Mr. Hannanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make available the report by the National Building Agency on the provision of access for the disabled to buildings.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergYes. I have arranged for a copy of the National Building Agency (NBA) report to be placed in the Library. The NBA surveyed 53 buildings, chosen to give a wide spread of size, type and usage rather than statistical reliability. The figures it contains are therefore very approximate, but give some idea of the size of the problem arid the extent to which it is being solved under present conditions and legislation.
274WThe NBA has judged buildings against the standards laid down in the recently revised British Standard code of practice on access (BS 5810). This may be reasonable for large buildings but much less so for small buildings where certain facilities are not normally provided for the general public. For instance, toilet facilities are not normally provided for the public in small shops and it would be unreasonable to expect special toilets designed for disabled use. After adjustment for this and similar items the total cost of providing reasonable access, toilet and lift facilities in England and Wales is estimated to be roughly £27 million per annum, of which facilities costing about £22 million are already being provided. All these are 1979 prices.