Disability Discrimination Act 2005
On the 8th April 2005 the government passed the Disability Bill, which amended the 1995 Act and placed a duty on all public bodies to promote disability equality. The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 came into force in December 2006. A component of the Act is that of the Disability Equality Duty.
The Disability Equality Duty requires the public sector to actively promote disability equality, and is similar to the duty to promote race equality under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act.
It brings about a shift in the law which relies on individual disabled people complaining about discrimination to one in which the public sector becomes a proactive agent of change.
Key public bodies are required to produce Disability Equality Schemes and action plans and to report annually on the outcomes and improvements they have achieved through these actions.
Over the past year Torfaen County Borough Council has been consulting with its citizens, community and statutory partners, and its staff, on what should be in its Disability Equality Scheme. As part of this consultation process a 'community engagement' event was organised on the 11th September at the Parkway Hotel, Cwmbran. The very successful event was held as a result of a partnership with the Disability Advice Project and the other former Gwent authorities of Blaenau Gwent and Monmouthshire. Further 'Focus Sessions' are being organised to look more closely at what are the main issues for local public sector organisations to prioritise and how we will go about developing the solutions.
Torfaen County Borough Council also promoted the purpose of this new duty in the wider community and with many organisations with which it is involved. As well as the Disability Advice Project, Torfaen Access Coalition have helped the Council to shape out some of the priorities that needs to be addressed to assist the community of Torfaen. The Council also distributed a Disability Equality Scheme Survey and many completed forms have already been received and are being taken into account. If you want to contribute to the ongoing process of identifying the obstacles that disabled people face in fully participating in community life please do consider completing a Disability Equality Scheme Survey|.
The draft Disability Equality Scheme was presented to the Council's, Cabinet Equalities Sub-Committee on 14th November and a draft action plan presented was presented to Sub-Committee again on 20th March 2007. A copy of the Disability Equality Scheme| and the most recently updated Disability Equality Action Plan| is available to download here. You can also get further information on the work of Torfaen Access Coalition by contacting Torfaen Voluntary Alliance on Tel (01495) 756646 or Fax (01495) 740097.
As part of the Councils clear commitment to fairness it has established a policy development processes within the elected Council structure. A special Cabinet Sub-Committee to address issues of equalities has been established since 2004 and since that time has examined many issues relating to equality of opportunity for people with disabilities, people of different ethnic groups living and working within Torfaen as well as matters of age, gender and sexual orientation. In addition the individual Overview & Scrutiny Committees are provided with an annual assessment of each service areas activities and progress in relation to the promotion of equalities and an action plan in relation to what they will set out to achieve in the future. Copies of the reports are available from the Council - Minutes, Agendas and Reports| area of the website.