Memorandum from Sport England and selected
National Governing Bodies of Sport (DDB 66)
1. Sport England and selected National Governing
Bodies of Sport welcome the draft Disability Discrimination Bill
and thank the Department for Work and Pensions for the opportunity
to comment on it.
2. The proposed amendment to extend the
scope of the 1995 Act to include private clubs is welcomed as
it is anticipated it will result in more people with disabilities
becoming members of sports clubs. It is however noted that the
Bill includes a regulation detailing the process of reasonable
adjustment which means that clubs will not have to make adjustments
that are unreasonable, because they are either impractical or
too expensive.
3. It is considered that the above concept
of reasonableness is important due to the diverse nature of the
many sports clubs in the country and the difficulties implementation
would cause should the concept not be included. It is therefore
recommended that the concept should be strongly emphasised in
legislation documentation. In contrast however, there is a strong
commitment from NGBs to promote increased levels of participation
at all levels of sport for disabled people in clubs throughout
the country wherever practical.
4. In summary it is hoped the legislation
will help increase the levels of participation of disabled people
in conjunction with the proposed strategy of Sport England to
make England an active and successful sporting nation.
February 2004
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