Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make it her policy to make it mandatory for all restaurants to provide braille menus.

Under the Equality Act 2010, businesses and service providers, including restaurants, already have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

The anticipatory duty requires them to consider the disadvantage(s) that may be experienced by a group of disabled people - for example, those who are blind - rather than an individual disabled person and ensure that relevant adjustments are put in place before they might actually be needed, so that people with such disabilities would not be put at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled service users when using facilities or services.

Such adjustments should address the communication needs of deaf and blind customers and could include the provision of auxiliary aids, such as menus made available in Braille. We believe that a reasonableness test is appropriate, as individual circumstances will differ.