Wheelchair Access (Hansard, 26 February 1999)

§ Mr. Blunkett

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its Chief Executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Richard Foster to Mr. Laurence Robertson, dated 25 February 1999: As the Employment Service is an Executive Agency, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment has asked Leigh Lewis to reply direct to your question concerning the percentage of Employment Service offices that are wheelchair accessible. This is something which falls within the responsibilities delegated to Mr. Lewis as Chief Executive of the Agency. I am replying in his absence. For each of the past three years, the Employment Service has carried out an annual audit of the progress on its planned programme of works to improve the accessibility of Employment Service offices to people with disabilities. The annual audit is undertaken to ensure that we comply with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act within the timescales set. The audit indicates whether our buildings have wheelchair access, loop hearing and disabled toilets. The latest audit results show that from a total of 1180 premises, 93% have either equal or special wheelchair access for clients. The remaining 7% which do not allow wheelchair access offer alternative arrangements for access to our services, to clients with special needs, either arranging interviews at a nearby office with disabled access or by visiting clients in their homes. Of these offices, there are proposals to remedy difficulties in 12 of them next year. The remaining offices will present longer term difficulties because structural or other constraints mean that it is not possible to replace steps with ramps, or the office is located on an upper floor of a building where it is not physically possible to install a lift or chair lift. 488W We are of course, exploring all feasible means of overcoming these obstacles to access. Some 64% of Jobcentres have disabled toilets, and 72% have loop hearing facilities. It is planned to increase the provision to 66% and 90% respectively by April 1999 as part of our planned improvement programme. I hope that this information will help reassure you that the Employment Service is doing all it practically can to provide access to its buildings for people with disabilities.