HC Deb 11 July 1973 vol 859 cc1515-6
16. Mr. Worsley

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to encourage local authorities to provide specialist housing for disabled people.

Mr. Channon

The recent White Paper "Widening the Choice: The Next Steps in Housing" made it clear that the Government look to local authorities and voluntary bodies to pay particular attention to the special housing needs of disabled people; and that we shall support them in making better provision.

Mr. Worsley

Will my hon. Friend go a little further than that and give active encouragement? Does he not agree that quite small differences in the design of flats in particular, especially in having rather larger lifts and avoiding steps, can make all the difference in the world to whether a flat is usable by a disabled person or by someone who becomes disabled when living there? Will my hon. Friend take an active lead with local authorities in this matter?

Mr. Channon

I have a great deal of sympathy with what my hon. Friend says. A study is taking place at present between the Department of the Environment and the Department of Health and Social Security. When that has been completed, naturally we shall want to give detailed guidance to local authorities as to how they can best help in meeting this demand.

Mr. Pavitt

Following the national study, will the. hon. Gentleman look at the possibility of local authority activity, in view of the information that is now available, through the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act, and will he adopt a legislative approach whereby all planning permissions have a quota for the disabled in the same way as employment has a quota for disabled persons?

Mr. Channon

This raises very wide issues. I should like to consider them with my hon. Friends who are chiefly responsible for planning matters. The hon. Gentleman was right to refer to the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act. From that we have learned of a great number of local authorities which are preparing schemes.

Mr. Skinner

If politically disabled Members can seemingly get a specialist house at a stroke, why cannot the truly disabled get one?

Mr. Channon

The whole House enjoys the hon. Gentleman's supplementary questions.

Sir John Tilney

Will my hon. Friend also bear in mind the need to chamfer the pavements and the steps of the flats concerned?

Mr. Channon

Certainly. That is bound to be one of the points to which the study will pay attention.

Mr. Freeson

May I take the Minister back to the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act? Under Section 3 of that Act a duty was laid upon local authorities. The Minister has reserve powers under the 1957 Act to require that duty to be undertaken. The duty is to take account of the needs of the disabled in the submission of any housing proposals to the Minister. Will the Minister please use his powers under the 1957 Act to require local authorities to act more effectively under Section 3 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act?

Mr. Channon

The hon. Gentleman is right when he says that there are powers under Section 3 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act. As a result, 274 local authorities have notified the Department of proposals for the construction of dwellings for disabled people. I agree that that is not enough, but 274 is certainly a start. I am reluctant—as I am on other issues on which the hon. Gentleman is not usually pressing me—to take compulsory powers over local authorities. But I shall certainly consider what the hon. Gentleman has suggested.