The Disability Rights Commission has called on the government to close a legal loophole which allows employers to discriminate against workers with progressive illnesses such as cancer, MS and HIV.

It says employers should not be allowed to sack workers diagnosed with the conditions but who have not yet gone on to develop symptoms.

A spokesman for the DfWP said: "The government is focused on the job-in-hand - meeting its manifesto commitment to take forward a huge programme of measures to extend basic rights for disabled people.

"We are already committed to ending the exemption of small employers from the Disability Discrimination Act and to covering other occupations, in line with recommendations made by the Disability Rights Task Force, in October 2004.

"Later this year we'll be looking at ways of extending rights and opportunities even further by publishing a draft Disability Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. Measures being considered include, for example, extending the DDA definition of disability to more people with HIV and cancer.

"This is in addition to the significant progress we have already achieved, including setting up the Disability Rights Commission and extending civil rights to children and adults in education."

Forum Response: Disability Rights Commission

Bert Massie, chairman of the DRC, said: "The government has signalled its willingness to introduce greater protection for disabled people but there is no timetable for action."It is vital that some of these changes - such as bringing people with MS or cancer within the protection of the law - are introduced this year."We need to see all these proposals on the statute books before the Disability Rights Commission is swept into a single equality body. Without tighter legislation, many disabled people will die before they can secure their rights."

Forum Response: The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

Robin Hutchinson, head of communications at the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, told ePolitix.com: "The Disability Rights Commission's proposals take a welcome, practical approach to the problems faced by thousands of people each year.

"People with progressive illnesses - including those with sight-threatening conditions - face discrimination often based on nothing more than uninformed speculation about how that condition might, possibly, develop in the future.

"This is plainly unacceptable and Guide Dogs would applaud and support the DRC's calls for the government's forthcoming legislation to address the issue, alongside closing loopholes such as employment by small businesses and access to travel services."

Forum Response: British Council of Disabled People

Andy Rickell, director of the British Council of Disabled People, told ePolitix.com: "We entirely support the Disability Rights Commission in its attempts to strengthen civil rights laws for disabled people.

"Currently the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) does not cover disabled people who are diagnosed with a serious condition but have not yet become impaired by it. Therefore such disabled people are unprotected by the law, which can result in serious discrimination against them.

"Such cases prove BCODP's campaign that the DDA is seriously flawed and must be replaced by much better laws. A better law would recognise that discrimination can arise against a disabled person just because they are diagnosed with a condition.

"The DDA definition of 'disability' is based on impairment, a medical model concept, whereas the definition of 'disability' should be based on the discrimination that a person experiences, which is a concept based on the Social Model of Disability. The DRC is trying to plug the holes in the DDA which is leaking like a sieve."

Forum Response: Shaw Trust

A spokeswoman for Shaw Trust told ePolitix.com: "People who are disadvantaged within the market place due to disability or any form of long-term and progressive ill-health need to be supported to retain their jobs, not discriminated against.

"Shaw Trust wholeheartedly supports the stance taken by the DRC and calls upon the government to address this issue and make a greater investment in all work-related services for disabled people."