27 February 2004 - Curbing discrimination in the council chamber
Councillors who are disabled are to be protected from discrimination under Government proposals published today.
A new clause in the draft Disability Discrimination Bill would extend the Disability Discrimination Act to cover discrimination by local authorities against their members. Councillors would be protected from disability discrimination when carrying out the official business of their authority. The duties on local authorities would also include a duty to make reasonable adjustments to the working environment for councillors.
Minister for Disabled People Maria Eagle said:
“Full participation by disabled people in public life is long overdue. By ensuring proper protection from disability discrimination we hope to make local authorities more representative of their local communities and to bring more diverse experiences to council decision-making.
“We know of cases where councillors have been unable to carry out their official business simply because of colleagues’ attitudes or physical barriers.
“This new measure would extend the protection of the Disability Discrimination Act to local councillors in a way which is similar to the protection that local government officers already have, whilst recognising that councillors are not employees of their local authority.
“It is part of a wider draft Bill that seeks to extend basic rights to areas of life in which we know disabled people continue to face discrimination.”
The measure would mean that a local authority could be under a duty to provide a disabled councillor with:
- access to suitable technology to help at committee meetings, such as the use of computer presentations to overcome a speech defect or a hearing loop to overcome a hearing impairment;
- council papers in larger print to help overcome a visual impairment;
- help in making representations on behalf of ward residents, such as help in dealing with their correspondence;
- appropriate transport so that the councillor can join fellow committee members on planning committee inspection tours in order to participate fully in all the discussions and not have to travel between sites on their own; or
- adjustments to the physical features of local authority premises to help a disabled councillor carry out his official business. This could include installing a ramp for a wheelchair user or grab rails for a councillor with some mobility difficulties.
Notes for editors
- The local councillors clause of the draft Disability Discrimination Bill would implement a recommendation made by the Disability Rights Taskforce in its 1999 report ““From Exclusion to Inclusion””. It is published today as Command Paper Cm 6126.
- The measure would protect disabled members of the Greater London Authority and local authorities in Great Britain (including parish and community councils) from being treated less favourably by the authority of which they are a member for a reason related to their disability without justification. It would also require local authorities to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled councillors to carry out their official business where, for example, a policy, practice or procedure of the authority put them at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled members and changes to physical features of premises occupied or controlled by local authorities. This is similar to the protection already afforded employees of local authorities under Part 2 of the existing Disability Discrimination Act.
- The draft Disability Discrimination Bill was published on 3 December 2003 and is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee of both Houses of Parliament. The joint committee is expected to report in April.
- Other measures in the draft Bill already announced are:
- a new positive duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people;
- the extension of the Disability Discrimination Act to cover almost all activities of the public sector, including such functions as issuing licences;
- bringing within the scope of the DDA more people diagnosed with the progressive conditions of HIV, MS or cancer;
- enabling disabled people to challenge discrimination when renting property and in their dealings with landlords and managers of rented premises; and
- bringing private members’ clubs with 25 or more members within the scope of the DDA.
- Further measures to end the exemption of the use of transport vehicles from the DDA duties on service providers and to set an ‘end date’ by which all rail vehicles will have to be accessible are likely to be added to the Bill at a later stage. These measures are presently the subject of consultation by the Department for Transport. For further information please contact Nick Turton on 020 7238 0756
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