Hon Tony Ryall

Minister of Health

Minister of State Services

9 February 2009 Media Release

Government responds to select committee disability inquiry

The Government has responded to the report by the Social Services Select Committee, following its Inquiry into the Quality of Care and Services Provision for People with Disabilities.

The Health Minister Tony Ryall says, "We agree that improvements can be made in terms of leadership and frontline services for people with disabilities.

"The government supports disabled people having more say over their personal support services, better support for unpaid carers, and improving advocacy and complaints services. There is a substantial list of improvements for this sector, and work is already underway. We have inherited a lot of problems in this area but also a lot of goodwill."

"We won't be establishing a new Disability Commission, recommended in the report. That would be a significant and costly structural change. What we are doing is setting up a Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues, to improve Ministerial-level collaboration, and it will be chaired by the Minister for Disability Issues, Paula Bennett."

Mr Ryall says, "We have also asked officials what practical changes can be made to improve government agency responsiveness to disabled people, so they don't have to deal with as many different funding agencies."

ENDS

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