How will the new Government handle disability?
Post categories: Disability
|17:17 PM, Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Just before the general election (seems a long time ago now, doesn't it?) You and Yours and In Touch ran question-and-answer sessions with the three major political parties on disability.
We asked what their policies would be towards disabled people on - employment, benefits, help for carers, etc.
Now a coalition government has arrived, begging many questions about what form its policies will take, and where there are differences between the two parties, which approach will gain the upper hand.
These are questions we intend to put to new ministers in the weeks to come, (dates yet to be confirmed), to try to obtain some clear answers for you.
For instance, there have already been intimations from the Department for Work and Pensions, under its new Secretary of State Iain Duncan-Smith, that they intend to re-visit, yet again, the numbers of people who claim benefit because they are deemed unable to work.
This is a vexed question and one which worries many disabled people because of the implication, which has come from governments regardless of their political colour in recent years, that many of those who are receiving benefits could and should be in jobs.
There have been various attempts by both Labour and Conservative governments in the past 20 years, to get numbers down. The most recent re-organisation was just a couple of years ago. And today You and Yours reported on Employment and Support Allowance assessments in Scotland where there are serious concerns about how people ability to work is assessed.
So what does the coalition have in mind and - as we suggested to our panel in those recent sessions - where will the jobs come from with two-and a-half million people currently out of work?
We are also revisiting plans to increase Disability Living Allowance to help blind people with travel costs, which were approved last year. It would be worth around £30 a week. Indications before the election were that these plans, due to be put in place next year, would be honoured, but with all the talk of cost-saving, will it still happen?
We'd also like to explore the balance between special and mainstream education, the likely shape of social care, whether there is more money for carers, many of whom tell us that they are saving social services and the NHS billions.
More generally - how will disability as an issue will be treated: will there be one minister responsible for disability issues across the board, or should it be dealt with by individual departments, rather than being regarded as a specialism?
As I say, we can't give precise dates for these broadcasts at the moment, but I will keep you posted. Good listening!
More on Disability Living Allowance
Peter White presents You and Yours and In Touch on BBC Radio 4
You & Yours is on BBC Radio 4 at 1200 weekdays. Listen to today's episode on the Radio 4 web site.
Comment number 1.
At 14:55 10th Jun 2010, eighty-eight wrote:Peter,
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Disability is having a meeting on 21 June 2010 where Maria Miller MP, Minister for Disabled People is going to answer the following questions:
1. What is your response to ‘Disabled People’s Priorities for a New Government’ from disabled people? (click here for the briefing)
2. What are your plans regarding the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) and its Roadmap to 2025?
3. How will you ensure that budget cuts – both at national and regional level – do not disproportionately affect disabled people?
4. Following the closure of the Independent Living Fund to new recipients, where will disabled people get the support to participate in society and work come from, now that local authorities are having to make significant cuts?
5. How do you intend to take forward the implementation and monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities?
Any chance that You and Yours can attend and let us know what Maria Miller says?
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Comment number 2.
At 16:27 10th Jun 2010, eighty-eight wrote:Thanks to the BBC nanny state which prohibits links to Word documents, if you want to see the "Disabled People’s Priorities for a New Government" report you will need to go to the APPDG page on the RADAR web site and click on the link under "2nd March: Disabled people’s priorities for the new Parliament Speakers: Jonathan Shaw MP, Mark Harper MP and John Barratt MP". Or maybe you shouldn't - who knows what terrible things RADAR are hosting on their web site?
Thanks BBC for making life so easy!
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Comment number 3.
At 15:45 2nd Mar 2011, desabled wrote:HOW WILL DISABILITY BE TREATED
SADLY PURE UNADULTERATED VICTIMISATION ANDDISABLISM
Rather than target the real cheats by investing inbenefit fraud investigators at the DWP THE GOVERNMENT IS CUTTING THE DEPARTMENTS
LEADING O MORE COST THROUGH ERROR AND A LOWERING OF THE NUMBER OF CAUGHT FRAUDSTERS ALSO COSTING MONEY
MEANWHILE THEYARE HITTING THE MOST VULNERABLE GENUINE CLAIMANTS WITH CUTS
THE DEMEANING CWA IS TO BEC ROLLED OUT EVEN THOUGH THE MINISTER RESPONSIBLE ADMITS IT IS A MESS AND THE GOVERNMENT'S OWN REVIEW BY A PROMINENT CONSULTANT OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST DECLARED THE CAPACITY TO WORK ASSESSMENT UNFIT FOR PURPOSEUNFORTUNATELY NOBODY HAS YET TO TEST THE GOVERNMENT BENEFIT CUTS IN THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS WHERE THE GOVERNMENT COULD WELL LOSETHERE MUST BE A WEALTHY PHILANTHROPIC DISABLED PERSON OUTHERE WHO COULD BRING A CASE ON BEHALF OF THIS MOST VULNERABLE SECTION OF OUR SOCIETYTHE NEW ESA AND PLANNED REPLACEMENT FOR DLA THE PIP WILL RESULT IN MASSIVE SAVINGS FOR THE GOVERNMENT AND REAL TERMS SERIOUS CUTS TO THE INCOMEOF THOUSANDS OF IMPOVERISHED DISABLED PEOPLE CROSS THE COUNTRYTHOSE MAKING THESE DECISIONS ARE NOTHING SHORT OF PUBLIC SCHOOL BULLIES PICKING ON THE EASIEST AVAILABLE TARGETS
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