Japan Press Weekly

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2011 April 20 - 26 [WELFARE]

Gov’t should meet demands of the handicapped: Shiokawa

Japanese Communist Party representative Shiokawa Tetsuya on April 19 at a House of Representatives General Affairs Committee meeting criticized the government for having formulated bills in relation to welfare of handicapped persons without listening to their opinions.

A set of government bills allows local governments to omit opinion hearings on disabled people’s welfare programs by weakening the existing rule of “obligation” to hold hearings to just “making an effort”.

When this fact was brought up by Shiokawa, Parliamentary Secretary of the welfare ministry Kobayashi Masao admitted, “We did not hold a hearing with disabled people’s organizations” when drawing up the bills.

Shiokawa stated, “The opinion hearing is not an obligation that the central government imposes on local governments. It is an obligation placed on both governments to fulfill the obligation to reflect people’s opinions in relevant policies.”

The package of bills discussed in the committee meeting that day were aimed at relaxing the national standards concerning public services, including welfare and education.

For example, in regard to long-term care facilities for the physically-handicapped, the current standard requires rooms be occupied by less than four people. However, the bills shift the responsibility for this standard, established as a result of longstanding efforts made by organizations representing the interests of disabled people, from the national government to local governments.

Shiokawa stated, “The government is abandoning the system of established national minimum standards.”