The Disability Bill will place a duty on all public sector authorities to promote disability equality. The duty on the public sector will have a significant impact on the way all public services are run and on improving the lives of disabled people.
The DRC has just launched a consultation on the statutory codes of practice in relation to this duty.

The draft Codes of Practice (one for England and Wales and one for Scotland) explain how the legislation will improve equality for disabled people by placing this new duty on the public sector.

The DRC would like to hear about examples of good and bad practice within the public sector.  We are interested in hearing from anyone who can talk about policies, practices and procedures in the public sector that could be used for media work to highlight new public sector duties.

The DRC has just launched a 18 month formal investigation (FI) to look at physical health inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities and people with long term mental health problems in England and Wales. 

The investigation began in December 2004 and runs until May 2006. It is a process of inquiry to reveal barriers, identify good practice and promote evidence of workable solutions.  The evidence collecting techniques include consultation questionnaires, focus groups, in depth area studies, analyses of GP databases and statistics and a formal inquiry panel. 

The DRC is seeking the views and experiences of primary care practioners, people with learning disabilities and mental health problems and encourages readers to respond to the FI’s for evidence. 

To read more, download documents or fill-in an on-line questionnaire visit:

In a landmark ruling, the Appeal Court has found that Ryanair and Stansted Airport are both responsible for providing a free wheelchair service to disabled travellers. The DRC supported disabled traveller Bob Ross in this case which began in 2002. The ruling will ensure disabled people receive the same standard of service as non disabled travellers.

The DRC’s casework team have been accredited for the General Help with Casework level by the CLS. The Quality Mark is part of the Community Legal Service (CLS), a major government initiative launched in April 2000, and is the quality standard that underpins all CLS services.

This means that members of the public who need information, advice and other help can rely on receiving a quality assured service. The Legal Services Commission recognises that the DRC casework service meets the standard for the type of service being delivered.

To find out more about the CLS quality mark visit:

The DRC has entered into an agreement with Bradford University under section five of the DRC Act. This is one of the DRC’s powers of strategic enforcement. Bradford is the first university to agree to work with the DRC in this way.  The university has agreed to review all its practices, policies and procedures in relation to teaching materials and assessment of students. The DRC will work with the university over the next five years to improve its practices, procedures and policies and develop what is hoped will be exemplary access for disabled students.

On 13 January 2005, DRC Scotland launched its latest research report, ‘Do Not Attempt Resuscitation Decisions and Disability in Scotland’. This publication on resuscitation and disabled people's rights summarises the law in Scotland, the British Medical Association guidelines, commissioned research and what the DRC is planning to do next on this issue.
The research was carried out by the Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research at the University of Glasgow and the Department of Nursing Studies at Edinburgh University.

To read the full report and the summary please follow the link:

The latest briefing contains comprehensive Labour Force Survey data, an updated overview of the disabled population in Britain, as well as a report on the progress of the research projects undertaken by the DRC over 2004.

To read the full document please follow the link:

In a New Year initiative, the DRC’s Library and Information Services team will be providing a new service from the DRC’s website in the form of a monthly list of key disability and discrimination related journal articles. The service is a list of references only and we regret the DRC Library is unable to provide copies of the articles.

To view the latest articles, please follow the link:

The Healthcare Commission is currently responsible for the Star Ratings system of assessing NHS hospitals and health providers. On 29 November the Commission announced that from 2005-06 Star Ratings would begin to be replaced by a new approach.  This is designed to give a much broader picture of the performance of a healthcare provider and also drive improvement by looking at a wider range of information- covering areas such as public health, responsiveness to patients and leadership in NHS trusts.

The new system will assess healthcare organisations in relation to targets and to a new set of standards, published by the Government in July 2004. ‘Assessment for improvement’ is a consultation document, which describes how it proposes to do this.

The Healthcare Commission is keen to consult users of healthcare services on its new systems of assessment and is seeking views from a wide range of people on how far they agree that the new approach to making assessments will be effective in measuring what really matters to patients.  This is your opportunity to have your say on what is important to you.