Hansard

I, too, offer my condolences and deep sympathies to Cathy Peattie.

I welcome the people in the public gallery who helped the committee with the report and gave evidence to the committee.

I thank everyone who was involved in the production of the report, particularly the clerks, who worked extremely hard, and the members of the committee. I joined the committee a year and a half ago, which was about six months after it started its inquiry. However, I am able to say that the hard work that was done by members from all parties does credit to the Parliament's committee system. I pay tribute to the people from various organisations who we heard from as the committee travelled round the country; they told us a lot about the experiences of disabled people. Sometimes we take it for granted that we can access leisure facilities, education, work and transport, but some of the people whom we met found it difficult to do so.

As the title of the report suggests, many of the difficulties that are faced by disabled people relate to access to leisure facilities, education and work. We looked at the issue in considerable detail. It was heartening to see that some of the problems are being recognised and that action is being taken on them in various areas. However, many people expressed their great disappointment about the fact that, although the solutions had been recognised, too little had been done to rectify the situation. That feeling echoes the research that the Executive undertook this year, which set out that

"despite solutions being known, a clear problem still remains"

and that many recommendations that have been made

"continue not to be implemented."

I hope that the report acts as a catalyst to bring together all the previous and current research that we looked at, and that it will make a difference.

As I said, one of the main issues was access to services. That is particularly true in the case of transport, on which I will concentrate in my speech. As we heard, each committee member took on an area; mine was transport. As our report identifies, transport is one of the most important cross-cutting issues; it has great influence on many of the other areas that the report addresses.

If people are unable, or feel that they are unable, to get from A to B, it does not matter whether B is accessible to them if they cannot get back to A. That situation was raised many times in our evidence taking. People asked the question: what is the point of making places accessible if disabled people experience barriers to accessing them? In such situations, much of the work that has been done on accessibility is wasted.

We took evidence from the providers of leisure facilities who are increasingly aware of the need to cater for disabled people. Obviously, people want to belong to society and to participate in leisure activities. In our evidence taking, it became clear that some people found it very difficult to access leisure facilities. They told us that that had a big effect on their lives. We have to look at the accessibility not only of leisure facilities—other committee members will address that—but of transport to and from those facilities.

The report highlights that point and identifies the fact that, in this and other areas, a joined-up approach is needed. As we said, it is not good enough for us to concentrate on one thing or to change one thing; we need to look at the big picture. The two previous speakers mentioned that, too. A key recommendation on transport is that the Scottish Executive should develop a Scotland-wide strategy for achieving equality of mobility for disabled people. The committee believes that the work that is being done on the national transport strategy offers an ideal opportunity in that regard. I am heartened by what the minister said.

The report identifies a lack of regular, reliable, fully accessible public transport and the need for staff to be trained in identifying the needs of disabled passengers. In addition, we need to address the misuse of disabled parking bays. If able-bodied people abuse that provision, it is not helpful to disabled people.

Having a reliable public transport system is fundamental if disabled people are to feel confident that they can go out and about. If someone has been immobile for some time but finally gets out and about only to find that public transport does not work for them, the progress that they have made will suffer a setback.

The committee was given a simple example of that, which concerned a transport provider using a mix of accessible and inaccessible buses on a bus route. Disabled people could go somewhere on the route using an accessible bus, only to find that they could not make the return journey because another bus on the route was not accessible. That example demonstrates how much need there is for joined-up thinking. Able-bodied people naturally assume that, if we can get on to a bus to go somewhere, we can also get home again. Unfortunately, disabled people have to plan their journeys carefully. That should not be the case nowadays; people should be able to access transport as and when they wish to do so.

As we heard, the committee recommended that the Executive should ensure that transport providers offer effective pre-journey information in which the accessibility levels of their services are made clear. Providers should ensure that they produce their information in all formats. In that regard, the committee heard a particularly crude example of how transport providers should not communicate with disabled people. The person in question, who was carrying a white cane, asked whether they were on the right bus only to be told by the driver that they should read the timetable. That illustrates the need for staff to have disability training. The evidence suggests that such things happen because staff are not made sufficiently aware of the issues. The committee recommends that all staff should attend disability equality training. The minister mentioned that training.

The committee welcomes the fact that the Scottish Executive has given a commitment to improve train stations and to make them accessible to disabled passengers. However, I would like the Executive to set targets to make all our railways accessible within a given timescale. The Executive could look at that in greater detail.

One major issue to emerge from the inquiry is demand-responsive transport. Although DRT is not so much of an issue in our big cities, many people to whom we spoke in the rural areas believed that they could get about if only they were given access to a door-to-door bus or taxi service. Witnesses pointed out that the reduced availability of the transport that has traditionally been made available to take people to hospital appointments and so forth makes DRT increasingly important.

The Presiding Officer is indicating that I must wind up. In conclusion, I am heartened by the fact that many of the problems and potential solutions have been identified, although I am also slightly wary as a result of that—it makes the job easier in one way, but more difficult in another. We must look closely at the recommendations in the report and ensure that they are implemented. That must not be done in a piecemeal fashion.

We must remember that the problems exist and that they do not exist in isolation. We must take a joined-up approach. There is a golden opportunity to ensure that everyone—without discrimination—can become involved in and participate in society. I sincerely hope that the Executive will take on board the recommendations that the committee has made.