Amendments to the Guardianship Act are aimed at removing anomalies that affect the operation of the Guardianship Board, the parliamentary secretary responsible for persons with disability, Justyne Caruana, told Parliament yesterday.

The Guardianship Act was enacted by the Nationalist administration in 2012, but it did not set up the necessary structures for the Act to function, she said.

This included setting up the Guardianship Board. The previous administration had ratified the UN convention but did not set up structures to implement it, Dr Caruana charged.

The government, she said, had an extensive agenda on people with disabilities and new structures would be announced in the near future.

It immediately established the Guardianship Board, which has already received 23 applications for a guardian from persons with an intellectual disability.

An Adult Protection Bill will soon be moved after consultation with stakeholders.

Shadow Minister for Social Policy Paula Mifsud Bonniici said the National Commission for Persons with Disability is instrumental in changing society’s attitudes.

However there are other barriers needing to be removed so that persons with disability will enjoy equal opportunities. These include giving a voice to their NGOs.

In this regard, she criticised the government for moving a Bill on sign language without first consulting the representatives for the deaf.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici also spoke about the equal opportunities law which had been enacted by a Nationalist government in 2000 and now needed to be reviewed.

This law was considered one of the best anti-discriminatory laws in Europe.

She said that this led the Opposition to propose a private bill so that the national commission would become autonomous and be recognised as a parliamentary authority.

She also said the Guardianship Act came into force two months before the general election in 2013.

The objective was to set up the Guardianship Institute. The guardian is duty bound to consult persons with disability to realise their wishes and respect their rights.

She criticised the government for failing to appoint the Guardianship Board which, she said, had started functioning last September.

Social Policy Minister Michael Farrugia and Silvio Parnis, as well as Nationalist MPs Robert Cutajar and Stephen Spiteri also took part in the debate.