Hansard

I congratulate the committee, the convener—Cathy Peattie—and the clerking team for a comprehensive report on the barriers that disabled people face and, importantly, on identifying some solutions. The report is a seminal piece of work on which we will draw for years to come.

I join committee members in acknowledging all those who gave evidence, the organisations both of and for disabled people and, most important, disabled people themselves. They have directly shaped the report, and I suggest that that degree of ownership means that interest in its implementation extends well beyond the walls of the Parliament. That is as it should be.

It is not often that Sandra White and I agree, but she is right to say that delivery matters. I hope that when the Scottish Executive responds formally, it will provide us with a robust framework with timetables for implementing each recommendation and a monitoring system that charts progress transparently and openly. That will instil confidence and will serve to underline that we want to do more to move from warm words to practical action that makes a difference to the everyday lives of disabled people.

I want to talk about transport and access. If members ever thought that transport and access were a marginal issue, I commend to them the Sunday Mail access for all campaign, which highlights in a straightforward and practical way the implications of someone being denied access simply because they are disabled.

Let us imagine for a minute not being able to get into our local newsagent or shop for a pint of milk, or not being able to get into our library, housing office or even—for goodness' sake—our local hospital. There are real barriers, and basic opportunities are denied. I know that minimum standards are required by law, and I welcome them. New public buildings will be accessible in the future, but we need to do more now with existing buildings.

Constituents come to see me about a range of issues. I will mention a selection. On buses, they say, "Jackie, we've got a wonderful concessionary scheme but we can't get on the bus because it's not low floor." As others have pointed out, timetable information does not indicate which buses are accessible, never mind when they will arrive. Surely that is easy to fix. Some bus companies do well in extending and improving their fleet and ensuring that they have more low-floor buses, but others just do not bother. One suspects that they do not care.

My challenge to the Executive is to examine accelerating the requirement for vehicle accessibility before the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 deadlines. That could be done by encouraging those who contract with our bus companies, for example for school transport, to ensure that there are minimum standards across the whole fleet—but I am sure that the minister will have more imaginative ideas.

When it comes to travel by train, we know that some platforms are inaccessible and that there are challenges because of the geography surrounding stations, but I have learnt from my constituents that even when people can gain access, they cannot get their mobility scooters on the train because they are too big for the entrance areas of certain trains. I hasten to add that I am not to be confused with a trainspotter and I do not possess an anorak, but I now find myself looking at trains with renewed interest.

On advice and assistance, I commend to the chamber the thistle travel card scheme, which we have debated before. Launched by a range of disability organisations and the Executive, it is designed to help people with a disability by alerting transport staff, on trains and buses, that the traveller might need some extra help.

Finally, I will mention the abuse of disabled parking bays and the report's recommendations 126 and 127 on accessible parking spaces, which I support. Members will be aware—I hope—that I have launched a consultation on a proposed bill on disabled persons' parking. Essentially, it would make all disabled parking bays legally enforceable.

I will pause and ask those present how often they have parked in a disabled person's parking bay because they wanted to nip into the supermarket or a high-street shop for a few seconds. After all, what harm could that do? As someone put it to me starkly, "If you want my disabled parking space, please have my disability too."

The consequences of our unthinkingly occupying a disabled parking space can be extremely distressing for a disabled person with acute mobility problems. I know from disabled constituents the frustration that they experience when they are unable to park near enough to the shops or their own home. In many cases, because they are unable to walk any distance, they end up driving around for hours on end until a disabled parking space becomes free.

The problem is that the majority of disabled parking bays are not legally enforceable—in other words, someone who does not have a disability is not penalised for parking in one. The reason that is often cited is the long, complex and costly process that a council has to go through to designate a legally enforceable parking bay. The purpose of my proposed bill is to sweep that aside and simplify the process to ensure that any disabled parking bay, whether it is on street, in a private car park or in a residential area, can be enforced. I hope that I get support for that across the chamber; I can tell members that I am getting support for it from disabled people across Scotland.

I congratulate the committee and commend its recommendations to the Executive.