Equality Act 2010: The Impact on Disabled People: Follow-Up Report (Liaison Committee Report)

Baroness Stedman-Scott Excerpts

Tuesday 21st June 2022 Grand Committee

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Stedman-Scott) (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the committee chair, the noble Lord, Lord Gardiner, the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, and other members of the committee for calling for this debate on a very important subject for our society. I hear the strong and impassioned points that have been made; there have been some forceful interventions and relevant questions that I will address in this closing speech.

I take the point raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, about re-establishing and rebuilding trust and, in my role as Minister for Women and Equalities in this House, I start by answering noble Lords’ questions and then offer a meeting to see if we can start to rebuild that trust as we go along.

I ask noble Lords to be in no doubt of this Government’s determination to promote the interests of disabled people and increase their participation in the labour market and wider society. This is even more important as society recovers from Covid and faces a number of post-pandemic challenges. This Government are committed to disability policy that supports all areas of life, and to taking action to create a society that works for everyone so that we can build back better and fairer for all. Our aim is to transform the everyday lives of disabled people across the country, through delivering long-term change through practical plans.

Since the start of 2022 alone, our wider work to support disabled people is having a real impact. We have supported two landmark pieces of legislation, the British Sign Language Act and the Down Syndrome Act, which have both been granted Royal Assent in the last few months. The BSL Act came about, with widespread support across government, from a Private Member’s Bill put forward by Rosie Cooper MP and with the help of personalities such as “Strictly Come Dancing” winner Rose Ayling-Ellis and of deaf people’s organisations. It promotes and facilitates the use of BSL, with legal recognition as a language of England, Scotland and Wales—a recognition that I know has been awaited for many years.

The Act provides a specific duty on the DWP Secretary of State to prepare and publish a British Sign Language report. This describes what each ministerial department has done to promote and facilitate the use of British Sign Language in its public communications. The Act specifies that these public communications should include: any public announcement that a government department makes about policy or changes to the law; the publication of any plan, strategy, consultation document or consultation response, or any explanatory or supporting materials; and its use of press conferences, social media or a government website to publicise any of its activities or policies.

The Act places a duty on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to issue guidance on the promotion and facilitation of BSL, which will be developed together with D/deaf BSL users as part of a non-statutory board of BSL signers. We hope to produce this guidance in 2023. A BSL advisory board will bring to bear the perspectives and priorities of those with lived experience, from BSL signers living across England, Scotland and Wales. It will be established in autumn 2022 with a broad remit to advise the Government on matters related to BSL, including how to increase the number of BSL interpreters and to review how the DWP might work to ensure that the Access to Work fund helps BSL users.

The Down Syndrome Act is an enabling framework to give a voice to people with Down syndrome. This will ensure that local government meets the needs of people with Down syndrome to ensure they receive better services now, and to transform their future experiences across social care, healthcare, education and housing services.

I know that the noble Baronesses, Lady Thornton, Lady Deech and Lady Thomas, raised issues relating to Section 36 of the Equality Act 2010. In the six months since the Government responded to the Liaison Committee’s report, I am pleased to update this Committee on important progress on an issue in which the Liaison Committee, and before it the 2015 Select Committee, took a close interest—namely the commencement of the remaining parts of Section 36 of the Equality Act.

As many noble Lords know, commencement will enable a disabled tenant or leaseholder to require their landlord to make reasonable adjustments to the common parts of their homes—for example, entrances, hallways and stairs. I am aware that progress has been slower than all noble Lords would like, because we have been looking at the cost implications of implementation and how it fits with wider leasehold law and practice. However, on 9 June, the Government launched a consultation on implementation. This is important because disabled tenants and leaseholders are being given a real voice in how the detail of the policy is being shaped.

Regulations will be needed to set out some of the detail prior to commencement. Feedback from the consultation will be key to this. For example, we are asking all interested parties whether they would like a specified structure for reasonable adjustment agreements and further views on how works might be fairly financed. Via GOV.UK, we are offering a variety of formats to help people understand what switching on the provisions means and to enable views to be fed back as easily as possible. We are keen to give maximum opportunity to those affected by this change to feed in their views, so the consultation will last 10 weeks.

The noble Baroness, Lady Thomas of Winchester, raised accessibility to buildings and housing. We are also assessing disabled people’s needs in the built environment more generally. In June 2021 we commissioned research, as part of a full review of Part M of the building regulations, on the prevalence and demographics of impairment in England and the ergonomic requirements and experience of wheelchair users and disabled people. The research is looking at the size and layouts in toilets and the range of facilities needed to suit our population. Work is under way to develop robust data and evidence to help government consider what potential changes can be made to statutory guidance covering access to and the use of buildings.

As part of the review, government consulted from 8 September to 1 December on options to raise the accessibility of new homes, recognising the importance of suitable homes for older and disabled people. The consultation proposed whether to wait to see the full impact of recent planning policy changes on the use of the optional technical standards, or whether and how changes could be made by either mandating a higher standard or reconsidering the way existing optional standards are used, including set proportions for wheelchair user homes.

This is a technical and important piece of work. We have analysed all the responses, which have been comprehensive and have helped inform our work on how best to raise accessibility standards of new homes. We will set out our plans in due course. Evidence gathered will help government consider what changes can be made, including reviewing and potentially tightening the regulatory framework to deliver accessible new homes and updates to statutory guidance.

Our planning rules already mean that councils must consider the needs of older and disabled people when planning new homes. We have also given councils guidance on options they should consider, such as housing with improved accessibility, to enable older and disabled people to live more safely and independently.

The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, raised private hire vehicles. The committee’s report, and noble Lords’ contributions to this debate, raised accessibility to taxis. On 28 March we launched a public consultation on the updated best practice guidance document aimed at local licensing authorities, incorporating strengthened recommendations on the provision of an inclusive service. The consultation closed yesterday, and work is now starting to assess the views of stakeholders.

A wide range of stakeholders responded to the consultation, and we will consider their responses carefully before finalising the guidance. We hope that, once published substantively, the guidance document will support licensing authorities to ensure that the taxi and PHV services they regulate provide a genuinely inclusive and accessible service, meeting the needs of those who rely on it.

In the meantime, the Government remain committed to improving the experience of disabled taxi and PHV passengers—a commitment the committee welcomed in its report. Subject to parliamentary time, we will legislate to mandate the completion of disability awareness training by taxi and PHV drivers as part of national minimum standards. We also recently supported the Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Disabled Persons) Bill, which gained Royal Assent on 28 April, introducing improved rights for disabled people travelling by taxi and PHV. Together, we hope these measures will allow more disabled people to use this vital mode of transport with much greater confidence.

I am sure that noble Lords will also want to know what advice and support is available to disabled people concerned about taxis, and indeed the full range of service provision across the economy. The Government sponsor a free helpline, the Equality Advisory and Support Service, which provides support and advice to anyone in England, Scotland or Wales who feels they may have suffered discrimination. It receives approximately 35,000 contacts per year, of which about 70% are queries relating to disability. This means that the government helpline assists in more than 24,000 disability-related issues a year.

The EASS works closely with organisations such as Disability Rights UK to ensure that its services are widely accessible to those with a range of disabilities, offering: a textphone system alongside the main telephone number; British Sign Language via a video conference call that a deaf individual can access via the EASS website; video calls to individuals who are visual learners within the autistic spectrum who would find it difficult to process advice via voice channels; a webchat service that offers an accessible route for people who choose to type rather than use the telephone; documents in accessible formats such as large print alongside different font options, colours and sizes, which are posted to individuals; documents in Braille; and an email, transcript or audio file of a call or advice for individuals who find it difficult to recall information provided.

Finally, government services are working for disabled people across a range of other important areas, including the following.

As more disabled people are starting new jobs, there has been an increased number of people applying for support through Access to Work. We have delivered improvements to the Access to Work programme to meet this increase in demand.

The autumn 2021 spending review has allowed the Department for Education to deliver an additional £1 billion for children and young people with more complex needs, including those with a disability, in 2022-23, bringing the total high-needs budget next year to over £9 billion.

In collaboration with ACAS, BEIS launched an online advice hub in July 2021, containing clear, accessible information and advice on employment rights for disabled people.

The DfE contributed £9.3 million in the 2021-22 financial year to fund the training of more educational psychologists, increasing the number of trainee educational psychologists each year to over 200.

The Rail Delivery Group and the Department for Transport have introduced a new Passenger Assistance app, with over 80,000 users of the app supported to receive over 400,000 different forms of assistance.

To make housing more accessible, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities published a new National Model Design Code in July 2021, setting out comprehensive guidance on the design of homes and neighbourhoods for local planning authorities. The guidance emphasises the importance of designing new development, including public spaces and play areas, in a way that creates safe, inclusive, accessible and active environments.

To support people in court proceedings, the MoJ brought a new revised victims’ code into force in England and Wales on 1 April 2021, which set out enhanced rights for disabled people, as well as other victims.

The Cabinet Office has launched an enhanced programme of disability and access ambassadors, expanding to include 19 ambassadors, senior business leaders who help to ensure businesses are doing all they can to support their disabled customers.

BEIS published a consultation on making flexible working the default in September 2021. Flexible working can be particularly valuable for those who need to balance their personal lives with their working lives, including those with caring responsibilities. The consultation closed on 1 December, having received over 1,600 responses.

The Department of Health and Social Care’s adult social care reform White Paper, People at the Heart of Care, published in December 2021, reflected the needs of disabled people.

I will try to answer some of the specific questions that noble Lords raised. Both the noble Baronesses, Lady Deech and Lady Thornton, raised the issue of the disability strategy, in particular in relation to the judicial review. The national disability strategy set out our ambition to improve the lives of disabled people. We are disappointed by and strongly disagree with the High Court’s finding, and the Secretary of State has sought permission to appeal its declaration. While awaiting a decision on permission to appeal from the Court of Appeal, we are required to take steps to comply with the court’s declaration. We will do everything we can to limit the impact of this ruling on disabled people but, to ensure compliance with the court’s declaration, we are obliged to pause a limited number of policies which are referred to in the strategy or are directly connected to it. We remain committed to improving opportunities and outcomes for disabled people as we await the outcome of the appeal.

As I said, in less than a year, we passed the British Sign Language Act and the Down Syndrome Act. Our intent is still to create more opportunities for disabled people to participate and thrive; to protect and promote the rights of disabled people; and to tackle the barriers that prevent disabled people from fully benefiting from and contributing to every aspect of society.

The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, raised issues about the progress of legislation in relation to the public service ombudsman. The Government do not anticipate bringing forward legislation at this time. Should the Government take forward any ombudsman reform, we would run a full public consultation, including responses from equalities and disability organisations.

I have already referred to many of the things the Government are doing in taking leadership of these issues, and I am very happy to say that the ministerial disability champions were appointed in summer 2020 at the request of the Prime Minister to help drive the development and delivery of the national disability strategy. The champions meet quarterly through the year; during the development of the national disability strategy, it was set out that the Minister for Disabled People will continue to chair a quarterly meeting of the champions to drive progress.

Noble Lords raised the status of the role of the Minister for Women and Equalities, and how that needs to be a Cabinet post. I am unable to give noble Lords any good news on that. All I can say is that, as well as it being the prerogative of the Prime Minister to determine who sits in Cabinet, I will do my best in my role in the Lords to support all disabled people, and I will work as hard as I can. My colleague, Chloe Smith, Minister for Disabled People, is equally committed and, as I said, it would be good for us to meet after this debate to see what progress, if any, we can make.

The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, raised the point of the Cabinet social justice committee. Again, the Cabinet and its committees provide a framework for Ministers to consider and make collective decisions on policy issues, covering the full range of government business, including issues of equality and fairness.

The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, raised the issue of sports and accessible facilities. The Government’s sports strategy

“commits us to work with the football authorities to ensure that all clubs meet their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010 to provide reasonable adjustments to accommodate disabled spectators.”

We expect all sports and clubs to take the necessary action to fulfil their legal obligation under the Equality Act 2010 to make “reasonable adjustments” so that disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage when accessing sports venues.

The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, raised the public sector equality duty. It has very wide application, applying to all functions of most public bodies, to the public functions of other organisations and to every protected characteristic in the Act. It is often added to other grounds as part of a claim for judicial review, although a requirement to take all proportionate steps would be a positive duty. Inevitably, claims made against public authorities for failing in this duty would be setting negative, and possibly counterfactual, terms that the authorities should have taken this or that step—or, indeed, several successive steps—but had failed to do so. Arguments in the courts would focus on actions that had not happened and whether they would have been proportionate if they had happened. Adoption of the 2009-10 Bill amendment, as a way of moving to an outcome-focused duty, would, therefore, not simply be a shift in policy terms but raise potentially significant issues for legal bodies. The Government, therefore, take the view that the amendments to the public sector equality duty set out in Section 149 of the Equality Act should, in due course, be considered if or when any more general decision is taken to revise or replace the Act in future.

The noble Baroness, Lady Deech, also raised the issue of access to justice and the legal aid system. The Government remain committed to ensuring that access to justice is a reality for disabled people in exercising their rights and are continuing to carefully consider the issue. This includes examining the possibility of consulting on the feasibility of a potential pilot scheme testing the advantages and disadvantages of extending cost protection to disability claims. This is a key issue on which we aim to set out the way forward in the coming months.

The noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, raised the issue of disabled people’s access to housing. I have already referred to that in my closing speech, but the Government have consulted, as I said. We will wait to see the outcome of the consultation. Again, the consultation is part of a full review of Part M of the building regulations. Evidence gathered will help the Government consider what changes can be made, including reviewing and potentially tightening the regulatory framework to deliver accessible homes and update statutory guidance.

The noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, asked what accessible support and advice are available for disabled people who face discrimination. As I said, the Government sponsor a free helpline, which works in the ways I already described: textphones, sign language and video calls for those who need it.

We will continue to be ambitious to deliver meaningful policies to improve disabled people’s lives, and we will continue to ensure that the voice of disabled people is properly heard. We will continue to work closely with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations.