I concur completely with my right hon. Friend. We have both met those affected, their loved ones and their families, and we can really hear and see the value. Unfortunately, that value was not considered in the rushed decision made by the councillors—I will turn to the lack of consultation very soon, and I completely agree with him about that. It is not too late and, like him, I hope that the council thinks again.
The Rural Activities Garden Centre is another in a long list of closures at the hands of the local council. Following years of financial mismanagement by the leadership, the modus operandi has become to cut through its crisis. While the council’s cabinet sees nothing more than a line on a spreadsheet, behind this move are adults with learning difficulties, whose lives have been transformed by this service and who risk losing it all as a result of the council’s decision. By its own admission, it views the decision of the closure through the lens of profit. Failure to turn a profit means inevitable closure to Hillingdon council. That was the reason quoted at the recent decision-making meeting, but should social services have to make a profit to survive? To me, it defeats the objective of those services. By that logic, one wonders what will be cut next by Hillingdon council? What other social services or schools will it have in its sights?
This heartless approach to community services aside, Hillingdon council’s binary decision making in relation to profit is economically flawed. These services are not costs; they are investments in the future. The National Audit Office calculated that supporting someone with moderate learning disabilities in residential care costs £4.7 million over their lifetime. With proper community support such as the RAGC, that drops by £1 million. We save money while giving people the dignity, purpose and independence they deserve.
Perhaps the council’s inability to understand this basic economic principle of investment and returns sheds some light on why it is about to go bankrupt, receiving damning reports from its own chief financial officers. Still, Hillingdon council dismisses the RAGC as merely a “retail service”. Tell that to George, Doug, Oliver or Georgia. Tell the families who have watched their loved ones transform from isolation to independence that this is a “retail service”.
I recognise that there are similar stories across the country, unfortunately, scattering services, breaking up communities and destroying what works for short-term savings that create long-term costs, with our most vulnerable communities always the first to feel the brunt. The Rural Activities Garden Centre works. Its clients thrive. Their families are supported. The evidence is overwhelming, but evidence means nothing without political will, and political will means nothing without adequate funding.
We are not asking for the impossible. We are asking the council and this Government to back choice and independence for adults with learning difficulties and care packages and to recognise that supported employment is not a luxury to be cut when times are tough; it is a vital investment that pays dividends in human dignity and economic returns for national and local government.
The Rural Activities Garden Centre must be saved. Services like it across England must be protected. The people who depend on them deserve nothing less than our absolute commitment to their dignity, their potential and their right to belong. I appreciate the Minister giving up her time to be here today, with so many pressing issues across the health and care system. There are some specific issues I hope she will take away for further consideration.
First, I and local families would like to welcome the Minister to Hillingdon to meet disabled adults and those with learning difficulties, to hear their experience of a fragmented system and a council and NHS not working together as well as they could and should, which I hope could inform the broader review of social care taking place nationally.
Secondly, the Women and Equalities Committee report in 2023 on inequalities for people with learning disabilities outlined clearly that people with a learning disability, and those who care for them, are the real experts when it comes to their health and care needs. However, aside from the occasional opportunity to feed into consultations, far too often their voices are missing when it comes to decision making at both a local and national level. Their lived experience should be better reflected in efforts to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes.
I hope the Government will look at how they can embed co-production and meaningful engagement in decision making on care packages and services and ensure that those with care packages and support are genuinely consulted and engaged in any service changes. There must also be clearer guidance for providers and commissioners of services about consultations and full equality impact assessments being conducted before services are changed, which has been woefully lacking in this case.
Thirdly, the NHS 10-year plan, launched yesterday, included welcome announcements about supporting people with health budgets, giving people personal health plans and a shift to prevention and community-based working for the NHS. Will the Minister address whether we can and should expect the same principles to lead work on adult social care support, too?
Fourthly, on enabling joint working, the Public Accounts Committee report in 2017, “Local support for people with a learning disability”, found that people with a learning disability who live in the community have patchy access to healthcare and limited opportunities to participate in the community—for example, by having a job. While the Department has the policy lead for people with a learning disability and care plans, responsibility for their support spans across Government. We even found that to be the case when discussing which Department should respond to this debate. Responsibilities cross the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Education, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
In its report, the Public Accounts Committee recommended that Government should
“set out a cross-government strategy for improving access to health care and opportunities”
for adults with learning disabilities to
“participate in the community, including employment, as well as how it will measure the effectiveness of this strategy.”
I hope we can return to this in future, because clearly all these Departments bear some oversight and responsibility for this important group of the population.
Lastly, I hope the Minister will join me in thanking Oliver, Doug, George and Georgia, as well as all the service users and their families, for building this project from scratch, many decades ago, planting the first trees, building the first planters, volunteering to keep it going in difficult times and creating this amazing life-changing project, and now also for their campaign to fight for its survival. I hope that Hillingdon council will think again, take the time to genuinely listen and get the decision right, working with the community. In the absence of that, I hope the Government will prioritise adults with learning difficulties in services like this one.
We were elected a year ago today on a manifesto of change, investing in people, transforming life chances and providing everyone with opportunity. These are the things that the Rural Activities Garden Centre, and so many other services in Hillingdon, have done, and can continue to do, for countless people in the borough of Hillingdon.