Priorities for cross-government action

This Plan operates under the authority of the Ministerial Committee on Disability Issues. The Ministerial Committee is mandated by Cabinet to provide leadership, coordination and accountability across government on disability issues. This function includes setting priorities for cross-government action.

The Ministerial Committee also coordinates implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the New Zealand Disability Strategy.

Government agencies and Disabled People’s Organisations worked together to codesign the Plan over 2013/2014, and have continued to provide joint governance over the Plan in its implementation and the 2015 update. Coordination and support for the process is provided by the Office for Disability Issues.

The Ministerial Committee approved the initial Plan in April 2014.

This updated Plan was approved by Cabinet in December 2015, following public consultation to check that the priorities and actions remain relevant to disabled people.

The strategic direction is disabled people-led

The Plan’s joint vision is for “All New Zealanders to experience equal rights of citizenship”.

Reinforcing this vision are five person-driven outcomes, which indicate key changes that disabled people say they want to experience in their lives. The actions should, over time, help make these outcomes real.

Following the practice with Better Public Services, at the heart of the Plan are four shared results, which give a direction to the priorities for action. The Plan’s shared results are also broadly consistent with, and should support achieving, some of the Better Public Services results.

Actions in the Plan are additional to, and complement, single agency-led disability-related activities.

Actions involve more than one government agency

The Plan provides a cross-government mechanism to help progress action on issues that need more than one government agency to work together.

These issues are usually more difficult and complex, in part because multiple organisations are involved. The Plan helps to progress actions through providing a consistent strategic direction, regular oversight of implementation, and insight from the lived experience of disability provided by Disabled People’s Organisations.

Other actions are important to disabled people, but these are the responsibility of a single agency

Some priorities and actions raised by disabled people in the development and update of the Plan are clearly the responsibility of one government agency, and no other government agency needs to be directly involved. These single agency-led actions are not included in the Plan.

In 2016, the Office for Disability Issues will work with Disabled People’s Organisations to develop a coordinated process to ensure opportunities for their feedback on single agency-led actions.