Great pledge

THE Treasury and DfES s review of services for disabled children (Monday May 21) is an encouraging first step towards ensuring that children with disabilities and their families can enjoy a decent quality of life. In particular, the pledge of £280million

THE Treasury and DfES's review of services for disabled children (Monday May 21) is an encouraging first step towards ensuring that children with disabilities and their families can enjoy a decent quality of life.

In particular, the pledge of £280million towards the provision of more short breaks will be welcomed by the many thousands of families who care for a severely disabled child.

The Children's Trust is a national charity that provides short breaks for children with multiple disabilities and complex health needs, both in our residential houses in Tadworth, Surrey and in the family home via outreach nurses (a service that we pioneered more than 10 years ago).

We are acutely aware of the lifeline such respite care gives to families and hope that this new injection of cash will help more families to access flexible services that meet their needs.

At last the Government is giving disabled children and their families the attention they deserve.

But this latest spending review should be just the beginning of long-lasting reform to an area of social care that has until now been neglected.

Andrew Ross, chief executive The Children's Trust, www. thechildrenstrust.org.uk