Disabled children should be able to live in small residential homes in the community when their parents die, the Labour Party will propose in its electoral manifesto.
Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday that parents of disabled children worried about their offspring’s future after their death.
“A new Labour government will be committed to help disabled people who lose their parents to live within the community, either in private homes or small communal residences,” Dr Muscat said.
He made the proposal when closing a policy seminar on social justice organised by the PL with the theme A Fair Society.
Dr Muscat insisted that a Labour government would encourage and help disabled people to live independently. This would lessen the trauma of living alone after their parents died.
Another proposal would encourage parents to use trust funds as a way to help their disabled children after their death. Dr Muscat said the inheritance bequeathed to disabled people through a trust fund would be exempt from taxes.
“The government will encourage the use of trust funds as a social tool and it will also act as a regulator,” he added.
The PL was committed to create a fair society, Dr Muscat said, insisting that social justice, unlike charity, meant people had a right to a decent living.
He said another proposal in his party’s manifesto would be a commitment to undertake a social impact assessment every time a major economic policy would be introduced.
The assessment would not try to justify the government’s decision, he said, but, rather, provide a critical picture of how the proposal would affect various sectors of society, especially vulnerable people.
“This will help us identify negative impacts and propose mitigating measures,” Dr Muscat said.
A Labour government would be committed to reduce the deficit, he added, with the least pain possible and in a way that protected families. He proposed public-private partnerships as the key to deficit reduction.
Dr Muscat said a Labour government would adopt “an open government” approach that gave people the chance to scrutinise its actions and provide feedback.