Our work in 2023/2024
This section (Section Two) is arranged as per Multi-category Appropriation (MCA) – Supporting Tangata Whaikaha Māori and Disabled People MCA. It aligns our financials to our work to create a line of sight.
Policy work programme
A better, more independent future for disabled people and whānau in Aotearoa New Zealand relies on policy settings that are underpinned by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the UNCRPD and the EGL approach. They are based on the social model of disability, that is, individuals do not have disability (they have impairments) – disability lies in barriers created by society.
The Ministry provides advice and stewardship for strategic disability policy across government and on policy settings for DSS. The Policy Group within the Ministry supports these roles by:
- administering and developing new legislation within the Disability Issues Portfolio
- analysing and advising on policy issues related to DSS
- advising on opportunities to improve outcomes for disabled people in policy development across government
- advising on the potential impacts on disabled people of policy proposals being developed across government
Key areas of focus for the Ministry’s policy work this year have been:
- developing advice on proposals for a Disability System Bill
- advising on options to improve the financial sustainability of DSS, including providing information and advice to the Independent Review of DSS
- supporting the Ministry’s engagement with the disability aspects of the WAI 2575 Waitangi Tribunal Kaupapa Inquiry into health services and outcomes
- supporting the Ministry’s engagement with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
We also undertook scoping work for a review of eligibility for DSS, but this work was stopped when the Independent Review of DSS was commissioned.