PUBLIC CONVENIENCES (Hansard, 19 June 1973)

§ Mr. Maclennan
I beg to move Amendment No. 336, in page 80, line 6, leave out from 'be' to end of Clause and insert: 'the islands or district council'. This amendment relates to what might be described as the "Clochemerle" provision of the Bill. Its purpose is to provide that responsibility for public conveniences shall be a function to be exercised by island or district councils only and not, as I understand the Bill provides, by regions and districts. It may be that I have not fully analysed this situation completely correctly, and I should be grateful if the hon. Gentleman would state the Government's view.
This function is a local one. The hon. Gentleman may think that public conveniences do not give rise to local controversy but I must deny that. Indeed, the controversy which has raged in Sutherland during the last month over the public convenience in Brora lends particular weight to the point. It has been resolved only by praying in aid the assistance of every local authority representative to come and inspect the site and see for himself how deplorable the original decision was. I think that it is unlikely that such a step could be taken by the regional council based on Inverness, if by some inadvertance a similar decision were taken in the future. Perhaps it is not a major point, but it is important.

§ Mr. Younger
I agree with the hon. Gentleman that this matter raises the most intense controversy, and I respond easily to his request.
Section 5(1) of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 requires any local authority which undertakes to provide a public sanitary convenience to make provision, so far as practicable and reasonable, for the needs of disabled persons. Section 5(2) provides for the suitable advertisement of such facilities; while section 5(3) defines a "local authority" as an authority within the meaning of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947—that is, a county, town or district council. Clause 139 simply makes the necessary adjustments to section 5(1) to bring it into line with the new system, 517 by substituting a reference to local authorities under the present Bill—the regional, district and islands authorities.
The 1970 Act has to apply to all types of authorities, because all of them have the power to provide public lavatories; this is usually something which districts and islands authorities would do, but there are circumstances in which a regional council can take the same action. It seems right that it, too, should have the duty to make provision for the disabled and the chronically sick.
I was puzzled about the hon. Gentleman's reason for tabling this amendment. But all sorts of local authorities may find themselves providing these facilities. Therefore we feel that all sorts of them should have the obligation to provide for the disabled and the chronically sick.

§ Mr. Maclennan
I am grateful to the Under-Secretary for making the position clear, although I am not wholly persuaded about the need for regional authorities to provide public conveniences at all. However, that being the case, certainly they should be empowered to provide for people who come under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act. Therefore, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.