The View from Where I Sit

Tag: the welsh assembly

  • 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

  • DISABILITY AND VOTING IN WALES

    By: Daniella Jade Lowe


    Welsh Parliament
    There are 60 Members of the Senedd (MSs) of the Welsh Parliament.
    To vote in the Welsh Parliament elections you must:

    • be registered to vote
    • be 16 or over on the day of the election (‘polling day’)
    • live in Wales
    • not be legally excluded from voting


    MSs are elected using the Additional Member system. You vote once for your constituency MS and once for an MS to represent the wider region.


    Wales is in the west of Great Britain and is part of the UK. It has a population of 3 million. The capital city of Wales is Cardiff. People in Wales speak English and many people also speak Welsh which is quite different and older than English. Street signs in Wales are written in both languages. Wales has been politically linked with England since 1542. Wales was an independent country until it was defeated by the English army. Wales has some independence in making its own laws, but it is still very much part of the UK political system.

    Inaccessibility and stereotyping are barriers for people with disabilities in politics. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-42167892


    An estimated 20% of the population are disabled, but only 1.5% of councillors are known to have a disability.


    About 600,000 people in Wales have a disability, but very few councils hold data on how many councillors are disabled.


    BBC research showed of the 1,254 councillors elected in May, just 19 are known by local authorities to be living with an impairment or long-term health condition.


    According to disabled politicians,’You have to be quite strong’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-42826002.

    The Legacy International Group alongside The Purple Vote Campaign hope to change this within the Welsh Assembly during the May 2021 elections.