Pat Russell – Head of the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) 

Pat opened the meeting by outlining the format of the day with the main focus being on the review of the Forum and the opportunity for members to share the views that they had already discussed with ODI in a programme of bilateral meetings. 
Mark Harper – Minister of State for Disabled People 
•	The Minister welcomed everyone to the meeting, and for the time and energy they had brought to the Forum over the past year. He expressed his commitment to government engagement with disabled people and their organisations, and his view that the Forum was a valuable vehicle for that which could be made to work even more effectively.

•	The Minister asked members to feedback their views on how they thought the Forum had worked and what could have been done differently and emphasised his view that government departments should share their thinking at early stages of policy development.

•	He shared the decision not to go forward with the establishment of a Fulfilling Potential Advice Service, as he felt that this was not now needed and could be addressed by directly engaging with disabled people during policy development, including through using the Forum to provide advice to government.
Members raised the following:
•	Government departments should be mindful of accessible language for people with learning disability; Minister agreed that language could be more simple and congratulated Mencap on the Easy Read publications they had produced.
•	DPULOs and other voluntary organisations faced barriers in local commissioning projects; Minister recognised more engagement on commissioning would be helpful and his cross-government Ministerial Group could take this forward in the future. 
•	Development of policy on devolution needs to involve disabled people; Minister agreed that early engagement was needed before any policies have been locked in.  
•	Was the location of the Office for Disability Issues within DWP right, should they be with another government department; Minister shared his view that DWP is a huge government spending department with a place in Cabinet which strengthened the position of  ODI and meant that ODI could draw on DWP resources to support it. 
•	Change to the Disabled Students Allowance was raised; Minister said that as far as he was aware there had not been any engagement with stakeholders by BIS, he is therefore recommending to them that they engage
•	The length of time taken to deliver accessible formats was raised: Minister agreed that sometimes delivery can be genuinely complicated and sometimes it is because people are aiming for perfection. He was aware that the NHS was working on an accessible communication standard, which has taken a year to produce and it would be shared by the NHS shortly.

After the Minister left, members discussed their key priorities for future Forum work, and highlighted the following issues:
•	Benefits – Welfare Reform
•	The Care Act and the extra resources required to deliver on this
•	Accessible Communication
•	Extra duties for local government to deliver
•	Attendance of ministers is vital and when particular policy areas are discussed for their department
•	Look at solutions not problems
•	Forum would benefit from having topics
•	Each quarter set a topic running into regions in advance of forum meetings. They can then gather information from grass root level and feedback.
•	Common set of principles to involve disabled people in policy making. 
•	Do more to incorporate disability into policy that involves commissioning to allow disability organisations more access to the commissioning process.
Extra Costs Commission Interim Report
•	Anna Bird from Scope presented a paper on the ‘Extra Cost Commission’ which highlighted the extra costs faced by disabled people. The interim report is a consultation document, Anna invited members of the Forum to provide initial feedback on the findings and ideas, as well as thoughts on how to engage with DPOs and ULOs to take forward some of the proposed ideas throughout the consultation period.
Forum Review Discussion;
During the afternoon the Forum discussed three questions:
WHAT – What is the Forum here to do and are we achieving it?
Some of the comments included;
•	Need feedback from issues raised and discussed.
•	It will, at least partially, be dependent on what the focus of the next Government proves to be. It might therefore be wiser to wait until that’s clear.
•	There had been a positive change of engagement with the new Minister. 
•	Perhaps should be operating more as a think tank.
•	Is there more scope for the group to decide its own agenda items. 
•	The Forum was formed “late in the day” of the current Parliamentary cycle and so major policy decisions have already been taken and  implemented  without the Forum’s involvement. At least with the next Government we will have the whole 5 years ahead.
•	The next time the Forum meets there is likely to be a new minister, which will make it the perfect time to make suggestions as to the future direction and seek tangible results.
WHO – Is the Forum membership right? 
Could invite representatives of;
•	Young disabled people
•	Young Carers
•	Epilepsy reps
•	Dementia
•	National Survivor User Networks (NSUN) should be invited to join the Forum.
•	Inviting other organisations to the group could also be beneficial, and not just Government organisations, the EHRC, for example. 
Size of the Forum
•	Generally agreed the size is about right, composition is about right
•	DPULOs need an equal voice and access to Ministers, however, it’s important that the larger charities are also present as they have the ability to fundraise and have money for research, for example.
Devolved 
•	The majority felt it was useful to be UK wide
What about bringing in experts for particular areas?
•	Could do a skills audit of members 
•	Perhaps we could involve representatives from University Research Departments.
•	EHRC should be offered the opportunity to attend and present at a future forum. 
•	Academics should be considered for future forums 
•	Young ambassadors need to be considered and heard

•	The Forum should remain the same size but consider inviting experts to future events. 
HOW – How should the Forum work in order to be affective
•	Forum members could chair future meetings and co-produce the agenda. 
To make the Forum’s advice more timely and reactive rather than having to wait for the next meeting could make use of
•	Sub-Groups to take topics away to be worked up and then, perhaps, brought back to the group for a decision. This would make meetings of the whole Forum more focused and enable the group to set its own agenda.	
•	Forum outputs have to be clear and issues prioritised
•	Should define a ‘code of conduct’ or ‘roles and responsibilities’ (including confidentiality agreement, duty to attend, sending apologies)
•	Could engage/work in between by email - a virtual group could be set-up
•	Welcome email updates, need to recognise value.
Conclusion
Pat Russell thanked Forum members for the discussion and ideas. These will be used to inform advice that will go to an incoming Minister after the Election.

Annex - Forum Attendees
Jill Allen-King – National Federation of the Blind
June Best – Northern Ireland Ambassador
Kieran Bright – DPULO South West Region
Dan Burden – Spinal Injuries Association
David Buxton – British Deaf Association
Anna Bird - Scope
Louise Cotelo Redford (observer) from Mencap
Rhian Davies – Disability Wales
Mick Dillon – DPULO East Region
Kevin Doherty – Disability Action Northern Ireland
Diana Foster – DPULO Yorks and Humberside Region
Stacey Hemington – DPULO North West Region
Theresa Hodge – DPULO South East Region
Barry Horne – English Federation of Disability Sport
Hugh Huddy – RNIB
Andy Kempster - MIND
Pete Millington – DPULO West Midlands Region
Alan Milner - Mencap
Tim Nicholls – National Autistic Society 
Guy Parkhar – Leonard Cheshire 
Paula Reid – Rethink Mental Illness
Lauren Robinson – DPULO North East Region
Joanne Sawyer – Age UK
Liz Sayce – Disability Rights UK
Charley Streather - BLESMA
Roger Wickes – Action on Hearing Loss
Sally Witcher – Inclusion Scotland