§ Mr. Alfred MorrisTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the costs of the changes to the Disability Discrimination Bill proposed by the Minister for Social Security and Disabled People on 27 and 28 March; if he will itemise the cost of each change; and what he now expects to be the total cost of the Bill. [17802]
§ Mr. HagueDuring consideration of the Disability Discrimination Bill on 27 and 28 March, I announced that the Government would seek to amend it in the Lords so that it would confer protection against discrimination on people who have had a disability that meets the Bill's definition and to take a power to make regulations to set accessibility standards for new public transport vehicles. I also announced that we proposed to incorporate within the Bill a number of measures which will ensure that providers of education give greater emphasis to the needs of pupils with special educational needs and students with learning difficulties and disabilities in planning their services. We have not yet finalised the necessary detailed changes to the Bill and therefore it is not possible to estimate the compliance costs.
A number of other amendments were made. These are designed to clarify the Bill's provisions and accordingly impose no new costs. It is, in any case, normal practice for more detailed estimates of the cost of new measures to accompany the publication of the regulations which will implement them, but an indication of the total cost of the Bill is contained in its compliance cost assessment, a copy of which is available in the Library.