The Last Few Months

Jonathan Shaw, Minister for Disabled People, discusses the Welfare Reform Bill.

The last few months have been busy as we continue work on our Welfare Reform Bill, setting out our vision for how we want to transform the lives of disabled people.

These reforms are about improving individuals’ lives: about what more the welfare state can do to offer each person the support they need to move away from a life on benefits.  I believe that for the many disabled people I’ve met, work is the path to that better life – our reforms will give each person help to overcome their own barriers to work, achieve their goals and ambitions and get a better life for themselves and their families.

As part of the Welfare Reform Bill, we made the important decision to offer severely visually impaired people the higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance from 2011.  This additional money will support over 20,000 severely visually impaired people with additional mobility costs, allowing them greater freedom to get out and about either socially or to find work – transforming their lives. The Government has always been supportive of this change so I am delighted that we have been able to include it in our Welfare Reform Bill.  Organisations, such as RNIB, have been working closely with the Government to make this possible so I’d like to thank them all for their support.

Many of you will be pleased to know that March saw the beginning of the Parliamentary processes for ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People, and that in February we signed the Optional Protocol. As Minister for Disabled People, I am particularly proud of the progress the Government has made towards ratification over the last few months and I hope that our work on the Convention will be seen to reinforce our commitment to achieving equality for disabled people by 2025.   I know there has been much debate on whether there should be ratification of the Convention without reservations.  However, I am of the firm view that this would simply delay the process further.  We have to ratify as soon as we are able in order to send out the very strong and clear message that the Convention contains – and which the Government fully supports – that disabled people have, and should be able to enjoy, the same human rights as anyone else. I look forward to bringing you news of ratification as soon as possible.

These initiatives demonstrate important steps forward for the Government and offer help and support to disabled people across the UK. I look forward to updating you all on disability issues again soon