Parents rate service

ENGLAND – Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Minister for children, schools and families has announced the results of the first ever national survey of parents’ views of services for disabled children.

On average, parents rated the services for their disabled child as 59 out of 100, providing the government and local areas with the first ever tangible base point from which to track progress or changes in perceptions and experience in future years on services for disabled children, covering health, education and social care.

The score means that local areas can track their progress and means that families can expect to see further improvement as local areas benefit from the ground-breaking Aiming High for Disabled Children programme and the resources government is investing in transforming services for disabled children.

Funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families and from the Department of Health means that a record £770 million (NZ$2,045 million) has been invested in services for disabled children since May 2007, enabling local areas to work together and improve the lives of disabled children and their families.

Ms McCarthy-Fry, said: “I’m delighted that we are publishing this data – the first of its kind which lets us know what parents think of the services they use for their disabled child.”