Further memorandum from Leonard Cheshire
(DDB 120)
I am writing to you following the submission
of Leonard Cheshire's written evidence to the Joint Committee
in February of this year. Our evidence built upon the recent research
we have carried out on Inaccessible transport in particular the
rail network and end dates.
We welcome the opportunity for decisive action
on the end date for rail vehicles to be accessible. It is our
firm belief that 2017, the same year that buses have to comply
with PSVAR (Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations),
should be considered as he last acceptable date. 2017 will allow
disabled people to make whole journeys involving both systems.
We welcome the position taken by the House of
Commons Transport Committee in their recent report "Disabled
people's access to transport" (HC 439). The Committee, who
in addition to the DfT, took evidence from Leonard Cheshire, the
Disability Rights Commission and the Disabled People's Transport
Advisory Committee, recommended:
"The rail system should be made accessible
as soon as practicable; it is not acceptable for disabled to have
to wait for 20 or 30 years for this to happen. We recommend that
our colleagues on the Joint Committee ask Ministers about the
relationship between their consultation on an end date for rail
accessibility and the SRA[73]s'
own policy"
Disabled People's Access to Transport, p16.
Whilst we anticipate this is an issue the Joint
Committee may wish to raise with the Transport Minister at your
evidence session on 31 March 2004, we would hope that the committee
may also wish to invite the Strategic Rail Authority for their
comments on the matters raised by the Transport Committee.
However, Leonard Cheshire remains concerned
about the skeletal nature of this bill in that much of its regulatory
powers are currently unseen. We welcome the agreement by Maria
Eagle MP at the All Party Disability Group on 20 January this
year to distribute a memorandum detailing the Government's intentions
regarding these regulations to committee members. We hope that
you have now received this and found it helpful in your deliberations.
You may wish to invite the Transport Minister to provide a similar
memorandum on the DfT's thinking regarding the end dates consultation
for rail vehicles when you meet him on Wednesday. Both these documents
may help to allay some of Leonard Cheshire's concerns about the
use of regulatory powers and would of course, be extremely helpful
for your important work.
We remain confident that the Joint Committee
will address the important issue of accessible transport comprehensively.
Accessible transport is an essential precursor to the wider benefits
of the disability civil rights agenda, the Disability Discrimination
Bill provides a unique opportunity to address the continuing liabilities
in the DDA caused by inaccessible transport. Not to do so would
be an opportunity missed and would deliver flawed legislation.
March 2004
73 Strategic Rail Authority's Rolling Stock Strategy,
December 2003, 4.18. Back
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