(Dudley South) (Con)
4. What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the
blue badge scheme for people with hidden disabilities. [912027]
The Minister of State, Department for Transport ()
From 30 August 2019, the blue badge scheme will include
non-visible as well as visible disabilities. This change will be
assessed 12 months after implementation, using feedback form the
public, stakeholders and local authorities who administer the
scheme. We will be tracking how many badges are awarded under the
new criteria.
I welcome the £1.7 million that has been allocated to councils to
implement the new regulations, but will the Minister encourage
local councils to spend that money on autism training for
assessors, so that they can have a better understanding of how
autism can affect people’s ability to travel?
Yes I will. My hon. Friend is right: the £1.7 million of funding
is to support local authorities in the administration of the
scheme. Local authorities can use their share of the funding to
train assessors on specific conditions such as autism. We will
let local authorities make the actual decisions on how the money
can be used most effectively to support the implementation of the
new regulations, but I hope that local authorities will look
sympathetically at the difficulties faced by people with autism.
(Kingston upon Hull West and
Hessle) (Lab)
I am sure that the whole House is keen to improve accessibility
for people with all disabilities, which is why I am sure that the
Minister will join me in condemning TransPennine Express and its
decision to close the gate at Hull Paragon station, which is
making it much more difficult for people with disabilities to
access the station.
I am sorry to hear about that. I will raise the matter with the
rail Minister—the Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon.
Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough ()—and perhaps he will write to
the hon. Lady about it.
(North Cornwall) (Con)
While the £1.7 million is welcome, may I ask for advice and
guidance for local authorities who might come under increasing
pressure from the huge number of new blue badge applications?
What advice can the Minister to give to local authorities such as
Cornwall?
This is a matter for local authorities and they can exercise
their discretion, depending on the circumstances in their
particular area. I appreciate that there is a demand for the blue
badge scheme; that means that the scheme works very effectively.
It assists people who have mobility issues, and that is what it
is designed to do. It is right that people with non-visible
disabilities are also covered by the scheme. That has been the
case heretofore, but this highlights the issue and we encourage
local authorities to work with the system.
(Caithness, Sutherland and
Easter Ross) (LD)
I am a Scottish MP, but the blue badge scheme is UK-wide. As the
Chamber knows, my wife is disabled and nothing is a bigger pain
than to run my wife to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness and find
that all the parking spaces have been taken or, worse still, that
people who do not have the badge have taken spaces. Will the
Government ensure that people who abuse the system are sorted out
and brought to account as quickly as possible?
Yes. First, the fraudulent use of blue badges is a criminal
matter and that can be dealt with accordingly, as one would
expect. As for those who park in disabled parking spaces when
they are not permitted to do so, such infractions ought to be
dealt with by the supervisory authority, and that can be by way
of fines.
(Strangford) (DUP)
Will the Minister further outline what training must be
undertaken by those responsible for parking enforcement to ensure
that people entitled to a blue badge for hidden illnesses are not
interrogated by traffic wardens when their blue badge is clearly
on display?
The hon. Gentleman raises an important point. We expect those who
are charged with enforcing our parking regulations to be
sympathetic to these issues and alive to the fact that there will
be people with non-visible disabilities who are perfectly
entitled to use a blue badge.
