The idea that each day begins the rest of our lives is always easier to say than to apply to our behaviour. If that is the case on a personal level, imagine how hard it must be on a national level. Today as this report explains our Government has an opportunity to stand up and concede that it has got things wrong in the past and that it will resolve to change its approach and get things right from now on. It is about to begin a two day hearing in Geneva in front of members of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities who are quizzing our Government and the Governments of the devolved nations as part of a follow up to questions put to these institutions earlier this year by the UN Committee.

One of the pieces of evidence that will feature in the interviews with the Government is a recent report by a disability groups that we are failing to deliver on our nations desire to treat everyone equally. One of the co-authors of the report is Sue Bott, deputy CEO for Disability Rights UK who has claimed that the UK is “going backwards” on disability rights, referring to issues such as the bedroom tax, the changes to the disability benefits and the failure to improve housing within the UK. Unfortunately things don’t bode well for the Government being willing to acknowledge its failings. When the report was first published, the Government claimed it had a “long tradition of respecting human rights and continues to promote the social model of disability”. The response continued: “The UK Government maintains its understanding of emerging ideas about disability through regular engagement with disabled people and their organisations and the sharing of information internationally.” A colleague of Sue Bott, Kamran Mallick, chief executive of Disability Rights UK, said: “Many of the Government’s answers to the UN have a tone of complacency at best and high-handed evasion at worst. “The Government produced no evidence or detail to show how it is supporting people to lead independent lives; something it committed to when it signed the UN Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities in 2009. It also makes grand claims about the impact of the Equality Act and the Care Act that simply don’t reflect the everyday experiences of disabled people in the UK.”

It is always difficult to understand how society treats other people, however a quick search on the Government website for the Minister responsible for this area of our national decision making reveals that Penny Mordaunt, Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work was appointed in July 2016 as successor to Justin Tomlinson whose job title was the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People and who served the country in this role from May 2015, his predecessor from 2014 but in the role of Minister of State for Disabled People was Mark Harper and before Mark, Mike Penning who served from 2013. Before Mike, Esther McVey served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Disabled People from 2012 who suceeded Maria Miller who served in that post from May 2010 when the coalition came to power. So in 7 years we have had 6 Ministers of State in a role which has changed names four times (albeit using only three different titles in total). Whilst that is not necessarily proof that the Government does not know what it is doing when it comes to matters of disability, it certainly points in that direction.