This audit of research in learning disabilities was commissioned by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) as part of the independent review into Mental Health and Learning Disability (May 2004).

Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the Council of Europe Action Plan to promote the rights and full participation of people with disabilities in society: improving the quality of life of people with disabilities in Europe 2006-2015 (Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 5 April 2006 at the 961st meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies)

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 (UK) provides a statutory framework to protect vulnerable people, carers and professionals. It makes it clear who can take decisions in which situations and how they should go about this. It starts from the fundamental point that a person has capacity and that all practical steps must be taken to help the person make a decision.

A bill to bar certain individuals from working with children or certain adults; to require the Scottish Ministers to keep lists of those individuals; to make further provision in relation to those lists; to establish a scheme under which information about individuals working or seeking to work with children or certain adults is collated and disclosed; to make provision about the sharing of information relevant to the protection of children; to amend Part 5 of the Police Act 1997; to amend the meaning of school care accommodation service in the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001; and for connected purposes.  SP Bill 73

Equal Lives is the second report from the Review.  It sets out a compelling vision for developing services for men, women and children with a learning disability for the next 15 to 20 years.

On 8 November 2006 the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act (UK) received royal assent.  The act lays the foundation for a new vetting and barring scheme which will be phased in from autumn 2008.   The act will also help to deliver Department of Health priorities in safeguarding adults in the most vulnerable situations. The Dignity in Care campaign aims to create a care system where there is zero tolerance of abuse and disrespect of older people.   The overriding aim of the new vetting and barring scheme will be to help avoid harm, or risk of harm, to children and vulnerable adults. It aims to do this by preventing those who are deemed unsuitable to work with children and vulnerable adults from gaining access to them through their work.

The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act (2000) provides ways to help safeguard the welfare and finances of people (aged 16 and over) who lack the capacity to take some or all decisions for themselves, because of a mental disorder or inability to communicate. It allows other people to make decisions on their behalf. There are five main groups who may benefit from the provisions. These are people with dementia, people with learning disability, people with severe acquired brain injury, people with severe mental illness, and people with severe communications problems due to a physical condition, such as stroke.  It also enables each of us to make arrangements for another person or persons to make decisions and manage affairs on our behalf, in the event of losing capacity in the future.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol was adopted on 13 December 2006 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, and was opened for signature on 30 March 2007.  The Convention is intended as a human rights instrument with an explicit, social development dimension. It adopts a broad categorization of persons with disabilities and reaffirms that all persons with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. It clarifies and qualifies how all categories of rights apply to persons with disabilities and identifies areas where adaptations have to be made for persons with disabilities to effectively exercise their rights and areas where their rights have been violated, and where protection of rights must be reinforced.

A new three-year strategy for people with learning disabilities, Department of Health UK (published 19 January 2009)
Valuing people now sets out the Government's strategy for people with learning disabilities for the next three years following consultation. It also responds to the main recommendations in Healthcare for All, the independent inquiry into access to healthcare for people with learning disabilities