Eleven new sector champions, who will help to tackle the issues disabled people face as consumers, have been announced by the Minister for Disabled People, Work and Health today (21 February 2017).

The champions, who represent a range of different sectors and businesses, from gaming to retail, will use their influential status as leaders in their industries to promote the benefits of being inclusive to disabled people.

There are currently more than 11 million disabled people in the UK and the spending power of their households – ‘the purple pound’ – is almost £250 billion. But many businesses are missing out on this potential customer base by having everyday products and services which aren’t available to disabled people – who, as a result, are regularly excluded from experiences and opportunities that many others take for granted.

The sector champions will amplify the voices of disabled customers and employees within their own industries, increasing accountability and challenging inequality. They will also be able to highlight specific changes and improvements that will make a difference to the millions of people who often miss out.

The Minister for Disabled People, Work and Health, Penny Mordaunt, said:

As a public advocate for accessibility, these champions will help businesses realise the value of disabled consumers and the importance of catering to every customer’s needs.

These industries must become fully inclusive. Not being able to access the high street, products and services, transport or simply to access a loo jars with our national values: it must change.

The new sector champions will drive improvements to the accessibility and quality of services and facilities in their sector, helping to showcase best practice and show other businesses the merit of making disabled customers a priority.

The sector champions are:

• Helen Drury, Corporate Responsibility Manager at Intu (retail)
• Suzanne Bull MBE, CEO of Attitude is Everything (music)
• Huw Edwards, Public Affairs Director at UKActive (leisure)
• Chris Veitch, Co-founder of Access New Business (tourism)
• Robin Sheppard, Chairman of Bespoke Hotels (hotels)
• Dan Brooke, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Channel 4 (media)
• Sam Phillips, CMO at Omnicom Media Group (advertising)
• Michael Connolly, Regional Training and Standards Manager at OCS ltd (transport – airports)
• Jane Cole, Managing Director at Blackpool Transport Services (transport – buses)
• Trudie Hills, Disability Manager, Lloyds Bank (banking)
• Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of UKIE (gaming)

Media enquiries for this press release – 020 3267 5123

Follow DWP on:

21 Feb 2017

Finance secretary Derek Mackay has performed another budget u-turn as he seeks to address Scotland’s business rates crisis.

Addressing Holyrood today, he said up to £40 million had been discovered within a budget that had previously been “maxed out”.

It means some sectors in certain areas of the country will have their increases capped at 12.5 per cent, although many others will still have to endure the crippling increases.

Mr Mackay eventually conceded to MSPs that the cap would only be in place for one year, a move described as a “sticking plaster approach” by the Scottish Conservatives.

It’s another surprise discovery of cash by the finance secretary, after he found more than £180 million to appease the Greens in budget negotiations earlier this month.

Scottish Conservative shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser said:

“For weeks the SNP has been ignoring this issue, claiming it had no control over this process.

“In the typical style of this SNP government, it fell asleep at the wheel and only woke up when it crashed into the wall.

“We’ve heard on more than one occasion that this budget has been maxed out, yet once again Mr Mackay has been able to find a bit more money down the back of the couch.

“It’s a desperate eleventh-hour move which will do very little to ease concerns within Scotland’s business community, given that it is for one year only.”

Finance secretary Derek Mackay only made the statement to the Scottish Parliament after demands by the Scottish Conservatives:
http://www.scottishconservatives.com/2017/02/mackay-to-face-holyrood-on-business-rates-crisis/

21 February 2017

Green MEP Molly Scott Cato, a member of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, has launched two reports on ideas for the future of farming post-Brexit. The launch comes on the day the National Union of Farmers begin their annual conference in Birmingham, where Defra Secretary, Andrea Leadsom, again attacked the EU for ‘tying farmers up in red tape’. She also called for a system based on simpler, more effective rules, where farmers will be ‘free to grow more, sell more and export more.’  

However, Ms Leadsom offered farmers no clear plan on farming post-Brexit and Dr Scott Cato says that questions to the government reveal they lack ideas on the future of farming after the UK leaves the EU.

The two reports – one by the Soil Association; the other by Simon Fairlie of the Land Workers’ Alliance – foresee a future where policies put soil health and biodiversity first, and where the way we use land helps tackle climate change. They say that to achieve this, farmers will need to receive at least as much money as they currently get through the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). Molly Scott Cato said:

“Like Ms Leadsom, I don’t want farmers tied up in red tape, but we do need to bind ourselves in some green tape.We need to ensure land management protects and improves our soils, encourages biodiversity, and helps tackle climate change. The reports I have launched today contain a wealth of ideas on how we can achieve this.

“They also call for direct payments based on land area to be scrapped; instead future payments would to be based on paying farmers for the public benefits they provide and for protecting the environment.

“With the government planning to remove us from the single market where around 65% of total UK agricultural exports are sold, platitudes about growing more, selling more and exporting more will ring hollow for most farmers.

“These reports show how to move UK agriculture away from a dependence on export markets and towards creating thriving rural communities by supporting family farms and relocalising food production. Brexit could be a unique opportunity to move towards an ecologically and economically sustainable farming system, but the government seems determined to move us in the wrong direction.”

Dr Tom MacMillan, Director of Innovation at the Soil Association, said:

“We’re hearing a fair bit of consensus from farming, nature and public interest groups on the big principles for agricultural policy after we leave the CAP – that the public expect high standards on animal welfare, for example, and that public money should pay for public benefits. What’s missing are practical and inspiring ideas that seize the chance to make a better fist of it, and face up to monumental challenges like climate change. So we’ve tried to set out a few game-changing ideas in our report”.

Tweet

Back to main news page

Let’s block ads! (Why?)