Committee
Public Petitions Committee, 08 Sep 2009
08 Sep 2009 · S3 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
New Petitions
Changing Places Toilets (PE1270)
Convener, I am conscious that we are putting the onus on local authorities, but I am also aware that many disabled people use out-of-town retail centres, which are not owned by local authorities but are developed by other agencies. At present, such centres are not obliged to implement the changing places standard. Do the witnesses have any comment on how we can influence the major retail outlets? Disabled people are consumers as well, and they have the right to attend, to shop and to participate in retail activities. As we heard earlier, if someone can only go out for an ice cream and then has to go back home, that restricts their ability to participate fully in normal activities, including retail activities.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
PE1270, by Linda Burke, on behalf of the Profound and Multiple Impairment Service and the Learning Disability Alliance Scotland, calls on the Scottish Parlia...
Linda Burke (PAMIS):
I thank the committee for giving me the opportunity to speak to it about the need for more changing places toilets in Scotland. I will begin with some backgr...
The Convener:
Lab
Thank you very much.I should have introduced Jackie Baillie, who has had an interest in this subject over a number of years—in fact, since the start of her t...
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab):
Lab
I would be delighted to do so, and I thank you for the opportunity, convener. Linda Burke has described far more eloquently than I can her daughter's circums...
Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con):
Con
The petition calls for a changing places toilet to be provided"within the centre of each town with a population greater than 15,000".I represent the Highland...
Ian Hood (Learning Disability Alliance Scotland):
I think that that is right. We struggled a bit to choose a figure. We chose 15,000 because that figure is used in some of the census definitions of city area...
The Convener:
Lab
That is helpful.
Anne McLaughlin (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
It is useful that you have come here today to draw this issue to our attention. So many people do not realise that accessible toilets—I do not like calling t...
Linda Burke:
Jenny is 30.
Anne McLaughlin:
SNP
When you said, "after her 19th birthday", I thought that she must be 30, but I had already decided that she must be 13, because you could not possibly have a...
The Convener:
Lab
Stereotypically, is it not my job to flatter blondes?
Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green):
Green
I am not saying that there should not be a lower limit of 15,000—perhaps it could be 10,000—but it could be helpful to mention areas of cities where there is...
Joyce Burns (PAMIS):
I am an occupational therapist who works with PAMIS. We have done some work on that point, which I think answers the previous point about how to capture the ...
Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab):
Lab
When the Equal Opportunities Committee took evidence from the Equality and Human Rights Commission this morning, we heard about the equality measurement fram...
Joyce Burns:
That approach is helpful and I think it is the route that we have to go down. I am looking at Ian Hood because I know that that area is covered in some of th...
Ian Hood:
Equality impact assessments are still relatively new. A number of local authorities that have looked at them in relation to their public toilet provision hav...
John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Convener, I am conscious that we are putting the onus on local authorities, but I am also aware that many disabled people use out-of-town retail centres, whi...
Ian Hood:
The first changing places toilet in Britain was provided in a shopping centre in Milton Keynes as part of a commercial decision, and the shopping centre at B...
Linda Burke:
It is easy to see why retail places were the first to spot that they were on to a good thing by installing a changing places toilet; after all, retail parks ...
Nigel Don (North East Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Having listened to the earlier discussion about the importance of this issue, which I readily understand, I hope you will forgive me for raising a very munda...
Joyce Burns:
The additional costs are generally associated with the hoist and the hydraulic height-adjustable changing bench. The overall cost of a changing places toilet...
Nigel Don:
SNP
But if the figure were, say, £5,000, that would not be a large figure as far as building work was concerned. I suppose that my point is that the issue is mor...
Joyce Burns:
Yes. As an occupational therapist, I have been involved in the conversion of many buildings and I have found that if this particular British standard were bu...
The Convener:
Lab
From members' questions, I get the impression that they want to support the petition and explore issues such as parity and how to ensure that not only the pu...
Bill Butler (Glasgow Anniesland) (Lab):
Lab
We should certainly ask the Government about the points that Jackie Baillie raised on single outcome agreements and Government guidance to local access forum...
The Convener:
Lab
Okay. As Ian Hood and Linda Burke suggested, the Scottish Retail Consortium might be the major body to explore this issue with. Perhaps we should communicate...
Robin Harper:
Green
It strikes me that, along with recommending that the Government consider requiring there to be such toilets in towns of at least 15,000 people or whatever fi...
Marlyn Glen:
Lab
It would be worth writing to a selection of local authorities as well as the Scottish Government, under their equalities duty, about their plans to provide c...
The Convener:
Lab
Okay. I understand that local authorities have legal requirements to make their buildings accessible, but we need to broaden it out beyond local authorities....