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	TX: 21.03.05 - Assistance Dogs PRESENTER: LIZ BARCLAY

	THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 麻豆约拍 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. BARCLAY Assistance dogs are dogs which are specially trained to help disabled people carry out a whole variety of everyday jobs, from answering the phone to taking out money. We first reported on them two years ago and the interest that that report generated from our listeners and as it turns out policy makers was huge. At the time we spoke to Wendy Plues while she was out shopping with her assistance dog Indie. 听 BARCLAY Assistance dogs are dogs which are specially trained to help disabled people carry out a whole variety of everyday jobs, from answering the phone to taking out money. We first reported on them two years ago and the interest that that report generated from our listeners and as it turns out policy makers was huge. At the time we spoke to Wendy Plues while she was out shopping with her assistance dog Indie. ACTUALITY Come on we're crossing the road now, are you going to press the button for me .... WENDY PLUES You wouldn't believe how much help these dogs can give. He can unload the washing machine for me, he pays for shopping, he picks things up on command - as in the telephone, he'll get me the telephone, purse, he gets me the purse - he presses lift buttons, crossing buttons. ACTUALITY ...switch, good boy, good lad, well done. WENDY PLUES He gets me undressed at night. He can tell me when I need my tablets, he's learnt how to nuzzle me to tell me to roll over, he's learnt how to rub spasms out of my arms and legs and lick spasms and cramps. He's dependent on me, I'm dependent on him, it's incredible. ACTUALITY ... okay then, we're going to go off to the cash point machine, okay? And then we've got to go into Boots and get some bits in there. Are you going to be able to pay today for me because my hands are very bad today? WENDY PLUES It's almost a case of listing what Indie can't do rather than what he can do. ACTUALITY Okay Indie [indistinct words], get the 拢20, good boy, bring it here, good boy. Off. Now we've got the money we can go off and spend it. Let's go, good boy. BARCLAY Wendy Plues with her dog Indie. As well as providing independence for people like Wendy, the canine carers also save social services a significant amount of money. In Wendy's case having Indie meant that she needed less daily assistance from a human carer and that saved her local council 拢23,000 a year. But the running costs of a dog - its food, vet bills and insurance - mean that some disabled people simply can't afford them. So the charity Canine Partners for Independence has been lobbying for the costs to be included in local authority care packages, they want people to be able to use the money that they get in the new cash for care scheme, called Direct Payments, to pay for a dog. When we put the idea to the then Community Care Minister, Stephen Ladyman, who gave it a ringing endorsement. LADYMAN We wanted to create a situation where people are in control of their own care because nobody knows better than the individual what care they need. And so by introducing direct payments and actually requiring councils to give them the cash instead of the care, if that's what they want to do, we intended to free people up to buy their own care and deliver that care in whichever way suited them best. And so this is exactly the sort of scheme we wanted to see happening. BARCLAY Stephen Ladyman. Well today the Department of Health publishes its Green Paper on Adult Social Care in England and at the top of the list of best practice is the inclusion of assistance dogs in people's local authority care packages. The chief executive of Canine Partners for Independence, the charity, Terry Knott is in our Guildford studio. Terry, you must be absolutely delighted with today's Green Paper, given how much time you've spent campaigning on this issue? KNOTT Good afternoon Liz. Yes I am absolutely delighted, I think the whole thing is terrific. This is a very positive step in a very successful campaign to win government funding and in doing so empower the people who until now have felt that they don't have a control of their own destiny. BARCLAY Presumably though it's not the end of the story because this is on the list of best practice, so it's not compulsory, presumably you've got a bit more campaigning still to do? KNOTT I would say we're probably about halfway through the programme and as you say two years ago we started with you, on Radio You and Yours, and several MPs, including Edward Davey, Michael Howard, Stephen Ladyman and in fact a remarkable cross-party politics group, bearing in mind current events. The initiative was based on the idea that our canine partners, after two years of intensive training, can assist the person with severe disabilities. But as importantly in the process reduce the number of hours and hence the cost to the taxpayer. BARCLAY Well how do those costs, those savings, stack up? As we heard Wendy Plues there needs a human carer much less, so the social - Surrey Social Services save themselves 拢23,000 a year by allowing her the costs of her dog in her care package. Is that simply just down to not having to pay the human? KNOTT The dog, as Wendy you heard earlier on the programme, Wendy said, the dog can do a great variety of things for her. And we reckon in practical terms that that can cut down from about 15-20 hours a week of human care, down to probably five hours. And in doing so they do save, as you say, something like 拢23,000 a year. But to go back to your question, we are at the stage now where something like eight of our partnerships are receiving direct payments - those are the ones that I know about - of the 80 or so spread around the country. And I do believe that another three or four are in the process of winning funding. This is a rather drawn out process where they have to apply to social services to have their local care package reassessed and it doesn't happen with all of them but we are definitely making progress. BARCLAY You're making progress and of course Stephen Ladyman said he would like to see this happening all over the country. Will that, do you think, become a reality or are there barriers to rolling this out around the country, such as suitable dogs - shortage of suitable dogs for instance? KNOTT Well we are looking at doubling the number of partnerships that we graduate over the next four years. And at the moment we're seeing success in Hampshire, Wiltshire, Essex, Oxford, Yorkshire and of course Surrey, who was the precursor to the whole scheme. And there are other counties now starting to pick up on it. But I would very much like to see the social services all over the country picking up on the scheme and using the direct payment system. And the minister for disabled, Maria Eagle, has put her personal chop on that, to recognise and to fund the amazing work that our canine partners can do. BARCLAY Well Terry Knott thank you for joining us and good luck with the rest of your campaign. Come on we're crossing the road now, are you going to press the button for me .... WENDY PLUES You wouldn't believe how much help these dogs can give. He can unload the washing machine for me, he pays for shopping, he picks things up on command - as in the telephone, he'll get me the telephone, purse, he gets me the purse - he presses lift buttons, crossing buttons. ACTUALITY ...switch, good boy, good lad, well done. WENDY PLUES He gets me undressed at night. He can tell me when I need my tablets, he's learnt how to nuzzle me to tell me to roll over, he's learnt how to rub spasms out of my arms and legs and lick spasms and cramps. He's dependent on me, I'm dependent on him, it's incredible. ACTUALITY ... okay then, we're going to go off to the cash point machine, okay? And then we've got to go into Boots and get some bits in there. Are you going to be able to pay today for me because my hands are very bad today? WENDY PLUES It's almost a case of listing what Indie can't do rather than what he can do. ACTUALITY Okay Indie [indistinct words], get the 拢20, good boy, bring it here, good boy. Off. Now we've got the money we can go off and spend it. Let's go, good boy. BARCLAY Wendy Plues with her dog Indie. As well as providing independence for people like Wendy, the canine carers also save social services a significant amount of money. In Wendy's case having Indie meant that she needed less daily assistance from a human carer and that saved her local council 拢23,000 a year. But the running costs of a dog - its food, vet bills and insurance - mean that some disabled people simply can't afford them. So the charity Canine Partners for Independence has been lobbying for the costs to be included in local authority care packages, they want people to be able to use the money that they get in the new cash for care scheme, called Direct Payments, to pay for a dog. When we put the idea to the then Community Care Minister, Stephen Ladyman, who gave it a ringing endorsement. LADYMAN We wanted to create a situation where people are in control of their own care because nobody knows better than the individual what care they need. And so by introducing direct payments and actually requiring councils to give them the cash instead of the care, if that's what they want to do, we intended to free people up to buy their own care and deliver that care in whichever way suited them best. And so this is exactly the sort of scheme we wanted to see happening. BARCLAY Stephen Ladyman. Well today the Department of Health publishes its Green Paper on Adult Social Care in England and at the top of the list of best practice is the inclusion of assistance dogs in people's local authority care packages. The chief executive of Canine Partners for Independence, the charity, Terry Knott is in our Guildford studio. Terry, you must be absolutely delighted with today's Green Paper, given how much time you've spent campaigning on this issue? KNOTT Good afternoon Liz. Yes I am absolutely delighted, I think the whole thing is terrific. This is a very positive step in a very successful campaign to win government funding and in doing so empower the people who until now have felt that they don't have a control of their own destiny. BARCLAY Presumably though it's not the end of the story because this is on the list of best practice, so it's not compulsory, presumably you've got a bit more campaigning still to do? KNOTT I would say we're probably about halfway through the programme and as you say two years ago we started with you, on Radio You and Yours, and several MPs, including Edward Davey, Michael Howard, Stephen Ladyman and in fact a remarkable cross-party politics group, bearing in mind current events. The initiative was based on the idea that our canine partners, after two years of intensive training, can assist the person with severe disabilities. But as importantly in the process reduce the number of hours and hence the cost to the taxpayer. BARCLAY Well how do those costs, those savings, stack up? As we heard Wendy Plues there needs a human carer much less, so the social - Surrey Social Services save themselves 拢23,000 a year by allowing her the costs of her dog in her care package. Is that simply just down to not having to pay the human? KNOTT The dog, as Wendy you heard earlier on the programme, Wendy said, the dog can do a great variety of things for her. And we reckon in practical terms that that can cut down from about 15-20 hours a week of human care, down to probably five hours. And in doing so they do save, as you say, something like 拢23,000 a year. But to go back to your question, we are at the stage now where something like eight of our partnerships are receiving direct payments - those are the ones that I know about - of the 80 or so spread around the country. And I do believe that another three or four are in the process of winning funding. This is a rather drawn out process where they have to apply to social services to have their local care package reassessed and it doesn't happen with all of them but we are definitely making progress. BARCLAY You're making progress and of course Stephen Ladyman said he would like to see this happening all over the country. Will that, do you think, become a reality or are there barriers to rolling this out around the country, such as suitable dogs - shortage of suitable dogs for instance? KNOTT Well we are looking at doubling the number of partnerships that we graduate over the next four years. And at the moment we're seeing success in Hampshire, Wiltshire, Essex, Oxford, Yorkshire and of course Surrey, who was the precursor to the whole scheme. And there are other counties now starting to pick up on it. But I would very much like to see the social services all over the country picking up on the scheme and using the direct payment system. And the minister for disabled, Maria Eagle, has put her personal chop on that, to recognise and to fund the amazing work that our canine partners can do. BARCLAY Well Terry Knott thank you for joining us and good luck with the rest of your campaign. Back to the Transcripts homepage Back to the You and Yours homepage The 麻豆约拍 is not responsible for external websites

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