Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues

In February 2009, the Government established a Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues as a first response to the Social Services Select Committee Inquiry into the Quality of Care and Services Provision for People with Disabilities. The Ministerial Committee is designed to provide visible leadership and accountability for implementing the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and set a coherent direction for disability issues across government.

The Ministerial Committee is chaired by the Minister for Disability Issues and has other key ministers as members. By having ministers from different portfolios working closely together, government agencies will better focus their activity and policy development on what makes a real difference in disabled people's lives. The Government wants departments to be smarter and work collectively on common areas rather than separately. This will help make the best use of limited resources.

Ministers are supported by the Chief Executives' Group on Disability Issues, which is tasked to lead and co-ordinate government agencies implementation of the Ministerial Committee's priorities on disability issues. The Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development chairs the group. Other group members are from the Ministries of Health, Education, Justice, Transport, Culture and Heritage, and ACC and Housing New Zealand Corporation.

Terms of reference

The role, function and membership of the Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues is described in its Terms of Reference.

Meetings

You can read summaries of meetings held by the Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues.

Disability Action Plan

In October 2010, the Ministerial Committee agreed to the Disability Action Plan presented by the Chief Executives' Group, which focuses on three key areas where there are opportunities for rethinking how the government supports disabled people to live an everyday life.

These Disability Action Plan areas are:

• supports for living (how government funding of supports for disabled people can align with the Ministry of Health's new model for disability supports)
• mobility and access (what government can do to enable disabled people to move around their community and access the built environment)
• jobs (what government can do to promote disabled people getting into paid work).

These three areas were chosen based on what disabled people have said are important issues to them and which have not yet been addressed adequately by government.

The Ministerial Committee asked that the Office for Disability Issues use its public consultation on the draft report on implementation of the UN Convention (from November to December 2010) to get feedback from disabled people on the three key areas.

Supports for Living

The Government funds a range of supports through different agencies to help disabled people to live a good life at home and in their communities. Current supports include things such as:

• housing modifications to help disabled people to live safely and independently at home
• equipment to help disabled people to communicate, move around, and be independent
• personal and household assistance, and other support to help disabled people to live independently and participate in their communities
• help with additional disability-related costs, such as transport costs.

The Government is changing the way that supports are provided, to make it easier for disabled people, and their families, to have more choice and control over the supports provided to them.

Mobility and access

When we talk of mobility and access we are meaning how easy, or not, it is for disabled people to find out about things and to get to, and into and around, places so they can participate. You can't work if you can't get to the job, and you can't enjoy a concert if you can't find out about it in the first place or if you can't get into the building where it is being held.

There are laws that say that buildings, public areas and transport services should be accessible for disabled people. Government agencies also provide some supports to help disabled people better move around. However, we know the reality for many disabled people is that they still cannot easily move around and access what they need to live the lives they want to lead.

Jobs

Disabled people have the same rights, responsibilities and protections in employment as others.

Here are three examples of the sorts of support or services that exist to help disabled people get into and stay in work:

• support to get into work (like through Workbridge)
• financial assistance for travel to work
• adapting workplaces to better suit a disabled person's needs.

But the reality is that disabled people are more often unemployed or not actually looking for work than other people. We know this may be due to different kinds of things, such as family and teacher expectations, employers' attitudes, a lack of  opportunities to get work experience, difficulties of adapting workplaces,  and the unavailability of personal assistance when its needed to make it possible for disabled people to work.

Disability Action Plan - 2011 to 2012

On 18 July 2011, Cabinet agreed to the Disability Action Plan and its implementation over the next eighteen months focused on the recovery of Christchurch. It directs collaboration by government agencies in the three priority areas, and outlines reporting on progress. Other work by government agencies also continues.