Action - Implement disability data and evidence work programme

The action outlined below will help achieve this outcome. This work was started under the existing Disability Action Plan.

9. Priority: Increase government services’ responsiveness to disabled people

9 E: Implement the work programme of the Disability Data and Evidence Working Group, including a focus on Māori and Pasifika.

Progress update to September 2018

Status: On track - Green

When the Disability Data and Evidence Working Group's work was initially scoped, there was no indication that indicators would need to be developed to monitor progress in the implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy. The development of the Outcomes Framework means that data needs will now be framed by the development of indicators for the eight outcome domains in the Strategy. However, this will not totally define the work of the DDEWG going forward.

The Disability Data and Evidence Working Group has assisted Stats NZ to make improvements in the inclusion of disabled people in various household surveys. The Washington Group Short Set (WGSS) of questions to identify disabled people was included in the New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS) 2017. The WGSS will contiue to be included in the NZGSS which is run every two years. The WGSS was also included in the June quarter of the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), and will continue to be included in each June quarter going forward. Finally, the WGSS will be included in the 2018 Census.

Action Milestones:

Government stocktake completed in May 2016 [completed]

Currently available on Office for Disability Issues website at: http://www.odi.govt.nz/what-we-do/better-evidence/index.html.

Stocktake of organisations outside government (August 2016) [completed, in September 2016)

Consultation on and finalisation of enduring questions (August 2016) [on-going]

Documenting and prioritising a list of enduring questions was mostly completed in September 2016.
The enduring questions document will remain relevant in identifying and prioritising initiatives to address gaps or deficiencies in meeting disability data needs.

Identify and prioritise initiatives to address gaps and deficiencies in meeting data needs (September 2016 to December 2016) [on-going]

The DDEWG met in October 2017 to discuss its role going forward. It was agreed to develop a work programme based on the new priority of data needs being framed by the development of the Strategy Outcomes Framework.

Lead: Office for Disability Issues, Statistics New Zealand

DPOs contact: Individual expert

Scope of action

1 Context: Brief background, what is this action intended to achieve?

In March 2011, the Government submitted its first report outlining progress in the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in New Zealand. Improving data collection and statistics on disabled people was one of the recommendations put forward in the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ (the Committee) report released in October 2014 in response to the Government’s report.

In response to the Committee’s recommendation, the Disability Data and Evidence Working Group (the Working Group), co-facilitated by the Office for Disability Issues and Statistics New Zealand, was established in June 2015.

A key purpose of the Working Group is to define, clarify and prioritise information needs in order to:

improve the lives of disabled people
inform better quality monitoring of and reporting on the CRPD, the New Zealand Disability Strategy and the Disability Action Plan 2014-2018.

2 Proposed scope

The purpose of Action 9 (e) is to implement the Working Group’s work programme.

The aim of the work programme is to develop a Disability Domain Plan.

The purpose of the Disability Domain Plan is to develop a shared understanding of the strengths, gaps, overlaps and deficiencies in data and evidence relating to disabled people in New Zealand. It will make sure that we collect the right information on disability to ensure that the right decisions are made on things that impact on disabled people. There are four steps involved in the development of the Disability Domain Plan:

Carry out a stocktake of data and evidence currently available in New Zealand.
Develop an agreed set of enduring questions to identify long-term needs for data and evidence on disabled people.
Analyse the stocktake with respect to the questions to determine gaps or deficiencies in meeting data needs.
Identify and prioritise initiatives to address gaps or deficiencies in meeting data needs.

3 Contributors/partners with lead – who is involved in this action?

The Office for Disability Issues and Statistics New Zealand are jointly leading the implementation of the Working Group’s work programme.

The Working Group includes representatives from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Justice, ACC, universities/research institutes and service providers. It also includes a representative of Disabled People’s Organisations (nominated by DPOs themselves).

4 Reporting – key milestones/deliverables

Stocktake on data and evidence in New Zealand:

government stocktake completed in May 2016 (currently available on Office for Disability Issues website at: http://www.odi.govt.nz/what-we-do/better-evidence/index.html
stocktake of organisations outside government - August 2016.

Consultation and finalisation of enduring questions – August 2016 (date TBC).

Identify and prioritise initiatives to address gaps and deficiencies in meeting data needs – September 2016 to December 2016.

5 Risks

Since the establishment of the Working Group in June 2015, there are high expectations in the wider disability sector about needs for data and evidence on disabled people being met.

Lack of clarity/shared understanding of definitions of disability.

6 Impact – what are we trying to achieve?

The end-result of implementing the Working Group’s work programme will be:

up-to-date knowledge in the Disability Domain Plan about the kinds of data and evidence needed to underpin the development of policy and service delivery planning
improved knowledge and understanding of disability issues among the members of the Working Group, government agencies, DPOs and the wider disability sector.

7 Evidence base

Completed stocktakes.

8 Related work

The revision of the New Zealand Disability Strategy fits well into the Working Group’s development of the Disability Domain Plan. The identification of strengths, gaps and deficiencies in data relating to disabled people will inform the Outcomes Framework which will be developed to monitor implementation of the Disability Strategy.

The development of the Health Research Strategy also fits well into the Working Group’s development of the Disability Domain Plan. The identification of strengths, gaps and deficiencies in data relating to the health of disabled people and their access to health services in the Domain Plan, could inform health researchers’ decisions on issues to prioritise in disability research pertaining to health.

Page last updated: 2.03.2019