Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 7
1st Report - Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services: interim Report on temporary provisions in the Coronavirus Act
Published 25 Sep 2020
Paragraph 35
Addressed to Government Equalities Office
Women and Equalities Committee Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
On balance, and subject to our other recommendations to tighten guidance and increase transparency being implemented, we accept that the Care Act easement provisions may need to remain in place over the winter period. The Government should keep the need for the Care Act easement provisions under constant review over the autumn and winter. It should use its power to suspend them immediately should it become clear that a second peak of the virus has been avoided. Should the progress of the pandemic remain stable or improve, we recommend the provisions be repealed before or at the second six-monthly review in Spring 2021. We recommend the Government state publicly that it intends to take this approach. This would provide greater clarity, and some reassurance, to disabled people and be an important marker of the Government’s determination to fully restore disabled people’s absolute rights to the care and support they need.
From: Women and Equalities Committee, 1st Report - Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services: interim Report on temporary provisions in the Coronavirus Act (HC 386), paragraph 35, 25 September 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 25 January 2021.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government "welcomes the Committee's interim recommendations" and sets out actions taken on Care Act easements, the Mental Health Act and EHC plans, while describing the existing parliamentary review arrangements as "flexible and proportionate".
- On Care Act easements, the government says they "should only be used when absolutely necessary", that no local authorities are currently operating under them, and that the changes "will be kept under regular review".
- The Mental Health Act provisions were repealed from the Coronavirus Act on 8 December 2020. On reform, the government will publish a White Paper "as soon as it is possible to do so".
- On EHC plans, no further modification notice was issued after 31 July. The government does not intend to issue further notices "unless the evidence changes".
- On a separate Commons view on individual provisions, the government describes the existing arrangements, including the six-monthly vote, as "a flexible and proportionate response" that ensures ongoing scrutiny.