§ Mr. PikeTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what(a) representations and (b) discussions he has had in the last 12 months on the viability of extending the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to protect people who have progressive illnesses with particular reference to cancer, multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS; and if he will make a statement. [139447]
§ Maria EagleIn their legislative review published in April 2003 The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) reiterated our proposals in "Towards Inclusion" to extend the definition of disability to cover more people with HIV and cancer and recommended a further change that would benefit more people with multiple sclerosis. Since then officials have been involved in a number of discussions with the DRC about the proposals.
Officials have received a range of other representations regarding the definition of disability from disabled people, civil rights groups and organisations that represent disabled people, urging change and supportive of the proposals in "Towards Inclusion". The majority of these have come from people concerned about HIV infection. This included a letter campaign earlier this year supporting the case for extending the DDA to cover HIV from point of diagnosis.