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Strong Local Voice, Strong Local ChampionAnnette Brooke, Lib Dem MP for Mid Dorset & North Poole |
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School children grill Annette Brooke MP at Question Time event in Parliament
October 29, 2009 5:08 PM
Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, faced an audience of more than 40 secondary school children with different health conditions at a special Question Time-style event at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday 27 October.
The event, organised by an alliance of more than 30 health charities¹, gave the school children the chance to put their questions about health support at school to the panel. BBC newscaster and The Politics Show presenter, Jon Sopel, chaired the panel which also comprised Diana Johnson MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, fellow Shadow Minister for Children, Schools and Families Tim Loughton MP, Dr Sheila Shribman, National Clinical Director for Children, Young People and Maternity Services, and Jim Cunningham MP, who put forward the Schools (Health Support) Bill as his Private Members' Bill in May this year.
There are at least a million children of school age in England who have a health condition. Many of whom are struggling at school as the support they need to manage their condition is not in place. The alliance of charities is calling for support at school to be a statutory duty. While some schools provide good support for children, the current voluntary approach means that support for those with health conditions is failing these children and seriously impacting on their health and education. Currently, support for many health conditions at school is a postcode lottery.
Annette said: 'It was a pleasure and an honour to be invited to join this panel. The children and young people I met were very switched on and it was a very valuable experience for me to get an understanding of the problems and issues that face those with health conditions. I hope they were able to come out of if feeling like they had been listened to and engaged with. There was a real consensus that more needs to be done to assist those with health conditions so that they don't feel stigmatised or discriminated against.'
Donna Castle, Campaigns Manager at Diabetes UK, said: "We want decision-makers to listen to what the children are saying about what is needed to improve the lives of school children with long term health conditions. The current voluntary approach for schools to provide support for children with health conditions is just not working. The discrimination that many children face due to their condition is putting their health and education at risk. It's time to end this education system lottery."
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