The View from Where I Sit

Tag: government

  • What is the difference between a Disability Minister and a Disability Commissioner?

    By: Daniella Jade Lowe

    Ministers and commissioners are both important for ensuring fairness in human rights. They also reinforce diversity. They are appointed by the Queen. The UK has both.

    However, the difference between a minister and a commissioner, is that a minister is a person who is commissioned by the government for public service, while a commissioner is a member of a committee.

    Disability Minister


    Responsibilities

    The minister’s responsibilities include:

    • responsibility for the departmental strategy on disability and disability employment
    • cross-government responsibility for disabled people
    • Employment and Support Allowance
    • Personal Independence Payment
    • Disability Living Allowance and elements of Universal Credit that relate to disabled people, including severe disability premium
    • work and health strategy including sponsorship of the joint Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Health and Social Care Work and Health Unit
    • disability benefit reform
    • devolution framework
    • Carer’s Allowance
    • future relations with the EU
    • Motability
    • arms-length compensation schemes

    Disability Commissioner

    Responsibilities
    The Commissioner conducts visits to help raise the standards of human rights protection in all Council of Europe member states, in accordance with his mandate.

    Visits aim at pursuing a direct dialogue with the authorities and looking into one or several specific issues. The Commissioner is currently carrying out more targeted country visits focused on specific topics. A report may be published, containing conclusions and relevant recommendations to help redress shortcomings. Some of these reports may also relate to crisis situations and human rights in conflict areas.

    Based on my research, I think it is more effective and beneficial to have a Disability Minister to help advocate for disability rights because their role is multifaceted and unrestricted. They have more legislative privileges.

    https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/244164

    https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/the-commissioner

    https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/new-disabled-commissioner-astounded-and-offended-by-ehrc-treatment/

    https://www.coe.int/en/web/commissioner/mandate

  • Democracy in the UK

    By: Daniella Jade Lowe

    How does democracy work in the UK?

    The United Kingdom (UK) is a democracy. In the UK there are too many people to all discuss all the decisions about how the country is run. Therefore, representatives are elected to make decisions.


    Representatives include Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and local councillors.

    The UK Parliament meets in Westminster, London. It has three parts:


    The Crown- the Queen – Head of State, approves laws
    The House of Lords – Check proposed laws, make amendments
    The House of Commons – Debate proposals and make laws


    When did the UK become a democracy?


    Britain did not become a democracy until the Representation of the People Acts of 1918 and 1928 that gave the vote to all men and women over the age of 21.


    Is UK a representative democracy?

    Nearly all modern Western-style democracies are types of representative democracies; for example, the United Kingdom is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy, France is a unitary semi-presidential republic, and the United States is a federal presidential republic.

    How do democracies work?

    Democracy is government in which power and civic responsibility are exercised by all adult citizens, directly, or through their democratically elected representatives. Democracy rests upon the principles of majority rule and individual rights. … Fair, frequent, and well-managed elections are essential in a democracy.

    Democracy and Disability

    Only 6 British MPs identify as disabled. In a world where 1 in 7 people have a disability, this lack of representation is a serious threat to the inclusion of disabled people in UK policy matters.

    The UK Parliament has been a vocal promoter of disability inclusion and the leave no one behind agenda. There are several All Party Parliamentary Groups focused on disability and of the 0.7% of GNI ringfenced for international development, disability is a priority issue. https://www.add.org.uk/disability-and-democracy-uk

    The Purple Vote Campaign in Wales hope to do the same.