§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tony McNulty)The Government will today announce their proposals for implementing the taxi provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. This will allow us to set standards for wheelchair access and a rang. of other features to help disabled people use taxis. We intend to vary the application of the regulations to target first those areas where we believe accessible taxis will make the biggest impact in meeting the needs of disabled people and where additional cost will not have a major effect. We are calling these first phase authorities and propose to introduce the Regulations in these areas over a 10-year period from 2010–20.
Authorities within the first phase have been identified and each meet one or more of the following criteria:
- A licensing authority population of at least 120,000 people;
- A major transport interchange;
- A major tourist attraction; or
- An existing mandatory policy resulting in 100 per cent. accessible vehicles.
A list of those authorities that are currently included will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Licensing authorities outside of this first phase would not be subject to the regulations in the first instance. We would instead issue voluntary guidance to these authorities on establishing an appropriate mix of vehicles and on design parameters that they should be considering. We would also monitor the introduction of accessible vehicles in these areas to determine whether the guidance is effective. A view would then be taken on the necessity of extending the regulations to these areas.
11WSThe proposals, which apply to England and Wales only, will be the subject of a full public consultation process in due course. Scotland and Northern Ireland will be holding their own separate consultation processes.