti-discrimination laws. That means

that we need the police, bus conductors and Police Community

Support Officers (PCSOs) to help.

On roads we need more 20 mile an hour zones. We need better

public transport and more lanes just for cyclists. Then there would

be fewer cars.

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Want will you do to keep us safe?

a. Including on buses

b. And on roads

Pudsey, Horsforth, Aireborough

Stuart’s answer

Bus companies are taking a lot of responsibility for this, by

ensuring all buses have CCTV facilities and that they take a zero

tolerance approach to any kind of discrimination and bullying

on buses. Inspectors and the Police also undertake patrols to

ensure good behaviour on buses.

On roads, my Party does everything it can to keep them safe.

For example, there are a lot of road safety campaigns, which

help people to learn how to cross roads safely. It is also

important for people to know that the Police are always on

hand to keep them safe.

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Thanks to Paul Sellers from Dimensions for this fabulous record of the

day.

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GET IN TOUCH

Connect in the North

By phone

0113 270 3233

Write to

Connect in the North,

Bridge House, Balm Road

LEEDS

LS10 2TP

Website

By email

www.citn.org.uk

info@citn.org.uk

Facebook

http://www.facebook.com

/CintN

Twitter

@ConnectintNorth

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Dimensions

By phone

0300 303 9095

Write to

Dimensions,

6-8 Churchill House,

Meetinghouse Lane,

Sheffield,

S1 2DP

Website

By email

http://www.dimensions-

uk.org/

enquiries@dimensions-

uk.org

Facebook

https://www.facebook.co

m/dimensionsUK?fref=ts

Twitter

@DimensionsUK

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The Bridge

By phone

0743 270 2911

Write to

The Bridge

Health for All (Leeds) Ltd,

Holbeck Community

Centre,

90A Elland Road,

Leeds,

LS11 0AB

Twitter

@thebridgeleeds

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Parliamentary Outreach

By phone

0207 219 1650

Write to

Parliamentary Outreach

Service,

Houses of Parliament,

London SW1A 2TT

Website

By email

www.parliament.uk/outrea

ch

parliamentaryoutreach@p

arliament.uk

Twitter

@UKParlOutreach

@UKParliament

Thanks to for the use of their image bank ©LYPFT www.easyonthei.nhs.uk