The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) was established by the British Labour government in 1999. At that time, the DRC was the UK's third equality commission alongside the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission.
The DRC was charged with reviewing the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and recommending its amendment. It had rights of investigation and enforcement of disability legislation, and was responsible for advising employers on how to secure equal treatment of disabled employees. The DRC replaced an earlier and weaker body, the National Disability Council, established by the Conservatives in the 1990s.
The passing of the Equality Act 2006 means that in October 2007 the DRC was replaced by a new Equality and Human Rights Commission with powers across all equality law (race, sex, disability, religion and belief, sexual orientation and age).
The DRC was a non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department for Work and Pensions. Its head office was in Manchester city centre with other offices in central London, Cardiff and Edinburgh.
Famous quotes containing the words rights and/or commission:
“The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“The Church seems to totter to its fall, almost all life extinct. On this occasion, any complaisance would be criminal which told you, whose hope and commission it is to preach the faith of Christ, that the faith of Christ is preached.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)