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5 Mar 2009 : Column 367WH—continued
My hon. Friend also juxtaposed human rights and relationships and so on. We have discussed the human rights-based approach today, but we have not defined
what we mean by that, so I should like to explain that taking a human rights-based approach means putting the principles of fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy at the heart of policy and planning; empowering staff and users with the knowledge, skills and leadership that they need; having meaningful involvement and participation from key stakeholders; having clear accountability in the organisation; ensuring non-discrimination; and paying attention to the needs of vulnerable groups.
I do not think that the juxtapositions that my hon. Friend discussed involve ignoring human rights; indeed, they facilitate them. He talked about relationships and risk assessments, which, in fact, would not have taken place before, because such people were not allowed to have relationships in the first place. However, we have now started to facilitate them.
The hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) talked about choices versus rights—another long, philosophical debate that we do not have time for today, particularly as it might stray into the debate about economic and social rights. I would simply say that, in this context, we are talking not about unconstrained choice, but about fair choice, including the reasonable adjustments mentioned by the hon. Member for West Dorset (Mr. Letwin), and equality of opportunity as far as we can achieve it. In that context, we can square the circle.
Overall, I was very encouraged by my hon. Friend the Minister’s reply to the debate. As I said at the beginning, we have been impressed by the commitment shown by him and his predecessor and by the way in which policies are developing. The real issue is how to turn those policies into action. I think that that was both the starting point and the finishing point of his reply.
5.19 pm
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