Brake: Every Disabled Child Matters

9.52.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 5th Mar 2007

Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, has thrown his weight behind a campaign to secure respite care for carers of disabled children.

Mr Brake explained, "Thousands of loving families struggle to look after their disabled children. Often respite care or a short break can make the difference between a family continuing to care for a loved one and feeling they can no longer cope. Placing a legal duty on local authorities to provide such care would ensure all families got the support they need."

Tom has added his name to Early Day Motion (EDM) 321, which says: "That this House believes that the UK's 770,000 disabled children and their carers deserve to have better access to respite or short break care; notes with concern that more than half of disabled children's families live in poverty; pays tribute to the principles of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign; and calls upon the Government to support the Disabled Children's Short Breaks Bill, which places a specific legal duty on local authorities and health agencies to provide vital short breaks for families with disabled children in England and Wales."