The Mental Capacity Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to govern decision-making on behalf of other adults - both where they lost mental capacity at some point in their lives, and where the incapacitating condition had been present since birth. The government tabled late amendments (agreed with the Catholic Church) designed to ensure that the Bill could not be used to allow euthanasia.
Source: Mental Capacity Bill, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 14 December 2004, columns 1534-1641, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | Age Concern press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2004-Dec
The Mental Capacity Bill was reintroduced (after being carried over from the 2003-04 session). It was designed to govern decision-making on behalf of other adults - both where they lost mental capacity at some point in their lives (for example as a result of dementia or brain injury), and where the incapacitating condition had been present since birth.
Source: Mental Capacity Bill, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes
Date: 2004-Nov
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers said that the Mental Capacity Bill did not meet requirements under European human rights law. This was because of a failure to include safeguards for 'compliant incapacitated' people, such as access to tribunals and advocates.
Source: Scrutiny of Bills: Final Progress Report, Twenty-third Report (Session 2003-04), HL 210 and HC 1282, Joint Committee on Human Rights (House of Lords and House of Commons), TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Nov
A Disability Discrimination Bill was published. The Bill proposed amending the existing Disability Discrimination Act to include a new positive duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity for disabled people; and protection for more people diagnosed with the progressive conditions of HIV, MS and cancer.
Source: Disability Discrimination Bill [HL], Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | DWP press release | DRC press release
Date: 2004-Nov
The Mental Capacity Bill was given a second reading. The Bill defined who could take decisions, and in which situations, on behalf of people with a mental incapacity. The Catholic Church expressed concern over the risk of allowing euthanasia 'by omission'.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 11 October 2004, columns 22-122, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 19 October 2004,Catholic Church in England & Wales (020 7901 4875)
Links: Hansard | HOC Library research paper (pdf) | MDA Briefing (pdf) | Mencap statement (pdf) | Age Concern press release | Catholic Church press release | Alzheimer's Society press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Oct
The government published a preliminary draft of a Code of Practice to accompany the Mental Capacity Bill, when enacted (following the recommendation of a Parliamentary pre-legislative scrutiny committee).
Source: Mental Capacity Bill: Draft Code of Practice, Department for Constitutional Affairs (020 7210 8500)
Links: Draft code (pdf)
Date: 2004-Sep
An in-depth, ethnographic study looked at the day-to-day lives of people with severe communication difficulties following a stroke. People with severe aphasia experienced profound social exclusion, but this was neither a constant nor inevitable outcome of communication impairment.
Source: Susie Parr, Living with Severe Aphasia: The experience of communication impairment after stroke, Pavilion Publishing (01273 623222) for Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: JRF findings 814
Date: 2004-Aug
The disability rights watchdog said that a failure to have harmonized equality laws in place prior to the creation of a new Commission for Equalities and Human Rights would 'cause rancour and division' within the new body from its inception.
Source: Fairness for All: A new Commission for Equality and Human Rights - Response, Disability Rights Commission (08457 622633)
Links: Report (Word file) | Summary | DRC press release
Date: 2004-Aug
The government began consultation on the extension of the Disability Discrimination Act to the functions of public authorities, and the introduction of a duty to promote equality for disabled people.
Source: Delivering Equality for Disabled People, Cm 6255, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | DWP press release
Date: 2004-Jul
The Disability Rights Commission published its annual report for 2003-04.
Source: 2003-04 Annual Report, Disability Rights Commission (08457 622633)
Links: Report (Word file) | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2004-Jul
The government accepted all administrative and procedural recommendations made during pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Disability Discrimination Bill, and supported all recommendations calling for the Disability Rights Commission to take specific actions. It also accepted some legislative changes: people suffering from mental illness would be protected in the same way as others, by removal of the requirement that their condition be 'clinically well-recognised'; and guests, as well as members, of larger private clubs would be covered by disability discrimination law.
Source: Government s Response to the Report of the Joint Committee on the Draft Disability Discrimination Bill, Cm 6276, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 15 July 2004, columns 76-77WS, TSO
Links: Response | JC report | Hansard | DWP press release | DRC press release | Mind press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on its proposals to legislate against hate crime. It accepted the committee's recommendation to include provisions to protect people with disabilities.
Source: 'Hate Crime': The Draft Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 - Government response, Fifth Special Report (Session 2003-04), HC 954, House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2004-Jul
An official report said that around 10 million people were affected by disability - including almost 20 per cent of the working-age population - and that this figure was probably on the increase.
Source: Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People: Analytical report, Strategy Unit/Cabinet Office (020 7276 1881)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | SU press release
Date: 2004-Jun
The government published the Mental Capacity Bill. It said the Bill would, for the first time, ensure that people who lacked capacity - either through disability, mental illness, brain injury, or illnesses such as dementia - were placed at the heart of decision making about their affairs. Campaigners expressed concern that the Bill would be toothless unless the government ensured the availability of advocates.
Source: Mental Capacity Bill, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 18 June 2004, columns 67-70WS, TSO | Press release 18 June 2004, Alzheimer's Society (020 7306 0606)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | DCA press release | Alzheimer's Society press release | Rethink press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2004-Jun
An evaluation examined the organisation and delivery (in the United Kingdom) of the European Year of Disabled People in 2003. It was found that the EYDP was run efficiently and well; that projects had had a real impact in involving organisations that had not previously accessed national funding; and that disabled people had been actively involved in the planning and implementation of the EYDP.
Source: Gordon Dryden and Shirley Garner, European Year of Disabled People 2003: UK Evaluation, In-House Report 145, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report (pdf) | DWP press release
Date: 2004-Jun
The Disability Rights Commission published its strategic plan for the three years to 2006-07. Core programmes covered educational attainment; employment equality; access to goods and services; and health outcomes and choice.
Source: Strategic Plan 2004/5 to 2006/7, Disability Rights Commission (08457 622633)
Links: Report (Word file) | DRC press release
Date: 2004-Jun
A think-tank report said that legislation alone would not stamp out discrimination unless public attitudes towards disabled people also changed.
Source: Paul Miller, Sophia Parker and Sarah Gillinson, Disablism: How to tackle the last prejudice, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Summary (pdf) | Demos press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-May
A report by a joint committee of MPs and peers welcomed the draft Draft Disability Discrimination Bill (published in December 2003). It accepted that it would be difficult to use the Bill to insert a general social model definition of disability into the framework of the legislation (instead of a medical model): but it recommended that the Disability Rights Commission should consult on how the law could be amended in the future to provide protection against discrimination regardless of level or type of impairment. It concluded that the proposed protections for disabled people in housing were 'inadequate'.
Source: Draft Disability Discrimination Bill, First Report (Session 2003-04), HL 82 and HC 352, Joint Committee on Draft Disability Discrimination Bill (House of Lords and House of Commons), TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Leonard Cheshire press release | Mind press release
Date: 2004-May
Researchers examined the range and methodological validity of survey estimates of the prevalence of disability, and the definitions of disability used in government social surveys. They concluded that there could be no single, gold standard estimate of the prevalence of disability a variety of estimates were required for different purposes in and outside government. Estimates of the prevalence of disability for specific age groups (up to state pension age) did not differ markedly between surveys: but they were significantly less stable for people above state pension age.
Source: Madhavi Bajekal, Tim Harries, Rachel Breman, and Kandy Woodfield, Review of Disability Estimates and Definitions, In-House Report 128, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040) | Mike Tibble, User s Guide to Disability Estimates and Definitions, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: In-House report (pdf) | User guide (pdf) | DWP press release
Date: 2004-Mar
The Trades Union Congress called on the government to abolish the '25 per cent' rule that stopped people with fewer than 10 years contributions getting any state pension. There were around 100,000 people, 88 per cent of whom were women, who although they had paid contributions, never got anything in return because of the rule.
Source: Women and Pensions, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2004-Mar
The government responded to a report by a parliamentary scrutiny committee on the draft Mental Incapacity Bill. It said that it would publish a revised Bill (to be renamed the 'Mental Capacity Bill') taking account of the committee's suggestions. In particular, it would redraft the concept of a 'general authority', so as to clarify that this would not give anyone blanket authority to intervene in the life of someone who lacked capacity. (The draft Bill proposed a new statutory framework to protect vulnerable people, carers and professionals; and it defined who could take decisions in which situations.)
Source: The Government Response to the Scrutiny Committee s Report on the Draft Mental Incapacity Bill, Cm 6121, Department for Constitutional Affairs, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | Committee report | Draft Bill (pdf) | MDA press release | MDA briefing (pdf)
Date: 2004-Feb
The government published a clause, for inclusion in the draft Disability Discrimination Bill, which would protect disabled local councillors from discrimination by the local authority of which they were a member.
Source: Draft Disability Discrimination Bill: Clause 15 - relationships between locally-electable authorities and their members, Cm 6126, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 27 February 2004, column 69WS, TSO
Links: Draft clause | Explanatory notes | Hansard | DWP press release
Date: 2004-Feb
The government said that it had asked the Strategy Unit to provide a strategic assessment of disabled people's life chances - the opportunities available to disabled people, both children and adults, to improve their quality of life. The Unit's analysis would be fed into the Spending Review 2004..
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Answers 28 January 2004, column 408W, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard
Date: 2004-Jan
A report made a number of recommendations aimed at increasing the number of disabled people on boards of public bodies, and improving disabled people s awareness of public appointments opportunities.
Source: Short-Life Working Group on Disability: Report, Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (020 7276 2625)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jan
The Disability and Carers Service was given executive agency status.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 27 January 2004, columns 7-8WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard
Date: 2004-Jan