The government published a Concessionary Bus Travel Bill. The Bill was designed to provide for free off-peak local bus travel for pensioners and disabled people.
Source: Concessionary Bus Travel Bill [HL], Department for Transport, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Downing Street Briefing | Age Concern press release | Transport 2000 press release | Times report | FT report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
A report said that disabled people attached greater importance to public transport than non-disabled people, but were less satisfied with it and more likely to see it as unreliable.
Source: Debbie Jolly, Mark Priestley and Bryan Matthews, Secondary Analysis of Existing Data on Disabled People s Use and Experiences of Public Transport in Great Britain, Disability Rights Commission (08457 622633)
Date: 2006-Oct
The broadcasting regulator said that the existing arrangements for providing signing on television provided few benefits to sign language users.
Source: Television Access Services Review: Statement, Office of Communications (020 7981 3000)
Links: Statement | Ofcom press release
Date: 2006-Sep
A report examined how well the United Kingdom aviation industry was complying with the recommendations contained in the voluntary code of practice on access to air travel for disabled people. It said that the industry needed further encouragement to follow those parts of the code that were already covered by the Disability Discrimination Act.
Source: Jo Sentinella, Access to Air Travel for Disabled People: 2005 monitoring study, Department for Transport (0870 1226 236)
Links: Report | DT press release | Leonard Cheshire press release
Date: 2006-Aug
An article examined access barriers to obtaining preventive healthcare services for adults with physical disabilities, and suggested ways of tackling these.
Source: Thilo Kroll, Gwyn Jones, Matthew Kehn and Melinda Neri, 'Barriers and strategies affecting the utilisation of primary preventive services for people with physical disabilities: a qualitative inquiry', Health and Social Care in the Community, Volume 14 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jul
A report explored and assessed a wide range of potential improvements to public transport for disabled people in Scotland. Greater equality of travel opportunity would require a range of co-ordinated schemes and initiatives tailored to both the local physical environment, the needs of specific people in any local area, and dovetailing with existing transport opportunities. All modes of transport needed to be included, as did longer journeys that spanned more than one local area.
Source: Pat MacLeod, Anna Dudleston, Philip Barham and Tom Rye, Improved Public Transport for Disabled People, Scottish Executive, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Date: 2006-May
The government published (following consultation) a strategy document which explained how the rail industry would improve access for disabled people - including better provision of information, removing barriers to access at stations, and further refinements in the specification of trains.
Source: Railways for All: The accessibility strategy for Great Britain s railways, Department for Transport (0870 1226 236)
Date: 2006-Mar
The broadcasting regulator began consultation on its code on television access services - subtitling, signing, and audio description - designed to help people who cannot hear or see, or have difficulty with hearing or seeing, to enjoy television. It proposed that the existing obligations should continue broadly unchanged, with quotas rising progressively towards the statutory 10-year target of 80 per cent for subtitling, 10 per cent for audio-description, and 5 per cent for signing.
Source: Television Access Services: Review of the code and guidance, Office of Communications (020 7981 3000)
Links: Consultation document | Ofcom press release
Date: 2006-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that elderly people and those with disabilities needed more help with the switch to digital television.
Source: Analogue Switch-off: A signal change in television, Second Report (Session 2005-06), HC 650, House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar