Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make additional funding available to expand access to habilitation training for young people with sight loss.

Alistair Burt

In 2013, Blind Children UK, previously the National Blind Children’s Society, received funding through the Department’s Voluntary Sector Investment Programme (Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund) for their three year project `Children and Young People’s Habilitation Service’.

At a national level, the Department for Education has funded a partnership of charities through the National Sensory Impairment Partnership to help local authorities to compare their services, learn from the best in the country and make sure that services for blind children and their families (as well as those with other sensory impairments) are effective and meet local needs.

My Department will consider with the Department for Education, which has responsibility for children’s social care, and where appropriate, with training and regulatory bodies, how we can highlight the value of habilitation workers.