Kim Catcheside: Campaigners want tougher anti-discrimination laws

The Disability Rights Commission will promote equal opportunities and advise people of their rights and sponsor legal cases.

But disability rights campaigners say the commission will fail if it is not given between £15-20m.

Equal Opportunities Minister Margaret Hodge said: "I think it is a well resourced commission. It will be able to do the job we want it to do. It will be independent, it will be tough, it will be a real voice for disabled people."

Margaret Hodge: Commission is well funded

A spokeswoman for disability rights campaign group Radar speaking bluntly on BBC News said that, "without proper funding for this body . . . the law will fail."

Her fears were echoed by a spokesman for the cerebral palsy charity, Scope. He said the government is not making enough money available to: "To support disabled people to access the rights the commission is going to give them."

RADAR's Alan Thomas: "Adequate funding is vital"

He said the commission a "massive job to do and that's why we want to see the commission given more money."

He added: "The disabled have very specific problems in accessing services and accessing the courts and accessing industrial tribunals that will help enforce this legislation."

A programme of education was also needed, he said, to make small businesses aware of the new laws.

Accountability fears

The commission will have the power to bring cases against those who breach its codes.

Under the proposals the employment secretary would appoint up to 15 commissioners, a majority of whom should be disabled people, who would take up the role in a personal capacity, not as representatives of any particular organisation.

But the Disabled People's Direct Action Network, which attempts to highlight cases of discrimination has expressed some doubts over its accountability.

DPDAN's Alan Holdsworth: "The commission should concentrate on better transport and education"

"So far as we understand they are all going to be government appointees and therefore not quite as independent as we'd like them to be," said the DPDAN's national organiser, Alan Holdsworth.

"We'd rather they be representative of organisation for disabled people on whose behalf they are supposedly working."

He also told BBC Radio 5 Live that the commission should focus less on employment and more on education and improving public transport giving disabled people qualifications and the ability to get to work.