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Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment etc.) (General Qualifications Bodies) (Alteration of Premises and Enforcement) Regulations 2007

I am grateful to the noble Baroness and the noble Lord for their support for the regulations, which we believe will make a further contribution to eliminating discrimination from the examination system and, therefore, more generally from the education system at large. The noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Bolton, asked me three questions. The first was about the inclusion of diplomas, why they were not listed in the regulations and whether we would seek to do so in due course. Diplomas are not listed in the regulations because they are not yet qualifications that are being studied and it is not possible to regulate for qualifications that do not yet exist. However, I can assure the noble Baroness that, as and when they exist, we will add them to the list and, therefore, they will be covered. Secondly, the noble Baroness asked about costs. We have not done a regulatory impact assessment specifically for these sets of regulations on the basis that we anticipate that there should be a negligible impact on general qualifications bodies in terms of cost and burden. There are three main reasons for that. First, awarding bodies operate already an extensive system of special arrangements for disabled students. For GCSE and A-level bodies, annual regulations are made by the Joint Council for Qualifications. Secondly, most examination centres, schools and colleges already operate under the provisions of the DDA. Therefore, the duty to make adjustments to physical features of premises which can carry a cost already bites on them, not the awarding bodies. Thirdly, we believe that we have met awarding bodies’ concerns about the possibility of increased claims for certificate indications with the extra administrative burdens that that would bring by both the wording of the regulations and the proposed mechanism of QCA agreeing with awarding bodies operating principles to restrict their use. However, it is difficult, pre-implementation, to predict the exact impact of any extra burden and cost on the awarding bodies and disability groups. We have therefore proposed to the awarding bodies that we set up a group, including QCA and awarding body representatives, to monitor the impact of the legislation and to review it fully after one year. Finally, the noble Baroness asked me what constituted reasonable adjustments. The term means what is reasonable in all the circumstances of the particular case in question, a definition that runs through the Disability Discrimination Acts. Of course, it is important to be practical in giving guidance to the bodies that will be affected. I can assure the noble Baroness that guidance will be provided in the code of practice that will be published later this year. On that basis, I hope that the House is content to approve the regulations. On Question, Motion agreed to.