News Release (11 July 2003):
Appointments to DPTAC
The Department for Transport today announced changes to the membership of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) following a review earlier this year.
The new Chairman of the Committee is Neil Betteridge. Disabled since early childhood, Neil has a strong commitment to promoting the transport needs of disabled people. He brings to the post both his personal experience of travelling as a disabled person, as well as detailed policy knowledge of disability issues and a record of working with a wide range of partners to achieve progress in the disability field. Neil is currently Head of Public Policy and Campaigning at Arthritis Care.
The other new members, together with the existing membership, bring to the Committee a combination of experience and expertise in disability and transport matters, as well as experience relevant to the Committee's work with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in relation to planning and the built environment.
Notes to editors:
The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) is a statutory body established under Section 125 of the Transport Act 1985 to advise the Secretary of State for Transport on matters affecting the transport needs of disabled people.
Membership is limited to a Chairman plus twenty members, at least half of whom must be disabled.
Reflecting that statutory requirement, and the Government's approach to public appointments, 66% of the members are disabled people, 43% are women and 19% are from minority ethnic communities. They also represent a wide geographical spread.
Those appointed in this round will serve for a period of three years to 30 June 2006. The remaining members, appointed last year, will serve until 31 December 2004 and a further review will take place early next year for those appointments.
All appointments are made on a personal basis, rather than on the basis of affiliations. A full list of members, with biographies is attached to this press notice.
DPTAC can be contacted through its Secretariat at:
The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee
Department for Transport
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DR
Telephone : 020 7944 8011
Minicom: 020 7944 3277
Fascimilie: 020 7944 6998
Email: dptac@dft.gov.uk
Website: http://www.dptac.gov.uk
Membership of DPTAC
* indicates appointments made in 2003.
Chair:
Neil Betteridge*
Neil is Head of Public Policy and Campaigning at Arthritis Care and is Vice Chair of ARMA (the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance), the umbrella body for the arthritis community in the UK. He is also Vice President of (EULAR) European League Against Rheumatism. Neil previously worked at RADAR (Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation).
Members:
Pravinkant Amin*
Pravin is the Special Projects Manager in the Engineering and Transportation Department at the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and is a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He is the President of National Congress of Gujarati Organisations and Trustee of ASHRAM (Lambeth Asian Elderly Centre). He is a new member.
Ann Bates
A member since 2002, Ann is a wheelchair user who has arthritis. She is a member of the Rail Passengers Committee working closely with train companies and the Strategic Rail Authority. She is also a non-executive member of a National Health Trust and has professional involvement with both the National Association of Teachers and Lecturers in Further and Higher Education and the Trade Union Disability Alliance.
Sian Baldwin
Sian has worked in the access field for a number of years at both local and national level and is the former Access Policy Officer for the Built Environment and Transport at RADAR. She is currently a Senior Transport Consultant at the JMU Access Partnership. She has been a member since 2002.
Peter Barker, OBE*
Peter who is blind, has been a member since 1992, and is currently Chair of DPTAC's Built Environment Group. He is a Professor of Inclusive Environments at the University of Reading and was formerly head of the JMU Access Partnership. Peter is also Chairman of the Joint Committee on Mobility of Blind and Partially Sighted People, and is a trustee of RADAR, TRIPSCOPE and Living Streets. Peter has been appointed for a term of eighteen months.
Josephine Clairmont*
Josephine, a wheelchair user, is a town councillor, and former mayor of Market Rasen. She is a Trustee of RADAR and the Lincolnshire Rural Housing Association. She has held various posts with the Disabled Drivers Motor Club since 1989, and is a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists. She is a new member.
Lekh (Vidur) Dindayal
Vidur is an architect who has worked on access design for over 30 years. Appointed in 2002, he is a member of the Disability Appeals Tribunal, and former member of the London Regional Passenger Committee and London Transport Users' Committee.
Jean Dunlop*
Jean is a wheelchair user and has been a member of DPTAC since 1997. She is a Scottish Executive nominee. Jean is the Vice-Chair of the Scottish Accessible Information Forum and Chairperson of P.H.A.B Scotland. She is also a disability equality trainer.
David Finnegan
David is a wheelchair user who has spent fourteen years working in the access field with Merseytravel Passenger Transport Executive. He has undertaken other disability work through the Spinal Injuries Association of which he is a Trustee and he is a member of the Access Association. He also has an interest in environmental issues. He has been a member since 2002.
Julie Giles*
Julie is Managing Director of Westlands Associates Limited, and is also a freelance transport advisor. She is the former Operations Director of West Midlands Travel, where she gained extensive first hand experience of the transportation issues facing disabled passengers. She is Chair of Governors for Penn Hall Special School. In a voluntary capacity she has a wide experience of transporting and supporting disabled students at various events, this includes her 13 year old son who has Cerebral Palsy. Julie is a new member.
Roy Hayter
Roy is the former director of Special Projects at Airbus Industrie of North America. He is registered blind and has MS. He is Chairman of Visual Impairment Ayrshire, a voluntary action group, and a member of the Cross Party Group for Visual Impairment at the Scottish Parliament. Roy is also a member of the South Ayrshire Access Panel. He is a Scottish Executive nominee and has been a member since 2002.
Roger Hewitt*
Roger is deaf. He is Opportunities for Volunteering Co-ordinator for the United Kingdom Council on Deafness, Treasurer and Trustee of the Deaf Broadcasting Council and a committee member of the Telecommunications Action Group and the Royal Shakespeare Access Advisory Group. He also a Trainer, Researcher and Consultant for Deaf Issue. Roger is a new member.
Grahame Lawson*
A member since 1996, Grahame has been involved in transportation for over 30 years and has had a particular interest in disability issues for 15 years. He undertook a lead role in the recent review by DPTAC of the Blue Badge Scheme. Grahame is Head of Planning and Transportation with North Lanarkshire Council and is an adviser to Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on disability matters.
Jenny Meadows*
First appointed to DPTAC in 1995, Jenny is the Executive Director of the Community Transport Association and has a long professional and voluntary involvement in community and voluntary transport services.
Thomas Martin Pey
Tom is blind. He is Director of Policy for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, Joint Chairman of the boards of Regents College and the European Business School, a Trustee of the Royal London Society for the Blind, and sits on the Pets Passport Advisory Committee. He is currently lead DPTAC member for taxis and private hire vehicles. He was appointed to the Committee in 2002.
David Pugh
David was appointed to the Committee in 2002. A former bus driver, he was a regional industrial organiser for the Transport & General Workers Union specialising in passenger transport. He is a lay member of the Employment Tribunal Service and a member of the Disability Rights Commission Mental Health Action Group. David is the Convenor of the Mental Health and Transport Group, a trustee of the Manic Depression Fellowship and a member of MIND. David was the first DPTAC member appointed with mental health interests.
Keith Richards
Keith is Head of Consumer Affairs at ABTA with special responsibility for access issues. Appointed in 2002, he was a member of the Department for Transport's Air Access group responsible for producing the Code of Practice- Access to Air Travel for Disabled People. Keith is also a member of the European Civil Aviation Conference' Facilitation Working Group on People with Reduced Mobility.
Laura Smales*
Laura is a new member. She is the "Involving Young People" Youth Worker at Surrey Council and has a keen interest in transport issues for young people. She spent time on secondment to the DPTAC Secretariat as part of the Workable scheme. She is a new member and at 26 she is the youngest member of DPTAC. Laura campaigns to raise awareness of hidden disabilities, of which she has personal experience.
Kate Smyth*
Kate, a new member, is a freelance regeneration, economic development and housing advisor. She is currently undertaking various projects for the North West Regional Assembly, Rochdale M.B.C, the North West Training and Development Team which works with people with Learning Disabilities, and, Lancashire LSC. She is the Vice Chair of Burnley and Padiham Community Housing and also chairs the Housing Sub Committee. Kate is a wheelchair user.
Carol Thomas*
Carol has been involved in the access field for many years, initially working for Disability Wales, and more recently as part of JMU Access Partnership. She has been a member since 1999, and has chaired the Education and Training Working Group for the last year. Carol is also a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, and sits on the management panel of the National Register of Access Consultants. She provides the secretariat for the Joint Committee on Mobility of Blind and Partially Sighted People. Carol also serves on the Access Committee for Wales and the Access Association for Wales.
Richard West*
Richard is deaf and has a learning disability. He is a member of the Greater London Association of Disabled People (GLAD) and works with CHANGE where he deals with transport issues. Richard has a particular interest in making transport information more accessible for people with learning disabilities and has worked with Transport for London in that area. He has been a member since 1999 and is first member of the Committee with a learning disability.
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