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Disability Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 2005

My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing forward this order, and I have just a couple of very short questions. We have in the past been promised that all responses to consultations would be published on the departmental website, but, when my honourable friend in another place was discussing this order in Committee, she was unable to access the departmental website to look at them. Has this now been remedied? As the Minister has pointed out, the Bill closely resembles the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which applies to England and Wales. That Bill received a great deal of scrutiny in the Commons and the Lords, and it also received detailed pre-legislative scrutiny. We particularly welcome Article 4, which makes it unlawful for public authorities to discriminate against a disabled person in carrying out its functions, and Article 5, which places a duty on every public authority to promote positive attitudes towards disabled persons and to encourage their participation in public life. This is very important, particularly for younger people with disabilities. Extra support will always be needed to help them have full participation in society in general. This order is extremely welcome. It will ensure that public authorities have to be proactive in their approach to disability. It is also important that disabled people should have access to work through more accessible transport, and we warmly welcome the provisions in the order. Will the Minister reassure us that proper action will be taken to ensure that, say, parked cars are cleared from bus stops so that disabled-access buses can get right up to the pavement? This problem is occurring increasingly across the UK, and we need to give it more attention than it has had in the past since the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act. With those few remarks and questions, these Benches are happy to support this order.