HC Deb 18 January 1982 vol 16 cc12-3W
Sir David Price

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list any specific contributions his Department has made to the International Year of Disabled People.

Mr. Whitelaw

All staff have been asked to keep in mind in their day-to-day work the special needs of disabled people.

Chief officers of police have been asked to extend the parking concessions for orange badge holders to disabled visitors from other countries with similar schemes.

Electoral registration officers have been given fresh guidance about the inclusion on the electoral roll of handicapped persons resident in mental handicap hospitals.

Acting returning officers have been reminded of the need to give disabled persons access to polling stations.

The standing advisory committee on the Cinematograph (Safety) Regulations has given special attention to the needs of the disabled with a view to encouraging cinema managers and licensing authorities to admit disabled people to cinemas to the maximum extent possible consistent with the safety of the public generally.

A Home Office working group has been considering the criteria which might be applied to lift systems in assessing their adequacy as a safe means of escape for the disabled in the event of a fire. It is expected that the group's work will contribute to the framing of a British standard and associated code of practice.

A member of the Home Office fire service inspectorate has acted as adviser to the committee on restrictions against disabled people on the implications of fire precautions for the ability of disabled persons to enter and use various types of public buildings.

Assistance has been given to Guernsey in its preparation of a series of four stamps to commemorate the International Year of Disabled People.

I have been encouraged by the number of fund raising activities in which Home Office staff and inmates of prison establishments have been engaged with a view to providing facilities and funds for the disabled.