Minutes of the DPTAC Main Committee Meeting:
1 December 2004 (Room 7a Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London)
Chair:
Neil Betteridge
DPTAC Members:
Peter Barker
Ann Bates
Josephine Clairmont
Vidur Dindayal
Jean Dunlop
David Finnegan
Roy Hayter
Roger Hewitt
Grahame Lawson
Kate Smyth
Carol Thomas
Observers:
Will Bee - Disability Rights Commission
Ann Frye - Department for Transport Mobility Inclusion Unit
Julie Guilar - Northern Ireland Department for Regional Development
Ann Lyon - Scottish Executive
David Petherick - Office Deputy Prime Minister Building Regulations
John Stirling - Mobility Access Committee Scotland
Barbara Vincent - Department for Work and Pensions
In Attendance:
Andy Kirby - Secretary
Sandra Duncan - Secretariat
Ffion Grant - Secretariat
Gary Kemp - Secretariat
Verona Wiltshire - Secretariat
David Hayward - British Sign Language Interpreter
Corrine Stewart - British Sign Language Interpreter
Agenda item 1: Welcome, introductions and apologies
1. The Chair welcomed everyone to the last meeting of the year.
2. Apologies were received from Pravin Amin, Julie Giles, Jenny Meadows, Tom Pey, David Pugh, Keith Richards, Laura Smales, and Richard West.
3. Neil warmly welcomed Sean Gamage, from the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, who was on secondment to the Department of Health Valuing People team to look at transport issues affecting people with learning difficulties
Agenda item 2: Minutes of the last meeting (6th October 2004)
4. Members agreed to add: "The reports of Working Group Chairs on their activities and plans would help to facilitate new Members' understanding of the working groups" to paragraph 42.
5. No other amendments were received and the minutes were approved.
Action point 1: Secretariat to amend paragraph 42 and arrange for the Minutes of 6 October meeting to be placed on the DPTAC website.
Agenda item 3: Matters arising
6. Neil advised Members that most action arising on matters discussed at the previous meeting would be dealt with as substantive agenda items.
7. From now on eDPTAC training would take place on a one-to-one basis when Members were in London on DPTAC business. Neil asked Members who had not yet received eDPTAC training to make arrangements for this with the Secretariat. Neil also asked Members to make use of eDPTAC's facilities as often as possible. In future Members' mailings, Main Committee and Working Group papers and responses to consultations would be posted on eDPTAC. Some Members had been disappointed at how well the eDPTAC system had met the needs of blind and partially sighted Members.
Action point 2: Members who have not received eDPTAC training to arrange dates with the Secretariat.
Agenda item 4: Report from Working Group Chairs
8. Members received reports from the Aviation, Built Environment, Education and Training, Maritime and Rail Working Groups. There were no questions on the reports. Neil thanked Working Group Chairs for the work they had put into preparing these reports which Members found useful to inform them of the activities of Working Groups they did not serve on.
Agenda item 5: Progress Report on 2004-05 Work Programme
9. Members noted the report. Neil advised Members this was a very busy time for DPTAC. In the next three months there would be key meetings with ministers from the Department for Transport and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. He would soon meet DfT and ODPM Ministers, there would be training for Members and DPTAC needed to finalise the 2005-06 Work Programme. In addition, responses to the Disability Discrimination Bill would have to be made.
10. Neil also advised Members since the last meeting there had been a significant increase in the amount of hits on DPTAC's website. This was probably primarily due to the launch of Door-to-Door.
Agenda item 6: Summary of Research Proposals
11. Neil advised Members DPTAC had submitted three research bids. These were:
(i) Skills gaps, to identify the scope for action plans within professions and the development of a generic toolkit to diagnose and address them;
(ii) Specification for on-board aircraft wheelchair;
(iii) Work to identify design standards and training to help disabled people find their way round Home Zones.
12. Members were encouraged that DPTAC was bidding for Home Zone research, which was an exciting proposal. DPTAC would have to ensure that the work took account of the full range of disabilities.
13. The Mobility and Inclusion Unit advised Members the bids would be sent to Ministers for approval. Even if bids were unsuccessful, there was the possibility of later approval being secured if other projects did not go ahead on time. The Unit hoped that their package of bids, including the DPTAC ones, would be well received by Ministers, who had expressed support for the Unit's work on disability. The Unit agreed to have details of MIU's research bids circulated as an annex to the minutes.
Action point 3: Secretariat to circulate MIU's research proposals (attached as Annex A)
Agenda item 7: Draft DPTAC 2005-06 Work Programme
14. Neil advised Members this was a draft work programme. He noted that next year's draft looked encouragingly more manageable than this year's programme although in part this was because aviation & rail had yet to be added.
15. Tasks for next year needed to reflect DPTAC's three year strategy, and he would ensure that the draft programme would be discussed with DfT and ODPM Ministers.
16. Although they had not been explicitly invited to, outside bodies were able to recommend tasks. The Disabled Drivers Association had suggested that DPTAC undertook work on parking at transport interchanges, off-street parking charges and provision of off-street parking bays for disabled motorists. The Personal Mobility and Local Authority Working Group would consider this request.
17. The Chair of the Education and Training Working Group would submit a revision of the reference to the tasks of that Working Group that better reflected the work to be undertaken.
18. Members considered where in the Department for Transport responsibility should be located for disability issues within the rail industry. They agreed to recommend that the Mobility and Inclusion Unit should assume this responsibility.
Action point 4: Chair of the Education and Training Working Group to suggest how the reference to the task of that Working Group should be reflected.
Action point 5: DPTAC Chair and Chair of Rail Working Group to agree a letter to the Secretary of State on where responsibility for disability issues within the rail industry should be located.
Agenda item 8: Member Training Day 2005
19. Neil reminded Members that one of the best discussions to date on eDPTAC had concerned Members' thoughts on the proposed training day.
20. Members felt that the draft programme could involve them more fully. They were also concerned that the draft programme read more like a conference than a training day and that speakers were being allocated more time than they needed.
Action point 6: Chair & Secretariat to consider appropriate changes to the programme.
Agenda item 9. Future of Future Inclusive
21. Vidur Dindayal introduced his paper on the way forward for the competition. Members shared the Education and Training Working Group's disappointment at the first year of the competition, but accepted that it was always difficult to develop momentum behind a new competition. Members felt that the competition was worth continuing and endorsed the Working Group's recommendation on how to do so.
Agenda item 10. Future of Main Committee Meetings Outside London
22. Members considered a paper reviewing the meeting in Manchester, the first outside London for some time. They considered that the event with local groups had been a success and supported the idea of having one meeting each year outside London, perhaps with more time to spend with local groups.
23. Members agreed that the West Country should be the next area to be visited and asked Members to forward their suggestions for suitable locations & accessible hotels.
Action point 7: Members to forward suggested suitable venues to the Secretariat.
Agenda item 11: Meeting with ODPM
24. Neil advised Members a meeting with ODPM Minister, Phil Hope, had been arranged for the 14th December. He hoped that this would resolve the longer term issues of resourcing and accountability.
25. Neil also advised Members he was meeting DfT Minister Charlotte Atkins on the 12th January.
Agenda item 12: Transport Select Committee
26. Neil advised Members the House of Commons Transport Committee had recently established an investigation of "Disabled People's Access to Transport."
27. At short notice DPTAC had been invited to provide written and oral evidence. Neil thanked those Members who had contributed to the written response responses and invited them to attend the oral evidence session that afternoon.
Agenda item 13: Disability Discrimination Bill
28. Neil advised Members that events had been moving quickly. The Bill had been published the previous Friday. The reference group for the Transport Code had met recently, and the Disability Rights Commission had agreed to meet relevant Working Group Chairs to discuss the draft code on the 20th January.
29. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) advised Members that it had issued a press notice welcoming the bill. The DRC was mindful of rumours surrounding a General Election in or before May and was focussing efforts on getting key amendments secured during the Bill's progress.
30. The Mobility and Inclusion Unit had welcomed the Bill's progress. The Bill was to go to its second reading the following week and would be in Committee before Christmas. The MIU hoped the Bill should complete its passage through the House of Lords by the end of February 2005.
31. The Unit was consulting with industry on regulations for the lifting of the exemption of transport from Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act. The Disability Rights Commission was drafting a Transport Code and developing other new and revised codes.
Agenda item 14: Mobility and Inclusion Unit Report
32. Ann Frye introduced the Mobility and Inclusion Unit's regular report. She advised Members that the European Commission was expected to introduce a draft directive on ground handling and charging by the end of the year.
33. The MIU reported that regulations establishing the technical specifications for accessible taxis should be published next year. The Unit expected to consult DPTAC on how to move forward developing a viable and affordable vehicle from the ergonomic specification produced by researchers.
34. The GoSkills/DfT training video had been widely distributed in the bus industry but it had not yet been formally launched by Ministers. The Unit was looking for a suitable occasion, and if one was identified DPTAC would be involved.
35. The MIU had research in hand to review the safety of scooters (4 and 8 mph vehicles). DPTAC would be involved in the consultation exercise. The Unit hoped to be able to make recommendations on the safety of the vehicles early in 2005.
36. Ann Frye advised Members the European Parliament was going to redraft the JAROPS manual. This currently advised pilots not to carry more than three persons of reduced mobility on a flight and this was having a perverse and unintended effect on disabled people who had no mobility difficulties but were classified as "persons of reduced mobility".
37. On audio/visual announcements on buses, Ann confirmed the Mobility and Inclusion Unit was committed to their introduction. However the bus industry believed that the systems developed were not yet acceptable to staff and the issue was being explored further by consultants. Ann suggested that the best way forward might be for DPTAC and the Unit to meet the industry.
Action point 8: MIU to arrange a three-way meeting with bus operators.
Agenda item 15: Any other Business
38. Neil explained that, because the Minister had not yet made an announcement, he could not yet say who the new Members of DPTAC were. However this was the last Main Committee at which Sian Baldwin, Peter Barker and Roy Hayter would be in office. Members joined Neil in thanking them for the tireless efforts and valuable contribution they had made during their time with DPTAC.
39. The next Main Committee meeting would be at 14.00 on Wednesday 9 March 2005 in Great Minster House, London.
Annex A
Mobility & Inclusion Unit Research Proposals 2005/6
The Mobility & Inclusion Unit is hoping to commission research on the following topics in the next financial year (starting April 2005). The final research programme for the Department as a whole, including these projects, is sill subject to budgetary and ministerial approval.
If DPTAC Members want more details about any of the projects, we would be pleased to provide a fuller description of the work plan.
The topics are:
Disability
Public Transport
Assessment of the suitability of scooters for carriage on public transport; The impact of the Disability Discrimination Act on the mobility of disabled people; The safety of children in wheelchairs in vehicles; The design of wheelchair accommodation in trains;
Personal Mobility
An evaluation of the technology available for use by older and disabled drivers; An evaluation of the criteria, methodologies and tools for the functional assessment of fitness to drive; The value of mobility centres in promoting the personal mobility of disabled and older people.
Personal Security/Social exclusion
Investigating the effective use of staff in reducing crime on public transport; Promoting travel training to reduce social exclusion; Exploring voluntary sector involvement in the delivery of innovative transport solutions
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