16 February 2004
Maria Eagle MP,
Minister for Disabled People,
Parliamentary Under Secretary
DRC Scotland Conference
"Countdown to October 2004"
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Can I begin by saying what a pleasure it is to be here in Edinburgh. I’d like to congratulate the DRC for organising what looks to be an excellent and timely event.
And, I’d like to thank you all for your attendance, its good to see how many organisations are here.
Scotland prides itself on social cohesion, generosity, solidarity and giving everyone a chance, going forward together – and it is for that reason that I am confident that the entire nation will embrace the agenda of disability civil rights, and of including disabled people, as it should.
I hope also to be able to make such a prediction for the whole of Great Britain, but I know that you Scots will want to be in the lead –- and I know that you will come up with some ideas and solutions here that others won’t have thought of - so I’ll be watching your progress with interest.
I’m here to set the scene.
I want to explain to you what Government policy is and WHY I believe it is important before going on to say something about what it means for you, your organisations and businesses.
I also want to talk a little about the further developments in the law contained in the draft Disability Discrimination Bill – currently being scrutinised at Westminster by a joint committee of the Lords and Commons prior to its introduction into Parliament.
I can state Government policy quite simply.
We want full civil rights for disabled people and to end discrimination against them. We want disabled people to be included in all aspects of life – education, work, leisure, public life, sports, the arts – everything, not excluded as they often are now by physical and attitudinal barriers – their needs ignored, unfulfilled, pushed out, pushed down and at the bottom of the heap.
This isn’t just about altruism - though righting the wrongs imposed upon our disabled fellow citizens is indeed a matter of emancipating people from unjustifiable treatment - it is also about the future of Britain.
No modern economy, no nation or union of nations can succeed in the modern globalising world without making use of all its talents by freeing and harnessing the ability of all its citizens, all of them.
In Scotland, there are 830,000 disabled people –- in Great Britain, 8.5 million, all with unique qualities, talents, abilities, ideas, ambitions, hopes and dreams.
How can Britain fulfil its potential, economically, socially, culturally, in any other way if we ignore them just because they are disabled people?
How can Scotland?
The truth is we can’t – AND we shouldn’t even try to, because we need to harness the talents and abilities of all our people if we are to make our way in the world. And that includes disabled people.
The Government believes that very strongly. And those of you out there who provide or sell goods or services –- how many of your potential customers are you willing to ignore - 830,000?
A recent DRC survey showed 70% of disabled people have difficulty in accessing goods and services – ordinary High Street stuff. Yet in Scotland, disabled people have up to £5 Billion to spend – and they’ve all got friends and family with money to spend too! On top of the £5 Billion.
Now I know there’s no business person alive who wants to ignore a potential market opportunity of that magnitude, is there?
If there is – aren’t they missing a trick?
So – you see –- happily, the Governments very strong policy focus on full civil rights for disabled people is perfectly compatible with pursuing the genuine national interest and is compatible also with your own interests as business people - whether you are looking for good employees - or seeking to expand your business as a service provider.
There are big changes coming in October as a result of the implementation of the Article 13 directive preventing discrimination against disabled people in employment, and as a result of the final implementation - 9 years after it went onto the Statute book - of the requirements for providers of goods, facilities and services to tackle physical features which prevent access for disabled people.
October changes
I’m going to leave others to go through the legal requirements in detail – though I’m tempted to do it myself – and talk instead about what you need to do.
These changes will affect firms employing up to 15 staff and any organisation which provides goods facilities or services to the public – whether for payment or not – that’s most of the public sector and also small firms.
Advantages of employment changes.
- Good staff – Fewer days off sick
- Longer serving
- Extra skills – organising/coping
- Insight into disability
- Cost of changes small
- If some cost, may be help
- Cheaper to retrain than recruit
- Advantages of goods/facilities/services
- More business
- Think first –- Resonableness
- Common sense
- Alternative provision
- What is solution – get advice
- Get free advice
- Then adjust
- Make the most of it
- Better for disabled people
- Better for others
- Make it a selling point
- It's good customer service
The new bill would amend the existing Disability Discrimination Act.
The draft features a range of measures including:
- A new positive duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.
- The extension of the DDA to cover almost all activities of the public sector, including such functions as issuing licences.
- Bringing within the scope of the DDA more people diagnosed with the progressive conditions of HIV, MS and cancer.
- Ending the exemption of the use of transport vehicles from the DDA duties on service providers.
- Requiring landlords and others who rent premises to make reasonable adjustments to their policies and practices and to provide auxiliary aids.
- Bringing larger private members’ clubs within the scope of the DDA.
We are also looking on further provisions for the draft bill which would bring local councillors within scope of the DDA. These will be published in due course. We have also announced that when the full bill is introduced we expect that it will contain measures on setting an “end date” for rail vehicle accessibility and on refurbishment of rail vehicles. Ministers in the Department for Transport are currently running a public consultation on these measures.
The draft bill will undergo pre-legislative scrutiny. The Parliament committee which considers the bill has called for written and oral evidence. The Government will consider any recommendations made by the Committee, which will be published at the end of April, and respond to them by summer 2004.
Conclusion
These changes are important – for disabled people, yes – but also for the rest of us.
We’ve got to get them right – as employers, service providers, businesses and public authorities.
We’ve got to get this right both because disabled people deserve no less – and because it will do us good too – we’ll be doing better by those we serve as public authorities, as businesses.
And we’ll get more out of our staff as employers if we get these things right.
It’s a big challenge – and I’m not going to say we’ll all get it right all of the time. But we must strive to learn, to improve and to do better at implementing theses changes.
This will benefit our organisations and our society.
But most of all – we’ll be giving disabled people their proper opportunity to be a part of society as they should be.
THAT is our main aim and I wish you an interesting conference and great success in implementing these changes.