§ Mr. Carter-Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment to which organisations he has sent copies of the EEC Consultative Document on the Elimination of Architectural Barriers to the Mobility of Handicapped Persons (R/2215/75 (SOC 178)); what consultations he has had with organisations representing disabled people; what is his policy towards the Consultative Document; and if he will make a statement.
500W
§ Mr. FreesonThe Central Council for the Disabled was represented on the group which drew up the EEC Memorandum in question. I did not consider consultations at that stage to be appropriate. I indicated the implications for the Government's housing policies of this report by nongovernmental experts in the explanatory memorandum I laid before the House on 19th December 1975. Since then there has been one meeting at official level with the Commission to explore the possibility of implementing the proposals in the report. We presently await their proposals. Matters are, therefore, still at a very preliminary stage.