Ms Carol Grogan:

In disability services, in about one third of cases accommodation is still provided in congregated settings. Our overview report and annual report shows that people living in congregated settings do not experience the same quality of life or service as people living in community settings. There tend to be more institutionalised practices in congregated settings. There has been quite an emphasis on safeguarding. The absence of safeguarding legislation is a deficit. The current regulations in disability services have been in place for ten years and since then, as a country, we have ratified the UNCRPD and the capacity legislation has been enacted, so I think it is timely to review the situation, especially in regard to safeguarding. When we look at protection, we cannot look at it in isolation of rights, communication or the environment that people live in, and also then how knowledgeable staff are. Deputy Durkan spoke about how open staff are to report what they believe to be incorrect care practices. There needs to be more open discussion in both older persons services and in the disability sector and a reflection on practice to enable people not just to report where they see abuse but to be able to have a conversation about it if they think something is not quite right.

The other area that needs to be looked at is cultural differences. We have quite a mixed workforce in our services and there can be cultural differences in how people perceive things and we need to look at that, and specifically at safeguarding. This year, for both older persons and disability, I am going to do a targeted regulatory programme and then next year develop a thematic programme on safeguarding.