§ Mr. Matthew BanksTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress has been made with establishing an advice and assistance service under part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. [3266]
§ Mr. BurtI am pleased to announce that we are creating the disability access rights advice service. Following an open tendering and evaluation exercise during which we worked closely with the National Disability Council, we have decided to award the DARAS contract to the Deloitte and Touche consulting group. The contract is worth approximately £1.5 million over the next two and a half years.
The service will provide consistent and expert advice on the Act's rights of access to goods and services, drawing on the expertise and experience of a range of disability organisations, specialists trainers and lawyers, to organisations advising disabled people and business alike.
It will be operational from 2 December 1996, the date when disabled people's new rights come into force. In addition to providing advice over the telephone and in writing, the new service will also produce information and deliver training designed to improve the primary advisers' understanding of the Act's rights of access to goods and services. The service will also establish arrangements for conciliation of disputes. It will therefore keep to a minimum the need for cases to go to court.