As this annual 'Wales Impact Report' states, the Equality and Human Rights Commission's goals are to:

'Ensure that people's life chances aren't held back by barriers in their way'

—in other words, the social model—

'Make sure we have strong foundations on which to build a more equal and rights-respecting society' and 

'Protect the rights of people in the most vulnerable situations'.

It refers to the launch of their 'Housing and disabled people: Wales's hidden crisis' report. I chaired a meeting of the cross-party group on disability, at which the commission spoke about this. They expressed concern about: the lack of data held by local authorities around disabled people's housing requirements and knowledge of the stock they hold; concern that only 55 per cent of local authorities said that they conducted equality and impact assessments on their local development plans; and they rightly stressed the importance of listening to disabled people.

The report found that there is a significant shortage of accessible homes. Disabled people are not getting the support they need to live independently. There was no target in the Welsh Government's 20,000 affordable housing target by 2021 for accessible homes. Only one out of 22 local authorities has set a percentage target for accessible and affordable homes, and only 15 per cent of local authorities in Wales said that the information they had about disabled people's housing requirements was good.

The European convention on human rights was drafted by the Council of Europe, not the European Union. As a signatory, the UK would be breaking international law if it failed to respect the rights in the convention. The 2019 UK Conservative manifesto states that the UK Government 

'will update the Human Rights Act' and establish

'a Constitution, Democracy & Rights Commission that will examine these issues in depth'.

I trust the commission will be involved in this. It also states that

'the UK has long been a beacon of freedom and human rights—and will continue to be so.'

This 'Impact Report' refers to the commission's 2018 'Is Wales Fairer?' report, and the commission is keen for the Welsh Government to provide actual evidence detailing how it is taking forward its specific recommendations. I hope the Minister will respond to that. 

Highlighting the difficulties experienced by disabled people accessing public transport, it recommended that Transport for Wales should work with Network Rail and rail contractor KeolisAmey to improve accessibility of the existing rail infrastructure across Wales, and that public transport providers and regulators should provide training to ensure all staff have the knowledge and skills to help meet the needs of disabled passengers. 

Although the Welsh Government has stated that it intends to explore further incorporation of human rights in law in Wales, it voted against Darren Millar's proposal to incorporate the UN principles for older persons in Welsh law. It therefore now needs to set out its specific proposals.

I regularly hear from disabled people who have been discriminated against and, therefore, need the commission to support strategic legal cases that establish legal precedent. I therefore welcome the cases that were supported by the commission that resulted in the Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales ruling that a north Wales school unlawfully discriminated on the grounds of disability—it sounds identical to a case I was involved with, involving an autistic pupil—and in a judgment that means that we heard that landlords must allow disabled leaseholders to make changes that are reasonable and necessary. 

I've previously spoken here in support of a proposed Bill to incorporate the UN convention on the rights of disabled persons into Welsh law, and called for Welsh Government action to address the failure by public agencies to carry out their duties and responsibilities to disabled people, noting that the Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to think ahead and address barriers that impede disabled people. This 'Impact Report' notes that the Welsh Government has committed to review the public sector equality duty in Wales, in line with the commission's recommendations. 

I will therefore close by referring to just three recent examples amongst many where this is being ignored on the ground: where a local education authority has told the parents of a young girl that she should not go to her local primary school because they deemed her wheelchair adaptations too expensive without consulting them—that is current; where Flintshire based Changing Places campaigner Kim Edwards stated, 'Currently, people with profound disabilities are excluded from their local towns because they're not able to have their basic human needs met, simply to use a toilet'; and where social services failed to establish and meet the communication and processing needs of an autistic child when they interviewed her, and then determined that she was not at risk of abuse from her perpetrator—fortunately, the court saw through this earlier this month.