ALLIANCE responds to Disability Commissioner Bill call for views
- Area of Work: Policy and Research
- Type: News Item
- Published: 17th May 2024
We strongly welcome the principle behind the bill, whilst urging Parliament to carefully consider the wider commissioner landscape.
The ALLIANCE have submitted a response to the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee call for views on the Disability Commissioner (Scotland) Bill. We responded positively to the pre-legislative consultation on the Bill, supporting the principle behind it, and calling for such a commissioner to have the broadest possible powers of investigation and to have a duty to involve disabled people in their work. We are pleased to see that these priorities are reflected in the Bill as introduced to Parliament.
Whilst the ALLIANCE are strongly supportive of the principle behind this Bill, we are aware that there are ongoing discussions surrounding the number of proposed new commissioners in Scotland. Many of these proposals are rooted in patterns of service failure and breaches of people’s human rights. In 2023 the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s “At a Crossroads” report highlighted these and other contributions to the increasing number of proposed commissioners. It also outlined a range of possibilities, including an alternative “rapporteurship” model that we believe has significant merit and should be carefully considered.
At the time of this call for views, the Finance and Public Administration Committee’s inquiry into Scotland’s commissioner landscape is still ongoing. However, we would recommend that further progress on this and other commissioner-related Bills before the Scottish Parliament await the findings of that inquiry and take them into account.
You can read our full response via the resource links below.
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