In March 2001 the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Milburn, launched the first major strategy aimed at “radically improving the life chances of people with learning disabilities for 30 years” (DoH, 2001a, p 1). The White Paper, Valuing people: A new strategy for learning disability for the 21st century (DoH, 2001b), was launched following a consultation with a range of professionals, service users and family carers and drew on the work of a number of sub-committees which had produced recommendations for the government. At its launch the Secretary of State claimed that “A revolution in care is needed to increase opportunities for thousands of people, their carers and families.… Our ambition as a government is to create a society where there genuinely are opportunities for all” (DoH, 2001a, p 1).

The White Paper sets out a clear philosophy on which service provision for this group of service users and their family carers is based. This represents a consolidation of recent thinking in this field and is a marked advance on the last White Paper published 30 years ago (DHSS/Welsh Office, 1972), the main goal of which was the de-institutionalisation of people with learning difficulties from long-stay institutions. The new White Paper claims to put people with learning difficulties at the centre of future strategy and is based on the four key principles of civil rights, independence, choice and inclusion. It supports a lifelong approach to addressing people's needs. It aims to impact on a large number of agencies, several of which have given scant regard to this group in the past: social services, health, education, housing, employment, the Benefits Agency and the independent and voluntary sector. If successful it would be a significant example of ‘joined-up’ government.

The ambitious goals of the government have received widespread support from those working in the field. However, there are major issues relating to implementation. The learning disabilities strategy is being introduced at a time of major change within both health and social care services. How well will the new structures be able to respond to the many demands being put on them? Still more significant is the level of new resources available for this area of policy, which the government has recognised has been grossly under-resourced.