Keynote speaker: Richard Howitt, MEP and President of the All-Party Disability Intergroup, European Parliament

Richard Howitt MEP is the Labour Member of the European Parliament for the East of England, and was first elected in 1994. He is President of the all-party Disability Intergroup at the European Parliament and he is Labour's European Disability Rights spokesperson. He has campaigned on social, anti-discrimination and, in particular, disability issues for many years and prior to this he spent eight years working for a disability organisation.

At the Parliament he has been involved in gaining recognition for sign language at the European level, gaining recognition for deafblindness, and campaigning for better access to the European Parliament for disabled people. He also led the successful campaign that resulted in the inclusion of the anti-discrimination clause in European treaties, as well as leading on other initiatives to combat discrimination at European level.

Richard is currently European Parliament Rapporteur on Corporate Social Responsibility. He has spoken at a wide range of international organisations and conferences on the subject. Richard is also Vice Chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee, Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and is the Labour Party European Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights and Security and Defence Policy.