Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC)



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Consultation on DPTAC 2007-10 Strategy

Background information about the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee

The Secretary of State for Transport set up the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) in the Transport Act 1985, as an independent statutory body advising him on the transport needs of disabled people.
We have a maximum of 20 Members (of whom at least half must be disabled people) and a Chair, all appointed by Ministers, representing wide experience of transport and disability. Our members are unpaid, apart from their expenses.
We provide expert advice on a broad range of transport issues aimed at improving access for disabled people, and carry out independent research on disabled people and their use of transport, with the aim of promoting a more inclusive society.
By law we must consider anything that the Secretary of State for Transport asks us to, but we can also consider other things.

Background information about the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee
Explaining the consultation
Introduction
Why we need a strategy
Why we are carrying out this consultation
What is in our draft 2007-10 Startegy?
What is not in our draft 2007-10 Startegy?
Summary of Consultation Questions
Alternative Formats
Consultation Criteria: Code of Practice
What we will do with your response
How to Respond
Closing Date
Our Strategy for 2007-10
Conclusion
Annex A: Draft Operating Statement
Annex B: Consultation Code of Practice
Annex C: Consultation response sheet

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Consultation on DPTAC 2007-10 Strategy (Adobe Acrobat - 121kb)
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Easy to Read summary of Consultation on DPTAC 2007-10 Strategy (Adobe Acrobat - 2,150kb)

Explaining the consultation

Introduction

1. We, the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) are consulting on our strategy for 2007-2010. We have asked for comments by 18 December 2006. The inside front page of this guide contains further information about us.

Why we need a Strategy

2. We need a strategy so that we have a clear and agreed framework describing what we plan to achieve over the next three years, with the resources that we have. The strategy will set out

our values and principles
our vision for the future transport of disabled people
What we want to happen as a result of our work.

Why we are carrying out this consultation

3. We want to know the views of everyone with an interest in our work on what should be in our 2007-2010 Strategy.

What is in our draft 2007-10 Strategy?

4. Our draft 2007-2010 Strategy sets out the way in which we want things to be different at the end of the 2007-2010 period, and how we will contribute to that.

What is not in our draft 2007-10 Strategy

5. Our 2007-2010 Strategy does not contain details of the individual tasks that we will carry out between 2007 and 2010. We set these out in annual Work Programmes. We publish annual Work Programmes on our website each year, once we have agreed them. For this reason, our Strategy may not mention the projects and activities that are of most interest to you. However, that does not mean that we do not care about them or will not do them.

6. We will also publish an "Operating Statement" about the way in which we will go about achieving our objectives. This will be a companion to the Strategy, but we will change it less often. In past years, we included this material in the strategy document, and we now feel it would be better to separate out the "why" of our purpose from the "how" of our methods. A draft of the Operating Statement is at Annex A.

Summary of Consultation Questions

7. Please comment on any aspect of the draft 2005-2007 Strategy. However we would like to know your comments on the following questions:

How realistic and appropriate are the aims, objectives and priorities of the strategy?
What other areas of work are there that we could give a high priority to but which we have not included in our 2007-2010 Strategy?
How might we make the wording and presentation of our 2007-2010 Strategy clearer?
How well does our 2007-2010 Strategy set a framework for us to work effectively with Ministers, other advisory bodies, and the transport sector?
Is there anything else that we could do to make the 2007-2010 Strategy more accessible to disabled people, those who do not have English as their first language or those in disadvantaged communities?
To what extent do you agree with our aims and objectives?
Is there anything else that you think will happen which we need to think about in making this 2007-2010 Strategy happen?

Alternative Formats

8. You can view this consultation document in full on the DPTAC website at: www.dptac.gov.uk.

9. The document can be downloaded free of charge using Word software. It is possible to alter the font and text size of documents on our website.

10. We can also make this consultation document available in large print, disc, Braille and audio tape. Details of how to order copies are given below.

Consultation Criteria: Code of Practice

11. We are carrying out this consultation using the Government's Code of Practice on Written Consultation. We have described this in Annex B.

What we will do with your response

12. We will think about all the responses that you make, we will summarise them, and we may change our Strategy as a result. We may publish your response and send it to anyone who asks for it, unless you ask us not to. You need to let us know if you would prefer us not to do this. We will also include your name in a summary of responses unless you ask us not to. Finally, we would like to keep your name and details in a computer database of people who are interested in our work, and may contact you about our future documents. Please let us know if you would prefer us not to do that. We will not pass your contact details to anyone outside DPTAC or the Department for Transport without asking you first.

How to Respond

13. There is a response sheet at Annex C to this document. Please send your comments on our draft 2007-2010 Strategy to:

Andy Kirby
DPTAC Secretariat
Zone 4/24
Great Minster House
76 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DR

Tel: 020 7944 8012
Fax: 020 7944 6998
Text Phone: 020 7944 3277
E-mail: andy.kirby@dft.gsi.gov.uk or dptac@dft.gsi.gov.uk

14. If you are commenting on specific parts of the document, please use page and paragraph numbers.

15. You can also contact us at the above address if you would like more information about this consultation, if you have examples of good practice to bring to our attention, or if you would like to receive a copy of the final 2007-2010 Strategy, which we plan to publish early in 2007.

16. We are asking organisations that represent disabled people to bring this paper to the attention of the people who they represent. If you ask us, we will send you more copies of this consultation paper you can downloaded from our web site at : www.dptac.gov.uk.

Closing Date

17. Please ensure that you response reaches us before 18 December 2006.

DPTAC 2007-10 Strategy

Our Strategy for 2007-10

1: We are the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC), set up in 1986 to provide independent advice to Government on the transport needs of all disabled people (Transport Act 1985).

2: Disabled people account for one in seven of the population, about 11 million adults and 770,000 children. Two million disabled people are of working age. While higher numbers of children are being born and living with impairments into adulthood than ever before, levels of impairment also increase with age. The Department for Work and Pensions thinks that in 2004 disabled people had about £80 billion each year to be a spending power of around.

3: Disabled people face major, widespread problems and disadvantages on all forms of transport. These barriers can make it hard for disabled people to play a full part in society as equal citizens.

4:The Disability Discrimination Acts of 1995 and 2005 created new legal rights for disabled people and placed obligations on transport operators and service providers such as local planning and highways authorities. They set the framework for detailed accessibility requirements that apply to new trains and buses, including dates by which all vehicles must meet these requirements. There is also an unused power to set similar standards for taxis. The Acts impose a duty to promote disability equality on many transport authorities and regulators. From December 2006, they will require land based transport operators to take account of disabled people's needs. Transport buildings, information, and related services and planning and highways functions are also fully covered. This could be extended to air and sea travel. European legislation is about to give disabled air passengers in Europe new rights, and similar legislation on shipping services is a possibility.

5:5. Although this is a great improvement on where this country was only a few years ago, DPTAC believes there is much more to be done to achieve our aim.

6: Our aim is:

'To ensure that disabled people can go where everyone else goes and can do so easily and without encountering additional barriers or incurring extra costs. We would like to see this happen before 2020.'

7: Our purpose, through which we shall achieve our aim, is to advise the Secretary of State for Transport on the transport needs of disabled people.

Objective 1: To provide timely, focused and credible advice to the Secretary of State for Transport on the transport needs of all disabled people, the advice to be representative of the broad views of disabled people in the United Kingdom on non-devolved issues.

Objective 2: To provide guidance and advice to public and private sector organisations that run transport on how best to meet the varying needs for transport of all disabled people, taking account of gender, race, faith, sexuality, age and other relevant factors.

Objective 3: To ensure that public and private sector organisations that run transport inform disabled people of developments in accessible transport.

8: Our objectives are:

The Secretary of State has high quality policy advice available from his professional civil servants on social inclusion and accessibility. This responsibility has always been taken seriously, especially now that Ministers have a new Disability Equality Duty. However, there is no substitute for the involvement of disabled people themselves in policy development. DPTAC members have expertise in this field, take steps to ensure that they represent a wide range of views of disabled people, at all times take a pan-disability approach to their work, and do not shrink from reaching decisions that, as is human nature, might not fully satisfy the aspirations of all disabled people all of the time. In this way, they balance and complement the input of specific disability related organisations.

Advising the Secretary of State is our key legal role and much of this work is responding to bodies which the says must consult us. Often our advice has taken the form of written responses to consultations. However, the Department for Transport, its agencies and Transport for London, among others have from time to time engaged us in earlier stages of their thinking. We plan to further raise the profile and extent of our proactive role as a pre-consultee to government departments and agencies. We will explore a range of options, one of which is to seek Ministerial agreement to the principle that our logo or a statement of involvement could be a required DfT mark of credibility for all consultations in relevant policy areas.

Transport operators, statutory and voluntary regulators and local planning and transport authorities remain responsible for developing their practices, procedures, guidance and effective ways of working to bring about transport services that are accessible to disabled people. However, to the extent that our resources and our first objective allow, we can and do help relevant professions, training bodies, academics and the voluntary sector to ensure consistent and appropriate progress. We hope that the effect of the disability equality duty on public sector bodies and the lifting of the exemption from Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act on public sector ones will be to ensure that these bodies address their responsibilities with renewed vigour and commitment.

Objective 3: To ensure that public and private sector organisations that run transport inform disabled people of developments in accessible transport.

Transport operators, statutory and voluntary regulators and local planning and transport authorities are also responsible for communicating appropriately, accessibly and in a timely fashion to disabled people in the services that they provide. We do from time to time encourage, promote and support this activity, often through responses to consultation.

9: We base our advice on four underlying principles, which are that:

Public investment will be conditional on those responsible for providing and spending the money taking into account the accessibility of disabled people;
Transport businesses and other service providers will make accessibility for disabled people part of the main stream of their activity
Disabled users and non-users will be fully and meaningfully involved in determining the accessibility of transport services
Accessibility for disabled people is the responsibility of the provider of the transport service.

10: While our advice is grounded on these principles, it is also tested against evidence-based research and consultations by others, and us where this is appropriate. This process is set out more fully in the Operating Statement below.

11:We know that some improvements can be achieved fairly easily and quickly. Other changes need time to take effect because of the need for adjustments in laws and regulations or because of the scale of investment that is required. We therefore believe that accessibility for disabled people should be measured and monitored to ensure appropriate progress is being made. We will champion quantifiable improvements in the mobility of disabled people and accessibility of transport services, measured by positive changes to the quality of their lives and, where appropriate, factored into local government performance and funding indicators.

Conclusion

12: This strategy sets out a framework under which we will establish detailed annual work programmes through the strategy period that are consistent with our resources and move towards our aim.

13: This strategy will make a significant contribution towards our aim of a transport system that is accessible to all by 2020.

14: In delivering this strategy, we will focus on achieving the outcomes identified under each priority area, and we will use the variety of working methods set up in the Operating Statement. It is essential that we make full use of our members' experience and knowledge, and cultivate constructive relationships with other stakeholders.

Annex A: Draft Operating Statement

Introduction

1. The Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) was established by the Transport Act 1985, as an independent statutory body advising the Government on the transport and mobility needs of disabled people.

2. We have a Chair, 20 volunteer Members, and a small secretariat of officials based in London, together with an allocated budget from the Department for Transport. We are realistic about what we can achieve in our role as an advisory body, and the speed with which we can do it. However, we do not underestimate the influence of timely, credible

Levels of work

3. We operate on a number of levels:

We promote a general message about accessibility, as embodied in our principles.
We provide guidance on mainstreaming accessibility.
We can support the work of industry and other service providers by contributing to general or detailed technical advice.

4. Our broad membership and our practical knowledge and expertise enable us to operate on all of these levels. We use a variety of mechanisms including advice to Ministers and officials in the Department for Transport, guidance to industry, responding to consultations, producing publications and websites, and undertaking research.

Advice to Ministers and officials

5. Our advice to Ministers and officials can be communicated during meetings, in letters and reports, through participation in research and other steering and drafting groups, and other aspects of our day-to-day work. This is made easier by our location in the headquarters building of the Department for Transport. We plan to raise the proportion of pre-consultation work that we undertake, to ensure that the content of consultations takes as good account of disabled people's needs as it can before the consultation process itself begins. This will save time and effort by disability groups and ensure that the policies being consulted on are fit for purpose.

Responding to consultations

6. We respond to consultations carried out by the Department for Transport and its agencies, Transport for London, European Union bodies, and other statutory transport bodies in England and Wales. However, resource limitations mean we need to be selective in deciding which consultations to respond to in accordance with our overall priorities. We also respond to investigations by Parliamentary Select Committees where this has been consistent with our aim and objectives. We also respond to consultations by the Scottish Executive where they have implications for the rest of the United Kingdom or are about policies reserved to Westminster.

7. We do not generally respond to regional or local consultations. On occasions, we will respond by producing general guidance on issues that have implications in specific geographical areas, such as rail utilisation strategies, multi-modal road schemes and road user charging pilot schemes. The Mayor for London is required to consult us, and we respond where important issues of principle are raised, and to the extent that resource constraints and other priorities allow.

Producing publications

8. We continue to produce and update our own guidance, This is sometimes published under our own name, at other times badged by others, such as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. More recently, we have published statements of policy in such areas as road user charging, Shopmobility and concessionary fares.

Undertaking research

9. We commission our own research where this is necessary to develop our policies, fill knowledge gaps and provide evidence. We involve others in developing such research, which is always published and available free of change.

Working with others

10. We work with other organisations in a number of ways when this helps us to achieve our objectives and within the constraints of our resources. We have held consultation events to engage others in our work when this is necessary. We involve others in our research, in developing our strategy, and we freely share knowledge and expertise. We have made joint presentations to Parliamentary Select Committees with bodies such as the Disability Rights Commission and Leonard Cheshire. We also look to others to be proactive in working with us.

Ways of working

11. One of our key strengths is the experience and knowledge of our members, another is the communication and organisational skills of our secretariat. These combine to give us the ability to provide timely and credible advice.

12. To be effective we have has to lead the debate and influence not only Government but also other stakeholders and the climate in which policy and investment decisions which affect disabled people are made. Above all, we have to offer practical solutions, not just analysis or idealism.

13. In order to ensure that our advice is not marginalised or overlooked, we base our recommendations on a supporting analysis that is rigorous and robust. Our advice is based on research evidence where that exists and, to the extent that resources allow, we commission research where it is not.

Realistic Aspirations

14. We are aware of the constraints of time and finance and of the need for procedures to be put in place. We are also aware of the lead time involved in major projects or the design of vehicles, planes and boats. Our advice takes account of this, but does not stop us for pushing for early progress.

Working Group structure

15. We maintain working groups in focal areas of interest, and the Chair appoints Working Group Chairs and Members to these groups. We also adopt short life single purpose teams and other structures where these are appropriate.

16. We work in partnership with the Government and its agencies, which we seek to influence by advising on effective solutions to access problems.

Working with Government

17. Our main liaison is with the Department for Transport and its equivalents (principally the National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Department for Regional Development). We have a crucial role in educating and influencing these Departments to address accessibility issues.

18. However, we can only fully satisfy our remit if we act independently of government. These both ensure our standing within the transport communities and our credibility among disabled people.

Working with the transport sector

19. We involve representatives of the transport sector in our work through our working groups and research steering committees, in addition to more formal means of interrogation and consultation.

Working with disabled people

20. We also engage with representative groups of disabled people. This will ensure that our messages complement and reinforce those of other bodies as far as possible.

21. We use our annual reports, website and other methods to ensure that we makes our work accessible to individual disabled people, and provide them with avenues of communication to influence it.

Who we work with

22. Other key stakeholders include:

The Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland, the Disability Rights Commission and its successor the Commission for Equality and Human Rights, and other disability organisations, including Equality 2025.
Other Government advisory bodies such as the Commission for Integrated Transport and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment,
Investigatory bodies such as the House of Commons Select Committee on Transport.
Regulatory bodies such as the Office of the Rail Regulator and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency,
Transport for London and Passenger Transport Executives,
Voluntary bodies such as the Community Transport Association and representative bodies of disabled drivers such as Mobilise,
Local Government organisations such as the Local Government Association,
Industry associations for specific modes, such as the Association of Train Operating Companies , the Confederation of Passenger Transport and the British Air Transport Association,
Organisations handling passenger complaints and comments, such as Passenger Focus, the Bus Appeals Body, and the Air Transport Users Council,
Others with a role in improving accessibility, such as the Access Association, professional bodies and educational establishments,

This list is not intended to be comprehensive but demonstrate the range of stakeholders we must influence if we are to achieve our aim.

23. However, we have limited human, intellectual, and financial resources. We therefore need to establish priorities and take care that we do not spread ourselves too thinly. This strategy outlines how we will deliver our objectives by identifying priorities for the 2005-07 period.

Work Programme

24. We adopt working methods and practices that focus on specific tasks to achieve our objectives and strategic priorities.

25. Ahead of each financial year, we agree a work programme identifying the outcomes we wish to achieve in the following year.

26. Tasks and outcomes under the other strategic priorities will depend on wider Government policy, other developments and the emerging priorities of the Committee. We apply our capabilities in forward planning to ensure that we undertake tasks and seek outcomes that lead to real improvements in accessibility for disabled people over the short and long term.

Annex B: Consultation Code of Practice

We are carrying out this consultation in accordance with the Government's Code of Practice on Written Consultation. This is set out in full on the Cabinet Office website at www.berr.gov.uk/bre
The Code of Practice requires that bodies:

Consult widely throughout the process, allowing at least 12 weeks for written consultation at least once during the development of the policy.
Be clear about what the proposals are, who may be affected, what questions are being asked and the timescale for responses.
Ensure that consultation is clear, concise and widely accessible.
Give feedback regarding the responses received and how the consultation process influenced the policy.
Monitor the effectiveness of consultation, including through the use of a designated consultation co-ordinator.
Ensure consultation follows better regulation best practice, including carrying out a regulatory impact assessment if appropriate.

Annex C: Consultation response sheet

Name:
Organisation:
Address:
Telephone:

Fax:
E-mail address:

Please comment on any aspect of our draft 2007-2010 Strategy. However, we would like to know your comments on the following questions:

How realistic and appropriate are the aims, objectives and priorities of the strategy?
What other areas of work are there that we could give a high priority to but which we have not included in our 2007-2010 Strategy?
How might we make the wording and presentation of our 2007-2010 Strategy clearer?
How well does our 2007-2010 Strategy set a framework for us to work effectively with Ministers, other advisory bodies, and the transport sector?
Is there anything else that we could do to make the 2007-2010 Strategy more accessible to disabled people, those who do not have English as their first language or those in disadvantaged communities?
To what extent do you agree with our aims and objectives?
Is there anything else that you think will happen which we need to think about in making this 2007-2010 Strategy happen?
What other comments do you have?

Please would you let us know if you would prefer us not to:

publish your response in full or in summary
list you our table of those responding to this consultation
add your contact details name to our database

If you do not do so then we will assume you do not mind.

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