Summaries of DEAC's meetings held in 2006

Fourteenth Meeting – Cardiff 11 / 12 October 2006-11-17

At the pre meeting evening event on 11 October, there were three guest speakers.

Dr Debbie Cohen, senior medical research fellow, who spoke about the work of the Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research, Cardiff University and Disability Research
Ruth Brown, Jobcentre Plus who spoke about the Wales Want to Work initiative
Rhian Davies, Chief Executive of Disability Wales who described the work of her organisation and a specific self employment project managed by Disability Wales

During the meeting:

the Committee received progress reports on Pathways and Welfare Reform and agreed further DEAC involvement;
the Committee discussed and finalised their Business Plan for period 2006 – 2008. This included their project work plans.
the project groups provided updates on their areas of work and agreed with the wider Committee what their next steps would be.

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Thirteenth Meeting - Edinburgh 28/29 June 2006

At the pre meeting evening event on 28 June, there were two guest speakers.

Rosemary Winter-Scott (Scottish Executive) who gave a presentation on the Employability Framework that has been developed in Scotland.
Padam Singh (Scottish Enterprise) who gave a presentation on the Scottish Enterprise's work in relation to disability.

The main meeting on 29 June 2006 was the last meeting to be chaired by Sally Witcher. She expressed her thanks to Members and Officials on the work they have done over the last few years. She also thanked everyone for their gifts and good wishes.

There were presentations on:

Welfare Reform Green Paper developments
Pathways and PVS
Progress on the setting up of the national Forum for Organisations of Disabled people

The Committee' project groups also gave updates on individual project work.

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Twelfth meeting – London 1/2 February 2006

At the pre meeting evening event on 1 February 2006 there were two guest speakers.

Leslie Strathie who spoke about the role of Jobcentre Plus and her priorities as its Chief Executive;
Jacinda Humphry (Assistant Director, Office for Disability Issues) who spoke about the current work of the ODI including an update on progress towards the Strategy Unit Report's recommendations, and specific background detail on the setting up of the National Forum for Organisations of Disabled People.

The main meeting on 2 February 2006 saw the Chair introduce the six newly recruited Committee Members and went on to outline the timeline for the recruitment of the new Chair.

The Committee was presented with a summary of the recently published Welfare Reform Green Paper.

The Rt Hon John Hutton MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions attended the meeting. He thanked the Committee for their important advice to Ministers. He then went on to speak specifically about the Welfare Reform Green Paper.

Bill Gunnyeon, DWP's Chief Medical Officer, gave an overview of the Health, Work and Well Being Strategy and its contributions and relevance to the Welfare Reform Green Paper.

The Committee had an up date on its project activity and a detailed discussion on the content of the DEAC Strategy and Work Plan for 2006 - 2008. They identified priority areas that they felt should be worked on over the next 3 years, and also some key areas for immediate action.

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