§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many organisations during the consultation on the draft Disability Discrimination Bill, the subsequent consultation Delivering Equality for Disabled People, and the passage so far of the current Disability Discrimination Bill, supported the introduction of public sector duties, as outlined in Clause 3 of the current Bill. [HL908]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)On the draft Bill, more than 140 pieces of written evidence were submitted, and 39 people gave oral evidence. Fifty-one organisations said they supported the duty to promote equality in their written submissions. All the others did not comment on this part of the Bill.
During the consultation on Delivering Equality for Disabled People nearly 700 people representing public bodies and organisations representing disabled people attended a series of consultation events. Of those that completed feedback sheets, more than 90 per cent thought that the proposed duties would make public bodies think more carefully about the needs of disabled people.
Nearly 5,000 copies of the consultation document were distributed. A total of 193 organisations and seven individuals formally responded. The responses were generally supportive of the public sector duties in Clause 3.
During the passage of the Bill the following organisations have commented favourably on the new duties:
24WA
- Children's Society;
- Disability Rights Commission;
- Disability Charities Consortium (Leonard Cheshire, Mencap, Mind, Radar, RNIB, RNID, Scope);
- Trades Union Congress;
- Special Education Needs Consortium.
§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
Of the organisations which supported the introduction of the public sector duties outlined in Clause 3 of the Disability Discrimination Bill, how many and which supported applying that duty to schools. [HL909]
§ Baroness Hollis of HeighamThe 32 bodies in the following list indicated support for schools to be subject to public sector equality duties, either in responses toDelivering Equality for Disabled People, in submissions to the Joint Committee on the draft Bill, or in other publications.
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- Barnado's
- British Institute of Learning Disabilities
- Council for Disabled Children
- Disability Equality in Education
- Disability Rights Commission
- Health Needs in Education Consortium
- Home Farm Trust
- Joint Committee on Mobility of Blind and Partially Sighted People
- Leonard Cheshire
- MENCAP
- MIND
- National Association of Laryngectomee Clubs
- National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers
- National Autistic Society
- National Union of Teachers
- North Ayrshire Council
- PACE
- Popan
- RADAR
- Respond
- RNIB
- RNID
- Scope
- Sense
- Skill
- The Children's Society
- The Discrimination Law Association
- The Royal College of Midwives
- Trade Union Congress
- Trade Union Disability Alliance
- Turning Point
- Voice UK
§ Baroness Howe of Idlicoteasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have received any representations opposing the imposition on schools of the public sector duties outlined in Clause 3 of the Disability Discrimination Bill; and, if so, how many and which organisations were opposed. [HL910]
§ Baroness Hollis of HeighamThe Department for Education and Skills implementation review unit opposed imposing specific duties on schools. In addition, one school has expressed concern about the proposed timetable for implementation of the new duties.