As this report states, the Equality and Human Rights Commission - or EHRC - Wales Team works “to inform legislation, policy and scrutiny” – and “to embed equality and human rights in public service delivery in Wales”.
It also makes extensive reference to the Commission’s 2018 “Is Wales Fairer?” report.
19 years after devolution, its findings include:
- Poverty and deprivation are both higher in Wales than in other nations in Britain
- Wales is the least productive nation in the UK
- Median hourly earnings in Wales are lower than in England and Scotland
- Adults in Wales report far higher levels of poor mental health and wellbeing than in England
- Wales has a higher suicide rate than England, with men over four times more likely to die by suicide than women.
- Disabled people are falling further behind, evidenced by disparities with non-disabled people increasing rather than reducing
- Compared to England and Scotland, Wales has the lowest life expectancies, particularly for disabled people.
- and high levels of racism and violence against women. Figures from North Wales Police also show that 1 in 4 people who report domestic abuse are now men.
Parallel to this, last month’s Bevan Foundation “Poverty rates in Wales” report found:
- A higher relative income poverty rate in Wales than England, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
- A higher proportion of working age adults in poverty in Wales than in any other UK nation.
- And a pensioner poverty rate in Wales far higher than in the other UK nations.
The EHRC highlighted a stark attainment gap between disabled learners, including deaf pupils, and their peers. As the National Deaf Children’s Society Cymru states, “we need a Welsh Government commitment to address this”.
The EHRC also report high exclusion rates for pupil with additional learning needs.
As they state, the consequences of this can be very serious. Although a court ruling has now made clear that schools must ensure that they have made appropriate adjustments for autistic pupils before they can resort to exclusion, I was contacted by another parent last week whose autistic son had been excluded.
Damningly, the EHRC also found “limited evidence available to examine how Welsh Government policies have affected particular groups, as very few robust evaluations of policies have been carried out in the period under review”.
It says “There should be a sharp focus on improving life in Wales for disabled people, with the Welsh Government incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities fully into Welsh legislation”.
As Disability Wales state, this would “strengthen involvement of disabled people and their representative organisations in informing and influencing policy”.
The Social Services and Wellbeing Act Part 2 Code of Practice states that Local authorities must put robust arrangements in place to secure involvement of people in the design and operation of services – and that well-being includes key aspects of independent living, as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People.
But I hear almost daily from disabled people and carers who are having to fight for the support they need to enable them to lead an ordinary life, because people in power don’t want to share it and label them the problem.
The EHRC states “The Wales Act 2017 has given the Welsh Government the opportunity to enact a socio-economic duty, which would ensure public bodies work together to tackle the biggest driver of inequality in Wales: poverty”.
I therefore move amendment 1, referring to the Joint Committee recommendation for the Welsh Government to outline its position on the introduction of the socio-economic duty.
In his July response, the First Minister stated “We will work with the UK Government” and “with the EHRC on these issues.”
We therefore need an update.
Our amendment also noted the report’s key recommendations regarding the public sector equality duty, which calls on the “Welsh Government to review how the duty could be amended to focus public bodies on taking action to address the key challenges in this report”.
I regularly represent constituents on issues ranging from deafhood to autism, disability support to access – and routinely have to remind Public bodies of their public sector equality duty. Too often, their response illustrates a shockingly poor understanding of the barriers faced by disabled people.
As the EHRC states “In 2022 we want to see significant progress on equality and human rights in Wales that results in reductions in entrenched and persistent inequality. We want everyone to live in a fairer Wales”.