Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of the regulatory framework for the use of disabled toilets.

Building Regulations apply where building work – typically the erection, alteration, or extension of a building – take place. Part M of the Building regulations requires that reasonable provision is made for people to access and use buildings and their facilities. Statutory guidance is given in Section 5 of Approved Document M (Access to and use of buildings) Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings on the provision and design of suitable toilet and sanitary accommodation in buildings other than dwellings. Statutory guidance is provided in Approved Document M (Access to and use of buildings) Volume 1 for dwellings, which includes guidance on provision and design of accessible toilets in new homes.

The Deparment for Communities and Local Government has commissioned PRP Architects to undertake scoping research looking at the effectiveness of the existing statutory guidance in Approved Document M for buildings other than dwellings, which includes consideration of sanitary provision. This research will be published in due course.

For existing public and commercial buildings, the Equality Act 2010 places duties on building owners, employers and business operators to put in place suitable management practices and to make reasonable adjustments to physical features of buildings in order to ensure that disabled people are not placed at a disadvantage when compared to a non-disabled person. This could include consideration of the nature and availability of toilet provision.