Creating a fairer Britain
In March 2009 the Government laid before Parliament an Explanatory Memorandum setting out its assessment for compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Memorandum sets out the reservations and declarations the Government proposes to make in ratifying the Convention. You can read it here:
The Commission issued the following statement in response to the Explanatory Memorandum:
The Commission has had two rounds of correspondence with relevant Government departments about the issue of reservations to the Convention and in relation to the memorandum.
In January 2009, Baroness Jane Campbell, Commissioner, wrote to the four Secretaries of State presiding over the Departments seeking reservations and declarations, to ask that they set out the detail of their proposals and the underpinning rationale. The Commission received responses from the Rt Hon John Hutton, Secretary of State for Defence, and the Rt Hon James Purnell, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. You can read the letters and the replies here:
*For accessibility reasons, we have included a transcript of this letter rather than the scanned original.
In March 2009, Baroness Jane Campbell, Commissioner, wrote again to the four Secretaries of State presiding over the relevant Departments. You can read the letters and the replies we received: