SCP Statment CSD-18 6 May

FOURTH CONFERENCE ON THE STATE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

Statement of Mr Stephen Thrower, Head of UN and International Team, Office for Disability Issues, Department for Work and Pensions, UK

7 September 2011

Since the Third conference of State Parties last year, the United Kingdom has continued to make significant progress in the implementation of the Convention, which it ratified in July 2009.

The United Kingdom is currently preparing its first periodic report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which will set out the approach taken to implementation and progress achieved. We anticipate that the report will be submitted to the Committee later this year.

The United Kingdom is committed to the Convention as an important and necessary statement of the rights that all disabled people have and must be able to exercise if they are to live independent lives as full and equal members of society. The United Kingdom is committed to removing the barriers that disabled people face, and to the achievement of disability equality. The periodic report will set out the key legislative, policy and programme tools through which the United Kingdom is working towards equality.

The approach is underpinned by a commitment to social justice, freedom, fairness and responsibility, and is based on three principles. (1) individual control, enabling disabled people to make their own choices and have the right opportunities to live independently. (2) raising aspirations: ensuring appropriate support and intervention for disabled people at key life transitions, to raise expectations and aspirations for community life and wider society. (3) changing attitudes: providing the right support to enable disabled people to participate in community and wider society.

These aspirations are reflected in the areas on which the conference will focus this week.

Participation in political and civil life is clearly key if disabled people are going to be able to participate in processes that will make decisions that will affect their lives.

The United Kingdom is committed to ensuring that the political system better reflects the people that it serves. Disabled people are currently under-represented in public life in the UK. Recognising this, the Government is developing an Access to Elected Office Strategy that will provide extra support for disabled people who want to become Members of Parliament, councillors or other elected officials. Recognising also the importance of involving disabled people in the development of policies that will affect their lives, Government ran a public consultation exercise about the development of this Strategy earlier this year. The findings from this are now being considered in order to inform the final Strategy.

Exercising their right to work and be in employment is a key way in which disabled people can have greater choice and control over the decisions that affect all areas of their lives because it provides a route out of poverty and provides them with the capacity to earn an income. Disabled people in the United Kingdom have identified a lack of choice and control over their lives as a key cause of the disadvantages they face in life, and a barrier to be able to participate equally in society. Recognising this, the United Kingdom is committed to enabling disabled people to enjoy their right to work on an equal basis to others. Raising and meeting employment aspirations is a priority for the Government.

The United Kingdom is introducing a number of measures that will help achieve this ambition. Last year, the Government commissioned an independent review of the employment support available to disabled people. A key aim of the review was to examine how more disabled people could be supported into work within the available funding. The Government has welcomed the central theme of the Review that resources for supporting disabled people into employment should be focused on disabled people themselves rather than on specific institutions. The Government believes that it is important for disabled people themselves to have a say in what employment support is available and is now consulting on how to take the recommendation from the review forward.

Finally, the United Kingdom welcomes the focus on the theme of realising the Convention through international cooperation. The United Kingdom is encouraging other governments to sign, ratify and implement the Convention as part of its wider work on human rights. The United Kingdom welcomes the opportunity offered by the conference this week to share and learn about the experience of implementation, both from the perspective of governments but also from that of disabled people and their organisations.