Policy paper

2019 Progress Report on the UK’s vision to build a society which is fully inclusive of disabled people

Updated 14 October 2019

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Foreword

The UK Government is as committed as ever to creating a society that works for everyone, where all are included and can participate fully. Across the country we are creating more opportunities for disabled people to participate and thrive by identifying the greatest barriers to their involvement and making changes to remove these. This Government is intent on eliminating barriers so that everyone can participate in society. Our agenda is to ensure that all people, no matter their disability, have choice and control over their own lives and are able to live the lives they choose to lead.

To build on this, we recently announced the launch of a new cross-Government approach on disability, led by a new unit based in the Cabinet Office. This move brings disability to the very heart of Government and recognises that disabled people face barriers across a wide range of aspects of their lives. This new unit will work closely with disabled people to ensure that lived experience underpins regular and coordinated action across Government. We also announced work to strengthen the evidence base on disability and improve engagement with disabled people and their organisations. There are also forthcoming consultations on accessibility standards, aspects of welfare and consumer outcomes for disabled people.

This new approach will build on the great work already going on across the UK to continue to eliminate barriers so that everyone can participate in society. As this report shows, we are supporting more disabled people into work and enabling every child to fulfil their potential in education. We are investing in a transport system accessible for everyone. We are providing world class health provision for all. We are paving the way to make sport accessible for everyone. We are enabling more people to access public places and enjoy life and creating a public service that reflects the society it serves. We are also improving the lives of disabled people across the world through our international development work.

In addition, we have spearheaded a change in attitudes towards mental health and hidden disabilities. We have invested heavily in improving mental health services, and across Government are recognising the needs of people with hidden disabilities when developing new policies.

This report complements the UK’s formal report to the UN Committee for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The formal report shows how Government is working towards achieving its vision across a wide range of issues: welfare provision, social care, the renewed investment in the National Health Service (NHS), on-going work to tackle hate crime, and engaging with stakeholders. These highlight how the UK is listening to stakeholders and implementing change.

I look forward to seeing where the next year of progress will take us, and to sharing these developments with the Committee. Most of all, I look forward to the realisation of a UK in which disabled people are truly fully included.

Justin Tomlinson MP
Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work

Progress on the UK’s vision to build a society which is fully inclusive of disabled people

1. The UK Government is committed to creating a society that works for everyone, where all are included, and we are intent on eliminating barriers so that everyone can participate in society. This report highlights some of the positive work going on across the UK, and reflects how England, the Scottish and Welsh Governments and the Northern Ireland Executive are working alongside each other to support disabled people and ensure full participation in society.

Equality at the Centre of Government

2. The UK supported the development of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), and was one of the first nations to sign up to it. The Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010) provides some of the strongest equalities legislation in the world to ensure that every disabled person lives free from discrimination and harassment.

3. The Equality Act 2010’s Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) places a legal duty on public bodies to consider the impact of policies on people with protected characteristics. Against this strong legal framework, policies continue to be built across Government that create a strong foundation for a society that works for everyone. Recent examples of cross-Government work include:

• in June 2019, the UK Government launched a new cross-Government approach on disability, involving setting up a new team in the Cabinet Office, to drive forward this agenda from the centre of Government. We also announced a commitment to strengthen the evidence base on disability

• a new Inter-Ministerial Group on Disability and Society was set up in spring 2018 to drive coordinated action across Government, and implement the UNCRPD

• to improve engagement with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations we are setting up new Regional Stakeholder Networks in England. These will draw on views from disabled people and their organisations in local areas to engage them in shaping policies and services

• we have appointed 18 Sector Champions to raise awareness of the needs of disabled consumers and encourage their sectors to improve the accessibility and quality of their services and facilities for disabled people

Improving Employment Opportunities

4. The UK Government’s employment policies and initiatives are proving effective at eliminating barriers and contributing to positive trends. Our 2017 goal was to see one million more disabled people in employment by 2027. Between 2017 and 2019, the number of disabled people in employment increased by 404,000. As of the first quarter of 2019, there are 3.9 million working age disabled people in employment in the UK – but we have much more work to do.

Innovation in Support into Work

5. We want to continue to develop and invest in effective models that support disabled people to get into paid employment. We are currently investing in:

• a £39m initiative to double the number of Employment Advisers in talking therapy services for people with common mental health problems;

• working with NHS England to test whether Individual Placement and Support (IPS), a well evidenced based model of employment support for individuals with severe mental illness, can improve health and employment outcomes for people with physical and mild-to-moderate mental health conditions

• a £3.9m Challenge Fund focused on smaller-scale initiatives to work with organisations that support people with mental health and/or musculoskeletal conditions with the challenges they face in retaining employment;

• providing claimants with the opportunity to access personalised support in Jobcentre Plus to help them move closer to work; and

• providing more support for front line colleagues in Jobcentre Plus to help disabled people to progress

6. To continue to learn from disabled people and experts around new ways of improving health and employment outcomes, on the 15 July the UK Government launched a major consultation on how to reduce ill-health related job loss. This aims to ensure the right support is provided to people who have or develop disabilities and health conditions whilst in work, to allow them to thrive and progress in their careers.

7. The Scottish Government promotes the principles of Fair Work. An action plan was launched in early 2019 which sets out how to promote growth to include all people, including disabled people. Alongside this, the Scottish Workplace Equality Fund supports employers to make innovative changes that benefit employers and workers. In 2019/20, the Fund is expanding to work with more employers to address long-standing barriers in the labour market, including barriers for disabled people.

Engaging with Employers

8. Employers are helping the UK Government achieve our employment target for disabled people. The work we do with employers is paramount to this success:

• the Disability Confident scheme was developed to encourage and support employers to recruit, retain and develop disabled people. As of May 2019, around 12,000 employers had already joined the scheme, and that number continues to grow. The UK Government recently announced to continue working with employers to aim to reach 20,000 sign ups to the scheme over the coming year. The success of the scheme can be seen in a survey of Disability Confident employers (November 2018), suggesting that Disability Confident has had a significant impact on disability employment practices. 49% of employers surveyed reported they had recruited at least one person with a disability or health condition as a result of the scheme, rising to 66% amongst larger employers

• as a result of Thriving at Work: a review of mental health and employers, the UK Government has published the Voluntary Reporting Framework. The Framework encourages organisations with over 250 employees to record and report information on disability, mental health and wellbeing in the workplace

Accessible Apprenticeships

9. The UK Government continues to deliver the recommendations of the Maynard Taskforce to improve access to apprenticeships in England for disabled people. We want to see a 20% increase in the proportion of starts by people with Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities (LDD), up from a baseline of 9.9% in 2015/16 to 11.9% by 2020. We have already seen an increase from 10.3% in 2016/17 to 11.2% in 2017/18, so are confident we will achieve this target. To do this, legislation was introduced to allow the minimum English and Maths requirements for apprenticeships to be adjusted for a defined group of people with LDD to entry level 3. We are also developing easy-read and audio versions of our apprenticeship guidance to help promote inclusivity.

10. In Scotland, Skills Development Scotland published an Equalities Action Plan for Apprenticeships in 2015. Since April 2017, apprentices with a disability have received the highest level of Modern Apprenticeship funding for their chosen framework up to and including the age of 29. Annual statistics published in June 2019 showed 14.1% of Modern Apprenticeship starts self-identified as disabled or with a health condition in 2018/19 (2.8 percentage points higher than 2017/18).

11. In December 2018, the Welsh Government launched their Inclusive Apprenticeships Disability Action Plan. This sets out practical actions to remove barriers for disabled people who are trying to access the apprenticeship programme. Implementation of the plan is currently underway and progress will be reported on annually.

Inclusive Education

12. The UK Government’s vision for disabled children and young people is the same as for everyone else; to enable them to fulfil their potential in education, and go on to live happy and fulfilled lives. The UK Government is focussing on removing barriers to learning and participation in education for children with learning difficulties.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Reform

13. The SEND reforms introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014 were the biggest in a generation. Since then the UK Government has given £391m to local areas to support implementation of new duties under the Act. To ensure consistency across England our focus is improving the quality of Education, Health and Care plans (for those with complex needs) and of SEND support in schools and colleges.

14. Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) is Scotland’s national approach to improving the wellbeing of children and young people. Scottish Government and partners are working to refresh materials to guide and support practitioners to deliver GIRFEC locally. The work to update GIRFEC policy guidance will assist all those working in children and families’ services to ensure that organisational cultures, systems and practices accurately reflect the national policy ambition of GIRFEC.

15. The Welsh Government are providing £20m package of funding to deliver the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Transformation Programme. This Programme, starting beginning of 2020, will ensure children and young people aged 0-25 with additional learning needs are provided for within an inclusive education system.

16. In Northern Ireland the SEND Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 introduces new duties for the Education Authority and schools and new rights for the child. Draft regulations based on the Act will be finalised in 2019 with a draft Code of Practice which will provide practical guidance for schools; both the Regulations and the Code will be issued for consultation in late 2019. Just over £4m has been provided to the Education Authority since 2018/19 to provide the necessary training for staff in the Education Authority and schools to ensure they are ready for a staged implementation of the new Framework from 2020.

Mental Health Support

17. Following on from the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper, the UK Government is establishing Mental Health Support Teams linked to schools and colleges in England. This will provide interventions for children and young people with mild-to-moderate mental health issues, as well as providing support to staff within education settings. In December 2018, we announced 25 Trailblazer sites which will run the first wave of 59 Mental Health Support Teams. These first Mental Health Support Teams will be fully operational by the end of 2019. On 12 July 2019, we announced that a further 124 Mental Health Support Teams are to be set up across 57 sites.

18. The Scottish Government are investing £20m over the next four years to provide more than 80 additional counsellors in Further and Higher Education. They also want to see wrap-around support for students throughout their study.

Investment in Further and Higher Education

19. Disabled Students’ Allowances ensures higher education students who require more specialist help can get access to equipment, software and personal support. It is available to disabled students on Higher Education courses across the UK. Alongside this:

• a Disabled Students’ Commission is being developed by the Office for Students to examine barriers faced by disabled students in Higher Education and improve support for them to succeed

• the Scottish Funding Council supports universities to meet their obligations under EA 2010 and the Scottish Public Sector Equality Duty. The Scottish Government provided £2.8m in 2018/19 to support disabled students, enabling institutions and course provisions to be more inclusive for students. Colleges have access to a £50.5m Access and Inclusion Fund to help them ensure equity of access for all students, including those requiring mental health support

• the Welsh Government will be carrying out a review of Disabled Students’ Allowances policy in Wales to ensure funding is being targeted effectively

• in Northern Ireland, the Executive provides colleges with £4.5m of additional funding annually through the Additional Support Fund, to support students with LDD to access Further Education

Better Transport for all

20. The UK Government continues to strive towards a transport system that eliminates barriers and offers equal access to everyone by 2030.

Inclusive Transport Strategies and Frameworks

21. The UK Government published its Inclusive Transport Strategy in July 2018, and since then has engaged with disabled people on its implementation and established the Inclusive Transport Stakeholder Group. In December 2018, the Government published a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. In July 2019 we published the Inclusive Transport Strategy: Summary of Progress, a report on some of the significant milestones achieved and our continued work to deliver on the Strategy’s commitments.

22. In April 2019, the Department for Transport published details of the 73 rail stations that will receive a share of the additional £300m committed to the Access for All programme which provides accessibility improvements. A further £2m is being invested in the construction of more accessible forms of toilets at motorway services, known as “Changing Places”. The Green Paper, Aviation 2050, proposes a new Passenger Charter which has a focus on the needs of disabled travellers and will develop new standards where necessary.

23. Supporting this are three Sector Champions (working across the bus, rail and airport networks) who share good practice so that more transport providers consider the needs of disabled travellers in their sectors.

24. The Scottish Government has liaised with disabled people’s organisations and others to co-produce the Going Further - Scotland’s Accessible Travel Framework. This ten-year Framework published in 2016 sets out Scotland’s vision and outcomes for accessible travel. In June 2019 the first annual delivery plan was published, setting out specific priorities for 2019/2020.

25. The Welsh Government’s new Framework – Action on Disability: The Right to Independent Living includes a commitment to improve accessibility of public transport for disabled people. It monitors passenger satisfaction with railway stations, ensures all new and refurbished stations are designed alongside the principles of the social model of disability and monitors the accessibility of local bus services.

26. The UK Government are also completing a review specifically looking towards the long term future of the rail sector. The review will consider how to prioritise the interests of passengers, including how to ensure that the railway is more accessible to all its potential users.

Blue Badge Scheme

27. The UK Government are keen to ensure the Blue Badge scheme continues to play a vital role in allowing disabled people in England to maintain their independence through special national parking concessions. We believe the Blue Badge scheme should not discriminate in principle between physical and non-physical impairments or conditions. This is in accordance with the Government’s manifesto commitment to give parity of esteem to mental and physical health conditions.

28. The current rules embrace all conditions, physical or otherwise, but it has become clear to us that the regulations and guidance are not clearly understood by local authorities. People with “hidden” disabilities may be finding it difficult to access Badges, even though their condition causes them very significant difficulties when undertaking a journey. Therefore, we published updated guidance in June 2019 for local authorities to extend the scheme and enable assessment of eligibility of people with non-physical (hidden) disabilities. This change is the biggest in nearly 50 years with the extended criteria coming into force on 30 August 2019 and Government providing an additional £1.7m in 2019/20 to local authorities to administer the scheme.

World-class Health Provision

29. The UK Government is committed to providing the highest quality health service in the world, built on the guiding principles of the NHS: that access to healthcare is based on need and not the ability to pay, and that services are comprehensive and available to all.

30. In 2018, the Government announced £33.9bn of additional funding for the NHS in England by 2023/24. The NHS Long-Term Plan, launched in January 2019, sets out priorities for the next ten years, one of which is to reduce the health gap between disabled people and non-disabled people. This includes a focus on people with learning disabilities, autism or mental health conditions, to support them to live full, healthy and independent lives.

Strategic Approach on Autism

31. As a result of the 2014 ‘Think Autism’ cross-Government Strategy, there is improved diagnosis of autism, greater awareness of autism amongst society, and more organisations are making reasonable adjustments for people with autism.

32. The UK Government is reviewing the ‘Think Autism’ Strategy, to ensure it remains fit for purpose. The refreshed cross-Government all age autism strategy will be launched by the end of 2019.

33. In Wales, the Autistic Spectrum Disorder Strategic Action Plan supports people with autism and their families. To improve wellbeing outcomes for people with autism, the Welsh Government will publish and implement a Code of Practice on the Delivery of Autism Services under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and the NHS (Wales) Act 2006.

Improving Mental Health

34. The NHS Long Term Plan reaffirms the Government’s commitment to achieving parity of esteem for mental health. Mental health funding will grow by at least £2.3bn a year by 2023/24, with a commitment that funding for children and young people mental health services will grow faster than both overall NHS funding and total mental health spending. This will give 380,000 more adults access to psychological therapies and 345,000 more children and young people greater support in the next five years. The NHS will also roll out new waiting times targets to ensure rapid access to mental health services in the community for those that need it, and expand crisis care.

35. The Government is looking to reform its Mental Health Act that people subject to it have greater autonomy and influence over their care. An independent review into the Act reported last year. The Government has already accepted some of its recommendations in principle, including to give people more choice and control, through new statutory advance choice documents, to allow people to choose who can act for them, and to take forward recommendations made by the review to tackle the disproportionate number of people from BAME groups who are detained under the Act, including establishing a new race equality framework for NHS mental health services. The Government will respond in full, publishing a white paper by the end of the year.

36. The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act received Royal Assent in May 2019. The Act amends the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in relation to procedures by which a person may be deprived of liberty for the purpose of care or treatment where the person lacks capacity to consent. Implementation is expected to take place in late 2020.

37. The Welsh Government continues to deliver the ten-year cross-Government strategy; ‘Together for Mental Health’ to improve mental health and wellbeing across all ages. The 2019-2022 delivery plan is being developed, and will be shaped by the progress made against the 2016-2019 plan.

38. In Northern Ireland, the Mental Capacity Act (Northern Ireland) was enacted in May 2016. Its first phase will commence in October 2019 and will provide a statutory framework to ensure a person’s rights are protected.

Learning Disabilities

39. The Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Programme is designed to ensure that there is continual learning about the causes of premature mortality in people with learning disabilities and how to save more people’s lives. It builds a detailed picture of key improvements needed and is the world’s largest evidence base on this issue. We are also expanding the Stopping Over-Medication of People with a learning disability, autism or both and Supporting Treatment and Appropriate Medication in Paediatrics (STOMP-STAMP) programmes.

40. In the NHS Long Term Plan we have committed to introduce seven-day specialist multidisciplinary service and crisis care. These community-based teams will support people closer to home and reduce reliance on inpatient care so that by 2023/24 the number of people with learning disabilities and/or autism who are mental health inpatients is less than half that of 2015.

41. In early 2019 the Scottish Government published their refreshed learning disability strategy ‘The Keys to Life’. There is a strong emphasis on and commitment to culture and behaviour change, underpinning the right that people with learning disabilities have to make choices about their lives and to play a full part in their communities.

Accessible Facilities

42. To ensure the NHS Estate is truly inclusive, the UK Government is investing £2m into the provision of Changing Places accessible toilets and changing facilities. This will ensure people with profound and multiple learning and physical disabilities are able to use toilets safely and comfortably in hospital buildings.

43. The Scottish Government consulted in spring 2019 on the provision of Changing Places Toilets for certain types of large new buildings through the Scottish building standards system. The proposal was strongly supported and is being refined taking into account comments made during the consultation.

44. The Welsh Government is currently considering options to increase the provision of changing places toilets in publically accessible buildings, including potential changes to grant spending and planning/building regulation requirements.

Increasing Sporting Activity

45. The London 2012 Paralympics was our game changer for getting the nation thinking about the abilities behind disability. As set out in the Sporting Future strategy, the UK Government is determined to eliminate barriers so that all disabled people can participate in their chosen sport or activity, whether at grassroots or elite level, as well as access sports venues.

46. UK Sport is investing £74.9m into 18 summer Paralympic sports for Tokyo 2020, an increase of over £2m since Rio 2016. UK Sport has also invested £3.9m into the recent PyeongChang 2014-2018 winter Paralympic cycle, an increase of over £3m since Sochi 2014.

47. Sport England, England’s national sport council, is investing over £250m over four years to tackle physical inactivity, remove barriers to participation and encourage sport bodies to make sport more accessible. Sport England reports that 44.8% of disabled people are active, reflecting a gradual increase.

48. The Physical Activity Sector Champion is working with disabled people’s organisations and sport centres to encourage greater take up of sporting activities among disabled people.

49. Through Sport Wales, the Welsh Government provides financial support to Disability Sport Wales. This funding enables partnership working with local authorities to encourage grassroots participation; supports the development of para-athletes eligible for elite sport; and influences the sector to include disabled people.

50. The UK Government expect all sports and all clubs to fulfil their legal obligations under the EA 2010 so that disabled people can access sports venues. Work continues across Government, with sports stakeholders and disabled supporters’ groups, to ensure that accessibility for disabled people to sports venues remains a priority.

Inclusive Public Places

51. The UK Government recognises that inaccessible public spaces, such as visitor attractions and retail businesses, limit disabled people’s participation in social life, and we are intent on eliminating these barriers. Section 20 of the EA 2010 places a duty on all organisations to make reasonable adjustments to ensure all services are inclusive and accessible to disabled people.

52. Several Sector Champions (including those for Arts and Culture, Countryside and Heritage and Tourism) have been working to improve access to venues as well as encouraging greater training for staff to enable a better welcome for disabled visitors.

53. VisitScotland publishes guides giving practical advice to businesses in Scotland. The guides set out inclusive practices for events, attractions and tourist destinations, to ensure the widest range of customers can participate.

Inclusive Retail Experience

54. To improve disabled customers’ experience of retail services, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work and the Retail Sector Champion jointly chair a regular Retail Forum. This was instrumental in developing “Purple Tuesday”, the UK’s first accessible shopping day. Purple Tuesday 2018 celebrated the power of the purple pound (i.e. £249bn spending power of disabled people and their families) through businesses committing to improve their offer to disabled customers on their websites and through customer service training. More than 750 organisations including retailers and retail property groups took part in Purple Tuesday, along with 50 disability organisations, and the day was endorsed by the UK Government. Purple Tuesday 2019 will take place in November.

55. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will also be setting out plans to work with departments, regulators and stakeholders to improve consumer outcomes for disabled people through developing metrics to compare how well companies deliver for disabled customers in essential markets.

Inclusive Heritage Attractions

56. The Government invests in the Arts Council England and provides additional funding to ensure museums are accessible and offer programmes that welcome all visitors. The funding enables museums to run programmes for people with specific disabilities and health conditions, including dementia-friendly and autism programmes, and guided tours for blind and partially-sighted visitors.

57. The Welsh Government works with its partners to improve accessibility information for disabled visitors who are looking for places to stay or visit, and signpost tourism businesses to initiatives which can help improve their provision for disabled visitors. Visitor research, including consulting with disabled people, will be carried out at historic sites and monuments throughout Wales to inform future strategies and policies on accessibility for visitors. A new guidance document will explain how to plan and improve access to listed buildings in Wales for all.

58. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland supports organisations to improve disabled people’s access to the arts. These organisations range from being entirely focussed on arts and disability to wider arts programming schedules running disability-focussed projects.

Increasing Diversity in Public Service

59. The UK Government recognises the benefits of a diverse public service and public appointments that are representative of society, and wants to eliminate barriers so that more people can access public appointments and take part in public service.

A Diverse Civil Service

60. The UK Civil Service’s ambition is to be the UK’s most inclusive employer and building disability inclusion is an integral part of creating “A Brilliant Civil Service”. As such, all main Ministerial Departments have achieved independently accredited Disability Confident Leader status under the UK Government’s Disability Confident Scheme. The Civil Service Disability Champion, Sir Philip Rutnam, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, has also set out his vision for a disability confident and inclusive Civil Service. The main priorities include:

• continuing to improve workplace adjustments;
• engaging leaders at every level, to create an inclusive culture where all can thrive;
• improving the existing support on managing mental health;
• improving the talent pipeline of disabled colleagues, with greater access to development opportunities and improving recruitment practices;
• halving the engagement gap between disabled and non-disabled staff; and
• monitoring progress towards Civil Service targets to increase the flow of new disabled staff into the Senior Civil Service

61. The Civil Society Strategy committed the Government to use its buying power to drive social change and in June 2018, the Government announced it will, in future, take better account of social benefits in the award of its contracts. The overarching objective for the Government’s commercial activities will remain achieving the best commercial outcome but it is right that Government applies its commissioning to supporting key social outcomes. The new approach to delivering social value through Government’s commercial activities goes further than the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012 by requiring central Government departments to take account of social impact as part of the award criteria, where the social impact is linked to the subject-matter of the contract and proportionate to what is being procured.

62. This new ‘light-touch’ ’model, defines this Government’s commercial objectives for social value, articulating it in terms of strategic policy priorities, and represents the minimum standard on social value that we expect departments to consider in their procurement activity. The new model covers a range of priority policy outcomes including on supply chain accessibility and inclusion, specifically to ensure supply chains are accessible to all types of businesses, including businesses owned or led by under-represented groups, such as disabled people. As well as ensuring businesses in the supply chain encourage increased representation of disabled people in the workforce.

Supporting Disabled Members of the Armed Forces

63. The Ministry of Defence is shaping how to best manage and support the needs of the Armed Forces personnel, who are diagnosed with a life changing or life-limiting condition. The Armed Forces Chronic Conditions and Disability in Defence (CanDiD) Network was set up in June 2018 to provide education and support to managers, policy makers, service personnel and carers of service personnel.

64. Defence Recovery Capability is a highly successful Government and third sector partnership. It provides the framework within which all serving service personnel who are wounded, injured or sick are provided with the appropriate support to enable an effective return to duty or supported transition to civilian life.

Improving Access to Public Office

65. The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to increasing the diversity of those who sit on the boards of public bodies by publishing a refreshed Public Appointments Diversity Action Plan alongside its response to an independent review into opening up public appointments for disabled people, led by Lord Holmes of Richmond.

66. Accepting the principle of all Lord Holmes’ recommendations, the refreshed Public Appointments Diversity Action Plan sets out a roadmap for realising the Government’s ambition to open up public appointments, so that those who sit on the boards of public bodies are more representative of the society they serve. It commits to improving the quality of data on appointees so that it can take a decision on what the Government’s ambition for the numbers of disabled people appointed to boards should be by the end of 2020.

67. In England, the Government is working with disability organisations to help political parties to better support disabled candidates. The interim £250,000 EnAble Fund for Elected Office opened in December 2018, and provides grants that cover disability-related expenses. The Fund supported around 40 candidates in the English local elections in May 2019 and an independent evaluation has been commissioned. Furthermore, earlier this year the UK Government passed legislation to exclude disability-related expenses from candidates’ spending limits.

68. The Scottish Government funds the Access to Elected Office fund. This provides financial support to disabled people running for elected office with any additional impairment-related costs. In 2019 the Scottish Government are funding a scheme which supports disabled people to shadow board members from public bodies.

69. The Welsh Government is developing a diversity strategy for public appointments, looking at the accessibility of the application process for protected groups, including disabled people.

Inclusive International Development

70. We are determined to improve the lives of disabled people not just in the UK, but in developing countries too through our international development work and humanitarian response.

71. In December 2018, the Department for International Development (DFID) published its first ever Disability Inclusive Development Strategy. This five-year Strategy sets out an approach to put disability at the heart of the UK’s international development work, with a strong focus on engagement and empowerment of people with disabilities. It identifies three cross-cutting areas which will be instrumental to delivering change:

• empowering disabled women and girls;
• tackling stigma and discrimination; and
• ensuring access to affordable and accessible technology

72. Work is taking place to ensure all Official Development Assistance spend across Government is more disability inclusive. But we cannot create this change alone. In July 2018, we hosted the UK Government’s first ever Global Disability Summit, in partnership with the International Disability Alliance, and the Government of Kenya. The Summit raised global attention on disability inclusion, secured high-level attendance from governments and organisations around the world, and generated over 170 sets of ambitious new commitments for disability inclusive development.

73. However, the success of the Summit will be measured by progress made in the months and years to come. Hence, the Government is building an accountability process to ensure Summit stakeholders hold each other to account and translate promises into lasting action for disabled people. In April 2019, we launched a self-reporting process to inform the first monitoring report which will be published later this year.

74. DFID has launched two new programmes to increase access to assistive technology. In March this year DFID announced a scale-up of its AT2030 (assistive technology) programme delivered through a Global Disability Innovation Hub led consortium. The additional £9.8m brings the overall programme investment to £19.8m, with 100% match funding from the private sector, NGOs, governments and other organisations. The programme will now triple its impact, reaching 9 million people across the world by improving access to life-changing assistive technology (e.g. wheelchairs, hearing-aids, prosthetics, PDAs and eye glasses).

75. The UK is also a founding member of ATscale, the Global Partnership for assistive technology, to which DFID has publicly committed £20m. ATscale will bring to assistive technology the market shaping approaches that have been successfully used over the last decade to cut prices and increase access to life-saving health commodities such as vaccines and medicines. Together with other Governments, UN agencies, disabled people’s organisations, and NGOs, ATscale aims to catalyse access to assistive technology for 500 million people by 2030.

76. The UK Government is committed to stepping up international work on psychosocial disabilities and mental health. Support is being provided to the Time to Change campaign to share its approach with low and middle-income Commonwealth countries, to develop their own grass-roots community approach to address mental health stigma, and increase awareness and understanding of the experiences of people with mental health conditions.

Conclusion

77. We have made great steps in the last year towards creating a society that works for everyone. This report reflects the work across the UK and developments since the UK’s reports in 2018. However, there is always more that can be done to drive forward action across Government and we are intent on eliminating barriers so everyone can participate in society. The launch of the new cross-Government approach will ensure progress continues.