Public Buildings: Access
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage local authorities to (a) join AccessAble and (b) provide publicly available information on disability access to (i) public buildings and (ii) services.
Answered by Jim McMahon
Local authorities are independent employers responsible for the management and organisation of their own workforces. It is the duty of local authorities to comply with all relevant employment and equalities legislation and there is no role for central government intervening in this, except where specific provision has been made in legislation.
Like all service providers and those exercising public functions, local authorities are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments for their customers, under the Equality Act 2010. This includes providing information about disabled access and facilities as well as the actual facilities. Local authorities are also within the scope of the Public Sector Equality Duty, which requires public bodies to consider how their policies and actions might affect people with particular protected characteristics, such as disability.
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