(Lab):...When I was preparing for the debate, I of
course read the relevant sections of the report from the Select
Committee on the Equality Act 2010 and Disability, chaired by the
noble Baroness, Lady Deech, who we will be hearing from later. I
will not seek to repeat many of the points in the report but will
merely say that it is very impressive work. My confession is that,
at the time of its publication last year, it entirely passed me by.
That is my fault, but I am probably not alone in having failed to
appreciate the significance of the report. It makes it abundantly
clear that the overwhelming evidence received was that the Equality
Act has been a retrograde step for disabled people, who had been
better served by the Disability Discrimination
Act and the previous, separate Disability
Rights Commission. This is a quite shocking finding. One has to
suppose that it is one of those examples of well-intentioned
legislation having unforeseen perverse consequences. In his
briefing notes for the debate and in his speech, the noble Lord,
, clearly highlights the
shortcomings of the Act for disabled people and, in particular, the
failures of subsection (9) and the concept of reasonable
adjustments...
(Con):..On Black Friday, no matter how bad the
bustle and crush is, how much blacker is it for those wheelchair
users and other access-impaired people who cannot even access the
stores to get to the bargains? I was fortunate to be on the board
of the Disability Rights Commission in the early 2000s when many of
the best features of the Disability Discrimination Act came
into force, not least those related to access to goods and
services. We knew at the time that this cuts across all of civic
society—retail, leisure and religion. Tiny steps effectively deny
people access to pay, play or pray...
of Dalston
(CB):...I served on the National Disability Council,
which advised the Government on the implementation of
the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as
soon as it came into force, and later on the Disability Rights
Commission, which had rather stronger powers. One thing I remember
from those days is that the DDA came in in three stages. The duty
to remove policies, procedures and practices which discriminated
against disabled people came in straightaway; the duty to provide
auxiliary aids and services, such as hearing loops, came in after
four years; and the duty to remove or alter physical features that
discriminated against disabled people came in after eight years. So
the removal of steps and the provision of ramps should have been
fully implemented and complied with as long ago as
2003...
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of
Trafford) (Con):...The noble Lord, , said that disability
should not have been included in the Equality Act 2010 with other
characteristics. I can only note that the committee chaired by
the noble Baroness, Lady Deech, recommended, and both Houses of
Parliament voted for, full harmonisation of all protected
characteristics at the time. The Act in fact preserved and added
to the protection for disabled people already in
the Disability Discrimination Act...
(Con):...I am
grateful to the noble Lord, of Dalston, for speaking in
the gap. I agree with him that reasonable adjustments should
cover every eventuality but, as all the evidence to the Select
Committee showed, it simply does not happen on the ground. I also
agree that these steps should already have been removed. When I
searched on Google for “reasonable steps” and “getting rid of
steps”, nearly all the hits were for companies advising people
that, because of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995,
they had to remove steps. I could not find a single Google hit
saying that they had to get rid of steps because of the 2010 Act.
All the examples listed had done so because of the DDA 1995. I
can also tell the noble Lord that I looked at Section 22. It
gives the Minister order-making powers but not to do the specific
things suggested in my Bill. Therefore, it does not technically
cover what I am seeking to achieve here...
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