Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Harmonised indicators in the field of disability as an instrument for monitoring European policies
Date: 2007-09-26
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU Member State, anti-discriminatory measure, data collection, equal treatment, integration of people with disabilities, social policy, statistics

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘Harmonised indicators in the field of
disability as an instrument for monitoring European policies’

(2008/C 10/20)

The European Economic and Social Committee received a letter, dated 13 February 2007, from the future
Portuguese presidency requesting its opinion on Harmonised indicators in the field of disability as an instrument
for monitoring European policies.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 17 July 2007. The rapporteur was Mr Joost.

At its 438th plenary session, held on 26-27 September 2007 (meeting of 26 September), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 160 votes, with no votes against and
six abstentions.

1. Conclusions and recommendations

The EESC believes that

the adoption of a roadmap
1.1
similar to the one which was adopted in the field of gender
equality, with the development of a set of indicators and quanti-
tative targets to be achieved by Member States in a number of
agreed priority areas, would be he right way to move forward
and achieve progress in making equal opportunities a reality for
disabled people.

The EESC urges the Commission and Member States to
1.2
focus on gathering a reliable and coherent set of indicators, as
well as quantitative targets in each of the statistical fields and
policy objectives identified, for each Member State to achieve
within a set time. The previous statistical attempts mentioned
earlier in this document have not been endorsed at European
level and are not a permanent indicator that could be measured
on a regular basis, for example within the indicators of social
inclusion. This endorsement and systematic measurement
is
necessary for any coherent policy.

1.3
The EESC calls on the High-Level Group on Disability to
endorse a list of priorities for data collection based on a core set
of indicators already existing in the ISTAT (1) list, which needs
to be updated.

1.4 Member States should continue with their efforts to
gather data on disability based on surveys, which should be
released on a regular basis, for example every second year. The
work on definition at international level with the Washington
Group must be continued.

1.6
Therefore, the EESC urges the EC to include in Eurostat
surveys a coherent disability module including the above-
mentioned elements, with regular reports to allow a proper
assessment of policies, as well as identification of priorities.

1.7
National disability organisations should be involved in
working out priority indicators for the individual Member State
concerned. Endorsement of harmonised indicators and collec-
tion of data will enable to exchange best practice solutions
between Member States, as the effectiveness of the used initia-
tives is measurable.

2. Introduction

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
2.1
welcomes the Portuguese presidency's request to draw up an
opinion on Harmonised indicators in the field of disability. The
Portuguese presidency is determined to contribute to enabling
the European Union to obtain reliable and comparable data in
order to assess the inclusion of people with disabilities.

2.2
People with disabilities make up more than 15 % of the
total population — a figure that is rising as the population ages.
This means that,
in the enlarged EU, more than 50 million
people are disabled (2). The SILC survey from 2005 does not
take into account children with disabilities, older people, or
people with disabilities living in institutions.

The EU Labour Force Survey should assess the progress
1.5
achieved on a more regular basis. The Social Protection and
Employment Committees could in future include a set of indica-
tors which would be systematically researched, as opposed to
independent one-off initiatives.

2.3
To make social rights, — including free movement of
people — which are recognised by the Treaties and by the
European Charter of Fundamental Rights, a reality for disabled
people, policies and situations must be assessed and compared
on a common basis in all Member States. This is the first step
towards designing and implementing policies to allow people
with disabilities to enjoy the same rights as non-disabled people.

(1) ISTAT — National Institute of Statistics — Italy, Project ‘Indicators on
integration of disabled people into social life’, final report, June 2001,
published by Eurostat.

(2) According to the Eurostat SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Condi-

tions) survey of 2005.

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2.4
Indicators measuring the progress of Member States in
the inclusion of people with disabilities in society are various:
accessibility of the built environment, participation in the labour
to
market, access to education, culture, e-accessibility,
mention a few. Being able to assess the actions undertaken by
Member States in this field and their impact is of crucial impor-
tance.

just

3.6
In all policy fields which impact on disabled people and
can improve their inclusion into society and facilitate their
access to rights, indicators are needed to measure progress, as
well as to ensure a comprehensive view of results of different
measures undertaken at European level. Existing laws must also
be assessed in order to modify or improve them.

3. Lack of coherence in existing legal and political instru-

ments

4.1 Existing data measurement systems

4. The need for a set of reliable and comparable statistics

identifies many urgent needs

The recently adopted UN Convention on the Rights of
3.1
People with Disabilities
for
promoting the mainstreaming of disability issues. EU Member
States should embrace these principles by ratifying the Conven-
tion without delay. In order to be in line with the objectives and
principles of the UN Convention, which the EC has signed, the
EU must adopt suitable policies. All countries and the EU
should also be encouraged to sign the optional protocol to the
UN Convention.

The European Disability Action Plan (3) sets itself
3.2
the
ambitious goals of achieving full application of the Equal Treat-
ment in Employment and Occupation Directive (2000/78/EC),
reinforcing mainstreaming of disability issues in relevant Com-
munity policies, and improving accessibility for all. In order to
achieve these objectives, progress must be measured by the
means of indicators which, for each political priority, assess the
progress achieved in each Member State and allow the setting of
measurable targets.

Directive 2000/78 EC adopted in November 2000 prohi-
3.3
bits discrimination against disabled people in the field of
employment and vocational
its
implementation by Member States, beyond the mere issue of
legal
is however problematic, as no available
comparable data allows the measurement of the increase in
employment levels of disabled people as the law is implemented
in each Member State.

training. The assessment of

transposition,

3.4
The Council of Europe Action Plan on full participation
of people with disabilities sets a number of concrete goals in
many society and policy fields, which apply to all 46 Member
States and have to be followed up. A drafting group has been
set up to develop indicators to measure progress.

4.1.1
The EESC regrets the lack of indicators in the field of
disability, and more particularly the lack of existing political
commitment at EU level on agreeing common indicators to
support and assess policies.

The EESC notes that Eurostat has undertaken several
4.1.2
interesting projects and initiatives aiming at the development of
a regular data collection on aspects of disability in coordinated
way across Europe: the module on health in the European Com-
(ECHP) on the period 1994-1996
munity Household Panel
included a small module on disability which was published in a
pocket book; in 2002, the European Labour Force Survey (LFS)
included a module on the employment of disabled people in
order to have a coordinated and harmonised input in the UNSD
launched the
Washington Group meeting; Eurostat has
European Disability Measurement (EDM) project.

survey and/or

In 2002 the European Directors of Social Statistics agreed on a
framework for regular collection of harmonised data by means
of
survey modules on health, named the
European Health Survey System (EHSS). Within this context the
Member States have agreed — end 2006 — the final version of
a European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) questionnaire; the
first wave of which will be carried out in 2007-2009. The EHIS
includes questions on several aspects of disability. Disability is
also included as a variable in the Statistics on Income and
Living Conditions (SILC) (4).

Eurostat's annual work programme 2007 includes activities in
the European Statistical System (ESS) (5) on further developing
Community statistics on disability and social inclusion in order
to provide the relevant and comparable statistical data needed to
monitor the situation of people with disabilities, in cooperation
with international organisations. By mid of 2008 a new survey
module on Disability and Social Integration — supported by
Eurostat grant — should be ready for pilot implementation in
the Member States.

The Lisbon Strategy has set ambitious targets for the EU,
3.5
which include raising employment levels and enhanced social
cohesion. These objectives cannot be achieved without concrete
measures to remove the barriers faced by disabled people in
accessing employment and services to allow their full integration
into society.

(3) See:

html.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/disability/index_en.

In all this development work, the International Classification of
Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) — established by the
World Health Organisation — is used as a basis.

(4) http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?

_pageid=1913,47567825,1913_58814988&_dad=portal&_sche-
ma=PORTAL#B.

(5) For the European Statistical System, see:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?
_pageid=1153,47169267,1153_47183518&_dad=portal&_sche-
ma=PORTAL.

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At

international

4.1.3
level, Eurostat has engaged on the
development of global measurements on disability, based on the
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health
from the World Health Organisation, within the
(ICF)
Washington Group on Disability Statistics (6). The Council of
Europe has published methodological guidance to how to
develop social indicators on social cohesion (7).

The proposal for a Regulation on Community statistics
4.1.4
on public health and on health and safety at work will give a
framework to activities in this field in the future. The Regulation
can be utilised for gathering data on disability, changing the
situation where data gathering is conducted by Member States
without the relevant legal basis.

4.2 Need for further European indicators

4.2.1
Article 31 of the UN Convention states that countries
have to collect appropriate information, including statistical and
research data, to enable them to formulate and implement poli-
cies to give effect
to the Convention. The EESC urges EU
Member States to follow that principle closely.

The EESC welcomes the above-mentioned initiatives
4.2.2
but regrets the lack of coherence and of agreed political indica-
tors gathering those initiatives, in order to analyse the situation
of persons with disabilities, measure the impact of policies and
legislation and to evaluate their needs.

4.2.3
Indicators must be set to measure employment levels,
in order to better understand what the issues to be addressed
are, and to design appropriate policies. The 2006 Spring
Council reiterated the need to take appropriate measures to raise
employment levels of disabled people.

An assessment of

4.2.4
the European
the
Anti-Discrimination Directive, and of legislation in the different
Member States, would be necessary in order to better design
political and legislative action in the future.

impact of

4.2.5
Data on discrimination must be further collected in
conjunction with indicators in the other fields of access to
goods and services, employment, social inclusion, etc., so as to
ensure a coherent view of issues affecting disabled people and
how they interact.

Brussels, 26 September 2007.

4.2.6
Social inclusion is also a field where further assessment
is needed to better understand the complex reasons that lead to
the social exclusion of disabled people. Issues such as income
must be measured, but also participation in social life (represen-
tation, access to associations, volunteer work, politics, etc.) and
access to health care, education, culture, means of communica-
tion and social services.

Existing best practice solutions, such as the European
4.2.7
parking card, should set an example for the introduction of
new, similar solutions, which cannot be achieved without a set
of indicators to measure social inclusion of people with disabil-
ities, with relevant and comparable data.

4.3 Challenges in the setting of European indicators

4.3.1
The provision of data from Member States to assess the
level of the inclusion of people with disabilities currently takes
place without any European-level agreement on common indi-
cators except data collection in framework of OMC (8) and
ECHIM (9). It should also be further explained to the Member
States why gathering data on disability matters is of great impor-
tance.

4.3.2
The SILC survey includes an estimate of the number of
disabled people in the EU but excludes from this data people
living in institutions, children and older people with a disability,
which makes this figure less relevant.

4.3.3
Definitions of disability are different in all countries,
and should be expanded to include, for example, people with
mental health problems, who are often not included in national
statistics. In order to secure a universally recognised basis for
determining which groups of people are subsumed under the
term ‘persons with disabilities’, any definition should draw on
the second paragraph of Article 1 of the UN Convention.

4.3.4
Disabled people are a heterogeneous group, and it is
difficult to establish measurement criteria. A set of indicators
should therefore take into account the diversity of disabilities, as
well as the policy fields that impact on the lives of disabled
people, and identify barriers to full participation in society for
people with disabilities.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

(6) For the Washington Group, see:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/citygroup.htm.

(7) ‘Concerted development of social cohesion indicators — Methodolo-

gical guide’, Council of Europe Publishing.

(8) Open Method of Coordination.
(9) European Community Health Indicators Monitoring.