The new government’s first King Speech confirmed fears that Labour has no immediate plans to address the social care crisis or take other decisive action on disability rights.
The new bill announced yesterday (Wednesday) included measures to improve inclusive education, equal pay rights for disabled people and possibly access to better transport and mental health, but made no mention of other significant barriers faced by disabled people.
Despite the publication of a new Planning Bill, there was no mention of any measures to tackle the accessibility housing crisis, reinforcing the impression expressed in the first few days of a Labour government that disabled adults are not ranked near the top of the priorities.
But perhaps the most surprising aspect of the speech is that the Government is planning just one pension-focused Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Bill over the next 12 to 18 months.
The speech made no mention of social security and disability benefit recipients were again left without information as to whether Labour plans to repeal the previous government’s controversial reforms to Personal Independence Payment and Work Capacity Assessment, or to tackle urgent protection issues with Universal Credit (see separate article).
However, some of the bills announced during the speech (pictured) will affect people with disabilities.
A Mental Health Bill for England and Wales was among around 40 pieces of legislation announced by the King yesterday (Wednesday), and Government briefings have suggested the Bill will be based on a draft Bill considered by MPs and Lords under the previous Conservative government.
Disability campaigners last year called on the government to halt the reforms until a public inquiry was held into “horrific failings, abuse and high mortality rates” in mental health services across England.
However, the King’s Speech made no mention of such an investigation, instead promising to modernise the 1983 Mental Health Act “to bring it into the 21st century so that patients have greater choice, autonomy, rights and support, and to ensure that all patients are treated with dignity and respect throughout their treatment”.
Plans to modernise the law have been welcomed by many activists, but the apparent intention to reintroduce the previous government’s mental health bill has already sparked anger from one prominent disability activist.
Dorothy Gould, founder of user-led rights group Liberation, said: “If a Labour government were to implement the Mental Health Bill in its current form, as the King’s Speech suggests, it would be an utter disgrace.”
“Despite purported ‘improvements’, this bill remains based on unfounded notions of risk, upholds the dominant medical model, completely violates the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and upholds the shameful notion that people who experience acute pain and trauma are entitled to fewer human rights than others.”
Questions are also likely to be raised about the delay to the only other bill focused on people with disabilities.
The King’s Speech said that legislation to enshrine “full equal pay rights for ethnic minority and disabled people” into law, make it easier to claim equal pay, and require major employers across the UK to report disability and ethnicity pay gaps would only be published in draft form.
This suggests that the Government wants to consult on these measures, possibly through a White Paper, before publishing a final Bill, which is sure to delay the introduction of the Bill.
But another bill could give people with disabilities important new rights.
The government is planning to introduce legislation, known as the “Hillsborough Law”, which could in future enable disabled people, their families and supporters to hold the DWP to account for actions or failings relating to the deaths of disability benefit recipients (see separate article).
The briefing did not mention the DWP, but the proposed legislation would impose a legal “duty of good faith” on civil servants and authorities and “address the unacceptable defensive culture that pervades much of the public sector”.
The government said the bill aims to improve “transparency and accountability” with “public inquiry and scrutiny” of failings in the delivery of public services and reduce a “defensive culture” in the public sector.
He said it would also help to ensure that the “lack of candor” revealed in reporting on incidents such as the Hillsborough football stadium disaster and the blood-transmitting scandal is not repeated.
This duty of candor – honesty and openness – could be crucial in holding the DWP to account because it has repeatedly misled public authorities and concealed evidence linking its actions to the deaths of countless disability claimants.
The government also said the bill would improve support for bereaved families, allowing them to “fully participate” in inquests and public inquiries.
Families of claimants whose lives have been lost as a result of DWP actions often find themselves facing experienced barristers whose job it is to defend the government as they try to uncover the truth at inquests.
Elsewhere in the King’s Speech, explanatory notes to two Railway Bills – one of which would return the railways to nationalisation – each referred to the railways as “essential to ensuring reliable, affordable and accessible transport”.
A description of the Rail Bill, which will “create a unified and simplified rail system”, says the government will ensure the railway “achieve six key objectives: reliability, affordability, efficiency, quality, accessibility and safe travel”.
The Employment Rights Bill promises to establish fair pay agreements for adult social care workers – the only substantive adult social care measure included in the King’s Speech – but it also promises to strengthen statutory sick pay and extend flexible working rights.
The Children’s Welfare Bill will also require all schools in England to work with local authorities on accommodating disabled pupils, while the devolution bill for England will give local leaders “enhanced powers” over the provision of employment support.
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