Agenda item

The Panel was provided with an information report regarding the steps that had been taken to implement the recommendations of the Disability Task and Finish Group.

(At this point in the meeting Councillor Gahir declared that he was a taxi driver.  He remained in the Council Chamber during the discussion in relation to the report)

Dr Elena Gaddes, Policy Insight Analyst explained that whilst the report had been provided for information, if Members wished to raise any questions she would relay these to the report author and subsequently provide a response to the Panel.

Members raised the following queries:

·  What progress had been made to remove obstructions on pathways?  In addition, it was requested the details of the pathways that had been cleared to be reported back to the Panel.

·  Referring to the target column, set out in Appendix A of the report.  A Member asked for a clear definition of the time periods referred to as ‘short-term’, ‘medium-term’, ‘long-term’ and ‘on-going’.

·  A Member asked how many disabled people had been enabled by the Council to remain living in their own homes.  The Policy Insight Analyst agreed to request this information from the Adult Social Care Team and report back to the Panel.

·  Referring to the ‘next steps’ listed on page 75 of the report, ‘officers will review disabled parking borough-wide and conduct a statutory consultation on more disabled parking around shopping areas’ – a Member asked for further details about when the review would commence and the projected number of additional disabled car parking spaces that would be provided in future.

Members requested that a further report and presentation be provided to the Health Scrutiny Panel.

Resolved -

(a)  That the report and information set out in Appendix A be noted.

(b)  That a presentation and report addressing the queries set out above and detailing the implementation of the Disability Task and Finish Group recommendations be provided at the Health Scrutiny Panel meeting on 23rd March 2020.