The government was ignoring pleas being made by the National Commission for Persons with a Disability (KNPD), the Labour Party’s spokesman for social solidarity, Marie Louis Coleiro said yesterday.

Dr Coleiro Preca said a report prepared by the commission was “worrying” and the government needed to take note of it.The KNPD had said that the Sapport Agency of the Foundation for Social Services did not have the money to provide community services to people in need.

The KNPD had said it had requested Sapport’s budget to be substantially increased, but the request had not been accepted. Funds for day services for adults with a disability had also not been increased.

This showed that the government did not have a plan for the sector. A national plan was needed to sustain what was functioning well and rectify what was not.

Dr Coleiro Preca said that recommendations made by the KNPD to reduce the impact of the water and electricity surcharge and of the euro changeover on disabled people had not been accepted.

She appealed to the government to treat families with a disabled person in a different way.