HC Deb 06 July 1989 vol 156 cc257-8W
Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people with severely deformed or no arms currently hold orange badges.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

This information is not held centrally.

The responsibility for assessing applicants for orange badges rests with individual local authorities.

The Department neither issues nor withdraws badges.

The national scheme was created to help people not capable of walking.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has of the number of people with severely deformed or no arms who have difficulty in shopping unless special provision is made for them.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

This information is not available.

The OPCS survey into disability in Great Britain states that there are 1.23 million people with reaching and stretching disabilities and 1.737 million with dexterity problems. Caution is needed in using any of the figures in the report because:

  1. (i) a relatively low threshold of disability was used for the report.
  2. (ii) people with both reaching and stretching and dexterity problems would be counted twice.
  3. (iii) the survey was designed to be a survey of disability, not of the causes of disability. People could be counted as having reaching or stretching difficulties because they had sight problems or suffered from mental illness etc.

The Department of Health has advised that there were 12,800 upper limb amputees in England and Wales in 1986. This figure represents only people seen by artificial limb centres and so does not represent the total number of amputees. It is not known how many of those artificial upper limb users would have actual difficulty in carrying shopping. Many will have one missing limb rather than two.

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what initiatives he has undertaken to help people with severely deformed or no arms to be able to use normal parking facilities.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

The Department's Mobility roadshow held at the Transport and Road Research Laboratory (16–18 June) attracted 20,000 people from many parts of the country to view and test a wide range of adapted vehicles and other mobility aids and products.

We are constantly on the look out for new ideas and ways of helping people with all kinds of disabilities.

We are supporting the Parking Bill currently before Parliament. This would provide for the wider use of systems of payment such as magnetic cards or vouchers rather than coins. These new systems can be more convenient for many disabled drivers, particularly those with dexterity problems.

We tabled an amendment to the Bill which would give the Secretary of State power to require local authorities to display information at the entrance to off-street car parks, including the availability of allocated spaces for disabled people. The British Standards Institution is currently developing a code of practice on information required at public car parks.

The British Standards Institution is also working on a range of new standards for parking control equipment. Equipment manufacturers and disabled people are represented on the relevant technical committee. The standards will take account of features such as the height of displays and the ease of operation of equipment.

We give advice to organisations which seek to make it easier for disabled people to use their cars.

We advise individual disabled motorists through our mobility advice and vehicle information service (MAVIS).

Mr. Ashley

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research has been done into the range of activities for which disabled people use the orange badge; and to what extent it is used in connection with shopping.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

The orange badge scheme allows people with severe mobility problems to park closer to their destinations and to stay longer than normal parking regulations permit. The scheme helps badge holders to engage in as wide a range of activities as they can manage.

The design of buildings and their external spaces is also important. Much progress has been made by Government, local authorities, and private bodies over recent years. Shop mobility schemes are operated by voluntary bodies in many parts of the country. We have preferred to concentrate our efforts in practical ways, rather than to commission research into particular issues such as shopping.