The Labour Party will be committing itself to undertake a social impact assessment every time a major economic policy is to be introduced, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this evening.

Closing a policy seminar on social justice organised by the Labour Party with the theme A Fair Society, Dr Muscat said the assessment would be held to provide an overview of how the proposal would affect various sectors of society, especially vulnerable people.

It would help the government identify negative impacts and propose mitigating measures, the Labour leader said.

Labour's electoral manifesto would also include proposals for the disabled, including that disabled children whose parents died would be able to live in small homes in the community, either in private homes or in small communal residences.

A Labour government, Dr Muscat said, would encourage and help disabled people to live independently. This would lessen the trauma of living alone after the parents died.

Parents would also be encouraged to use trust funds that would be regulated by the state to help their disabled children after their death. He said that the inheritance bequeathed to disabled people through a trust fund would be exempt from taxes.

All this, he said, would be over and above that which already existed.

Dr Muscat said that the Labour Party was committed to create a fair society. Unlike charity, social justice meant people had a right to a decent living, he said.

The Labour leader said that a Labour government would be committed to reduce the deficit with the least pain possible and in a way that protected families. Public-private partnerships would be the key to deficit reduction.

A Labour government would also adopt an open government approach that gave people the chance to scrutinise its actions and provide feedback.