Oral Answers to Questions

Philippa Whitford Excerpts

Thursday 18th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ms Ghani]

I am aware of the hon. Lady’s work on the APPG. As she will know, I was chair of the all-party parliamentary group on eye health and visual impairment, and we did a lot of work together.

I believe that 75% of platforms are accessible by steps, but we need to do much more work. All train operating companies and Network Rail are required to have a disabled people’s protection policy as a condition of their licences.

The hon. Lady also contributed to the draft accessibility action plan. There were a number of recommendations, and I look forward to meeting her and ensuring that they are followed through.

[Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP)]

21. Having previously chaired the sight loss group, the Minister may be aware of concern expressed by Guide Dogs and the Royal National Institute of Blind People. Equality disability training has been standard for bus drivers throughout Europe since 2013, but the UK’s opt-out will run out on 1 March. I asked about that during Women and Equalities questions last week, and the fact that the Minister knew nothing about it did not sound terribly good in the context of interdepartmental working. Will the UK meet its deadline, or will this be another loss from Brexit?

[Ms Ghani]

At present, bus drivers must undertake licensing training to ensure that they are able to deal with people with not just visible disabilities but invisible disabilities such as sight loss. They cannot obtain their competency certificates without that training. I will ensure that the issue is followed up at local authority level, and if there is a gap, I shall be more than happy to meet the hon. Lady to ensure that it is dealt with.