HC Deb 23 February 1981 vol 999 c650
31. Mr. Carter-Jones

asked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if, to mark the International Year of Disabled People, he will take measures to increase the parking space available for disabled people within the Palace of Westminster during office hours, having particular regard to the increasing number of disabled people attending debates and meeting Members.

Mr. Pym

I will arrange for a review to be held. It would be helpful if the all-party disablement group would make its own reappraisal, and bring forward a proposal as part of the overall review of facilities for the disabled which it has already been agreed should be undertaken.

Mr. Carter-Jones

While thanking the right hon. Gentleman for his helpful reply, may I suggest that there are facilities in the House that are being misused? Will he look at that? In this International Year of Disabled People, will he take into account the embarrassment and difficulty faced by these people? Does he agree that we should consider also the embarrassment caused to ourselves when constituents visit us and the problems faced by Officers of the House and the police in finding such accommodation?

Mr. Pym

It would, of course, be the purpose of such a review to look at all these matters. We thought that it would be a good beginning for the all-party disablement group to put in its own views in the first instance, but of course we want to do what we can to help.

Mr. Adley

Is my right hon. Friend aware that as part of the activities in my constituency for the International Year of Disabled People I spent a couple of hours in a wheelchair on Friday, which gives one a much better opportunity to appreciate the problems? As my right hon. Friend is responsible for co-ordinating Government policy, will he do his best to ensure that local authorities, Government Departments and organisations such as the Post Office make a real effort this year to see what they can do to help disabled people to overcome some of the problems in their ordinary lives which those of us who are more fortunate do not normally encounter?

Mr. Pym

I think that every organisation, both public and private, is giving consideration to this matter. I do not think that it is for the Government, as it were, to instruct the Post Office, but it is well known that the Government are behind the efforts being made in this International Year of Disabled People, and we shall, of course, wish to do what we can to help.