Oral Answers to Questions

Christine Jardine Excerpts

Monday 18th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Rishi Sunak)]

My hon. Friend has been a long-standing advocate for rural funding in his county, and I am pleased to tell him that we will continue to pilot reform of the business rates retention system in the forthcoming year. We will publish details of the new pilot very shortly and would very much welcome Staffordshire’s application to become a pilot.

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

T5. My constituent Shirley Todd, a wheelchair user, carried out a survey of part of the city and discovered that 72% of businesses were inaccessible to wheelchair users. She has now launched a national campaign and petition. Will the Minister agree to consider plans to make local authorities responsible for proactively enforcing the provisions in the Equality Act 2010?

[Rishi Sunak]

I thank the hon. Lady for raising this important topic. She will know that in the past I have spoken about greater provision of Changing Places in this House. Building regulations set the access requirements for new buildings, while the Equality Act requires providers to make reasonable adjustments. If someone feels they have been discriminated against, there are several means of redress, and the Equality Advisory Support Service can provide help and support in that process.