Acquired brain injury

A Backbench Business Debate on Acquired Brain Injury will take place in the Commons Chamber on Thursday 9 May 2019.  The debate will be led by Chris Bryant, Sir John Hayes and Liz Twist.

A wide range of issues may be raised during this debate, including the provision of services for treatment and rehabilitation, head injury in sports and brain injury and the criminal justice system. 

In September 2018, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Acquired Brain Injury and the UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) published a report, Acquired Brain Injury and Neurorehabilitation, Time for Change. This made a number of recommendations relating to neurorehabilitation and other issues. In the application to the Backbench Business Committee for the debate, Mr Bryant (Chair of the APPG on Acquired Brain injury) highlighted the report and the Government reply to this:

There are 1.4 million people living with brain injury in this country. One of the great successes of the past few years has been that we save more lives from road traffic accidents than previously—about 800 more lives a year—but unfortunately we are not able in all instances to give people the quality of life that would benefit them, because there is simply not enough neuro-rehabilitation available around the country. Last autumn, the all party parliamentary group together with the United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum produced a big report, which John has a copy of, and the Government have formally replied to it, which is very good of them.

[…] One of the most intriguing things about the debate is that, while one’s immediate instinct is that this is about health, it is actually about the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Education, the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office—it affects so many different Departments that it is time we had a proper three-hour debate to go over some of the answers that the Government have come back with and to explore further.[1]

A UKABIF briefing prepared for the debate provides further information about the report and responses to this.

This briefing provides some background information on acquired brain injury and links to further reading.

[1]     Backbench Business Committee, Transcript 26 March 2019