Dear Consultee
Re: Northern Ireland Assembly Commission Draft Disability Action Plan
Under Section 49A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended by the Disability Discrimination (NI) Order 2006), the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission is required when carrying out its functions to have due regard to the need to:
- Promote positive attitudes towards disabled people; and
- Encourage participation by disabled people in public life.
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (the Commission) has developed a draft disability action plan and wishes to consult with interested organisations or individuals.
We would welcome your views on the content of the action plan and the measures outlined. Representatives of the Assembly Commission will be happy to meet with interested individuals or groups to discuss the action plan.
A summary of the draft action plan is attached and details of the consultation process are outlined below. The full version of the plan and all associated documentation are available on the Commission’s website at:
www.niassembly.gov.uk/disability.htm or if you prefer, a hard copy can be posted out to you.
I would be grateful if you could give this Plan your consideration.
The closing date for comments on this consultation is Friday 14 December 2007.
Responses to the consultation should be sent to:
Cathy McGowan
Northern Ireland Assembly Commission
Room 105
Parliament Buildings
Stormont
Belfast , BT4 3XX
e-mail: disability@niassembly.gov.uk
Telephone:028 90521992
Textphone: 028 90521209 / 90521992
Fax:028 90418340
It is the intention of the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission to adopt an inclusive and transparent approach to this consultation and it has therefore, decided to provide a number of options to facilitate your involvement in the process.
The options proposed are:
- The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission invites written representations on the content of the Action Plan. To facilitate this consultation, we have constructed a short questionnaire, which we are asking interested organisations and/or individuals to complete (attached).
- The Commission intend hosting a number of consultation events to discuss this document and to obtain further feedback from consultees. The Commission’s team will host a number of round table events bringing together similar representative organisations and/or individuals.
- In addition, the Commission will consider requests for individual meetings with sectoral/umbrella organisations.
If you wish to participate in a consultation event, please complete the reply slip which can be accessed and submitted through the Northern Ireland Assembly website. Alternatively, you can use the contact information set out above to register your interest.
We realise there may be a number of people within your organisation who would be interested in this consultation so we would be grateful if you could ensure that they are made aware of this consultation.
The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission will publish a summary of responses following the completion of the consultation process. If you would prefer your response to be treated as confidential, please let us know, stating your reasons clearly. Any automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will be taken to apply only to information in your response for which confidentiality has been specifically requested.
If we are asked to disclose responses under freedom of information legislation, we will take any requests for confidentiality into account. However, confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.
We will handle appropriately any personal data you provide in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 . For further information about confidentiality of responses, please contact the Information Commissioner's Office or see website at: www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
The documents are available in hard copy and in alternative formats such as large print, Braille, audio or in other languages. These can be requested by contacting us at the address above.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully
TONY LOGUE
Clerk to the Assembly Commission