On 1 July 2002 the Office for Disability Issues (the Office) was established to provide policy advice to the Minister for Disability Issues.  It is administered by the Ministry of Social Development, and has three key responsibilities:

1. Developing policy advice:

• leading strategic policy development regarding disability issues across the whole of government
• contributing a disability perspective to policy development led by other government agencies.

2. Leading the New Zealand Disability Strategy, promoting and monitoring its implementation, and working closely with government departments and other agencies to:

• shift people's thinking and increase disability awareness by developing a range of disability perspective material and information-sharing activities
• actively assist departments to develop their implementation plans, focusing on actions that result in positive changes for disabled people
• measure the results.

3. Supporting the Minister for Disability Issues in her advocacy role.

Policy Advice

In the establishment phase of the Office it was envisaged that it would lead one key piece of inter-sectoral policy work.  The Office has actually led four large pieces of inter-sectoral policy work:

• promoting Coherence with the New Zealand Disability Strategy and Equity Across Government Funded Supports for Disabled People
• payment and Support of Family Caregivers
• active involvement in the International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities to be developed by the United Nations
• developing a Bill regarding recognition of New Zealand Sign Language.

Throughout the 2002-03 year the Office has also been consulted by and provided comment to a wide range of government agencies including the Ministries of Social Development, Labour, Health, Economic Development, Justice, Education and Housing, Statistics New Zealand, the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), Inland Revenue, the Health Workforce Advisory Committee, the National Advisory Committee on Health and Disability, the Department of Internal Affairs, the Law Commission and the Chief Electoral Office.  This work has fallen into three broad levels of involvement:

• comprehensive involvement with policy development, including ongoing work as part of interdepartmental working parties
• involvement in an overview capacity, either at the scoping stage of work and then providing comment on draft versions of papers, and/or as members of a steering group
• providing a disability perspective comment on work as policy papers are being finalised before going to cabinet committees.

The Office has focused on building the capacity of other government departments, as they build their capacity to provide their own disability perspective in policy work.  In order to do this the Office has developed a policy framework as a resource for government agencies to use.  A paper copy of the final draft was provided to all 37 government departments in June 2003, and will be Web published in 2003-04. 

Leading the New Zealand Disability Strategy

In the last quarter of 2002-03, the Office began working with all 37 departments to assist them to develop their implementation plans for the 2003-04 year.  As this was the first time the Office had facilitated the planning process, it needed to develop a process that reflected the Office's whole-of-government role, and to develop the necessary networks across the state sector.  It also wished to provide encouragement and assistance to departments in the development of their implementation activities.  The Office developed the following process:

• each Chief Executive was asked to identify/reconfirm the person from their management team responsible for overall Disability Strategy implementation across the department, and a person responsible for the co-ordination of the plan development and progress reporting
• those people were then invited to a presentation outlining the Strategy and the Office's expectations for both planning and reporting, at which clear directions were given to each department about its expected areas of action, both specific and generic, along with a template and general instructions
• face-to-face meetings were then held with people from key agencies to assist them in developing their plans, and at least phone contact made with all other agencies
• ongoing education was provided for people and groups of influence within agencies, with the Office providing resources and/or people to work with departmental staff in this process, with the added goal of encouraging the placement of overall responsibility for the Strategy implementation with strategic policy and planning units within agencies
• drafts of plans were submitted to the Office for discussion and review, via either email or further face-to-face meetings, with suggestions made to improve the plans
• final drafts were submitted for sign-off by the Chief Executives and management teams of the departments, before being sent to the Office for Disability Issues.

The Office believes the process has resulted in increased commitment within agencies; a broader focus on service delivery as well as continuing to focus on internal processes; and increased ongoing collaboration, ensuring that implementing the New Zealand Disability Strategy and monitoring progress become a continuous process rather than an annual event. 

Supporting the Minister for Disability Issues in her Advocacy Role

The Office for Disability Issues provides a person to act as a Private Secretary to the Minister, and has a regular opportunity to raise the issues brought to its attention with the Minister for Disability Issues. 

Throughout 2002-03 the Office provided the Minister for Disability Issues with a fortnightly report.  This included information on the issues raised by the sector, gathered by meetings with a wide range of groups and individuals from the disability sector.  

The Director attended and spoke at meetings of a wide range of disability interest groups, as did a number of Office staff.  The Office also hears from many people across the disability sector via email, phone, fax and letter, regarding issues of concern.  On all of these occasions the Office took the opportunity to listen to the wider views and disability issues raised, as well as discuss the work of the Office.  These concerns have often involved wider government issues, which are passed on to the appropriate department and followed up to ensure an outcome is achieved.