1 December 2005- New office for disability issues launched today brings disabled people to the heart of government
The harsh inequalities disabled people face will be tackled by a new cross-Government office, launched today.
The Office for Disability Issues (ODI) will ensure disabled people are a priority right across Government throughout their lives. Where services have been disjointed and presented barriers to disabled people, this Office will ensure Government Departments work together and in partnership with disabled people to change this.
The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, welcomed the progress made:
"A lot of work has been undertaken since I first asked the Strategy Unit to look at what more could be done to improve the experiences of disabled people in Britain today. Their report, published this January, showed just how far there is to go before we can say that disabled people have the same life chances as everyone else. But today's launch shows that we are making real progress - and that there is commitment right across Government to work together in delivering a better future for disabled people."
John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions said:
"We need to improve the way Government supports disabled people in living independently - and the new Office for Disability Issues, which is being launched today, represents a huge step forward. Today's announcement demonstrates the government’s welfare reform agenda is about achieving substantive equality for disabled people - promoting opportunity to work for those who can, together with increased support for those who cannot."
The ODI will ensure there is a focus across government on improving outcomes and securing equal opportunities for disabled individuals and families, for example in education and employment.
Speaking at the launch, Minister for Disabled People, Anne McGuire said:
"The Life Chances report identified the need for a champion for disabled people within government – and we have acted quickly on their recommendation. The new Office for Disability Issues will drive forward our overall strategy, and will play the central role in ensuring that all government departments work together more effectively on issues relevant to disabled people."
The Office for Disability Issues is launched alongside a new campaign which begins today to encourage small businesses to make themselves more accessible to their disabled customers and staff. The campaign explains how they may only need to make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of disabled people and fulfil their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act.
Notes to editors:
- The Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit report ‘Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People’, published in January, sets out the Government’s vision for disabled people ‘By 2025, disabled people in Britain should have full opportunities and choices to improve their quality of life and will be respected and included as equal members of society’. It includes some sixty recommendations for improving disabled people’s lives, focusing on four key themes: early years, the transition from childhood into adulthood, employment and independent living. The report can be found at: www.strategy.gov.uk/work_areas/disability/
- A key recommendation was the establishment of an Office for Disability Issues (ODI) to provide a cross-government focus on disability issues. The work of the ODI will include: challenging Government from within, changing the way in which it engages with disabled people, influencing public perceptions of disability and providing a centre of expertise on disability.
- The ODI will also develop and support a new National Forum for Organisations of Disabled People and establish a Task Force for Independent Living as recommended in the report. The National Forum for Organisations of Disabled People will feed disabled people’s views into the policy-making process and delivery. We are recruiting an interim advisory group, mainly formed of disabled people or the parents of disabled children, to inform the creation of the National Forum and develop recommendations for the Government on the most effective means of enabling disabled people to influence the policy making process.
- The Strategy Unit report also recommended the design and delivery of pilots for individual budgets to bring together different sources of funding into a single budget based on the needs of the disabled person. 13 pilots were recently announced: www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/PressReleases/PressReleasesNotices/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4123658&chk=oOqXHS
- The ODI is a cross-government unit and will support a Ministerial steering group of representatives from six departments: Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health, Department for Education and Skills, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Department for Transport and the Department of Trade and Industry. It will publish annually a report on progress to the Prime Minister.
- The ‘Adjusting for Better Business’ campaign launched today aims to raise greater awareness about the Disability Discrimination Act among small and medium employers and service providers. This will have a regional emphasis supported by local press and radio advertising and using SME opinion formers (trade bodies, accountants, lawyers etc) to disseminate information.
- From next Monday (5 December) the DDA will extend its protection to people with Multiple Sclerosis, cancer and HIV effectively from the point of diagnosis. From December 2006, the public sector will have a specific duty to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people and put disabled people at the heart of its policy making process. For more information about the DDA go to www.dwp.gov.uk/dda/
For media enquiries or images of the DDA campaign contact Fiona Ludlow
or Angela Merron on: 020 7238 0782 / 0765
Press Office: 020 7238 0886
Textphone: 0207 238 0788
Out of hours: 079659 108 883
Public enquiries: 020 7712 2171
Website: www.officefordisability.gov.uk