The next item of business is the motion to annul the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2016. I call on Mark Isherwood to move the motion.

Motion NNDM6019 Mark Isherwood

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales in accordance with Standing Order 27.2:

Agrees that The Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2016, laid before the Assembly on 30 March 2016, be annulled.

Motion moved.

Diolch—thank you very much indeed. I’ve long called, for many years, for temporary blue badges, representing the views of constituents and organisations, and, clearly, the proposed amendment regulations are a step in the right direction, but they don’t go nearly far enough, and I will briefly explain that.

I’ve received many items of correspondence from constituents over the years who have had temporary impairments, requiring them to depend upon perhaps a wheelchair or a walking stick because of limited ability for a limited period—because of an accident, because of an operation, primarily, but occasionally other factors, too—and the impact on their lives has been devastating, hence I raised this repeatedly during the last Assembly, amongst other things as co-chair of the cross-party group on disability, and received a very warm and positive response from the then Minister responsible for this issue, Edwina Hart. Now, I’ll quote just from one of the constituent letters. This was one that was copied, actually, to all the then North Wales Members in December 2013. She said:

‘I broke my leg (knee and ankle damage) on Tuesday November 5th...I am to put NO weight on it for EIGHT weeks…. How is it that those such as I am not permitted a TEMPORARY “Blue parking badge for Disability”. The necessity to have the wheelchair brought right around to the fully open passenger car door is virtually impossible in 99.9 per cent of parking places. I dread the icy winter rain coming whilst I am in this condition; and of equal concern is the pressure and physical difficulty put on my dear husband as he struggles to cope with me on top of his own long-term illness’.

Now, in May 2014, speaking in this Chamber, I told the Minister, the then Minister for Economy, Science and Transport, that I had written to her regarding this matter the previous December, and she had replied helpfully by referring her to the blue badge review group and stating it had identified obstacles to temporary badges, such as recovering the badge when it was no longer required, and the consequent potential for abuse. I asked what consideration had been given, or would or could be given, to temporary badges being provided with dates of duration or expiry or renewal dates on them so that they could not be recycled in that way. Again, I did that on behalf of constituents who suggested I raise that point. The Minister said that she would forward my contribution to her officials for discussion.

On 17 June 2014, the Minister wrote to all Assembly Members, stating that, ‘during Plenary on 21 May, Mark Isherwood AM asked if consideration could be given to issuing temporary blue badges and I wanted to update all Members on this.’

And she concluded, ‘This is an area where further work is required, and I’ve asked my officials to explore this matter, including the suggestion of introducing badges with shorter time limits.’

In April 2015, responding to that Minister’s statement on blue badges again in this Chamber, I said:

‘Last year, I raised with you the case of a constituent who’d been temporarily disabled and was in a wheelchair…following a serious injury, and asked what consideration could be given to temporary badges being provided, with dates of duration, or expiry, or renewal dates…so they could not be recycled, or used when somebody was no longer eligible. You confirmed that you would forward this proposal to your officials for discussion. Having heard nothing on that specific point since, I would be grateful if you could comment.’

I also welcomed her announcement that she was appointing a task and finish group to look at this. She said that she would have to look at the regulation changes, possibly in October 2015. In December 2015, the Minister then made a written statement on the blue badge task and finish group report. She said she’d appointed the group, chaired by former AM Val Lloyd and she was publishing the report and recommendations at that point. And she said that in order to take forward the recommendations she had formed a blue badge implementation group. She said:

‘I’ve previously stated I would like to see changes to eligibility to include people with temporary conditions which require extensive treatment and rehabilitation that impacts on their mobility.’

Then, in January this year, again in a business statement, I called for a statement on the blue badge scheme. I said:

‘There are further questions on something that I’ve been questioning the Minister positively for a number of years over, which is a blue badge for people with temporary conditions’.

The explanatory memorandum to the regulations for the amendment that we’re discussing today rightly states that:

‘At present, Blue Badges can only be issued to people whose mobility is permanently impaired. However, there are other temporary conditions and impairments that can severely affect mobility for the duration of the impairment or condition.’

That is the hub of it; that’s bang on. The problem is what it then goes on to say. Because the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2016, laid before the Assembly on 30 March, are restrictive in only allowing blue badges to be issued for one year to a person who is unable to walk, who has considerable difficulty walking, by reason of a temporary but substantial difficulty which is expected to last for a period of at least 12 months. That, for example, would have invalidated the letter I read out earlier, which triggered this whole process with the then Minister.

This is in breach of the Welsh Government’s publicly stated commitments to person-centred support, to independent living and to the social model of disability. The social model makes the important difference between impairment and disability. It’s been worked out by disabled people themselves, who say that ‘most of the problems we face are caused by the way society is organised, but barriers to access and inclusion, not impairment or our bodies, are the main causes of disabling problems; these barriers include people’s attitudes to disability and physical and organisational barriers.’ I’m quoting there Disability Wales, and such are, may I say, the barriers these regulations, if they go through, as are currently drafted, will put in place.

The policy and research officer for Disability Wales has told me, ‘I agree that blue badges should ideally have a more person-centred time limit to reflect individual impairment, rather than the one-size-fits-all period of one year; achieving this would be a step in the right direction’. And the policy adviser for Age Cymru also wrote to me saying, ‘I’m writing to you with reference to the Plenary debate’—this Plenary debate, the motion to annul the amendment regulations. She says: ‘Age Cymru welcomes the extension of the availability of the badge for people with temporary mobility impairments. We agree with you that there should be flexibility around the period for which the temporary badges are issued, and we deem that the duration of the badge in such circumstances should be based on the recovery time of the applicant, and feedback from a relevant healthcare professional’. They also believe, they said, that the fast track procedure must be available from all local authorities, otherwise people may lose a substantial component of the time for which they need help. They attached a copy of their response to the Welsh Government’s consultation on this issue in February 2016, confirming that these points had been raised with the Welsh Government at that time.

I welcome the fact that the business Minister rang me last week to clarify my purpose behind bringing forward this motion today. And I explained what I’ve explained today—because it didn’t go far enough, not because we wish to undo and remove the opportunity to bring in temporary blue badges. The Minister proposed perhaps I could consider instead a statement being provided in the Assembly, and I explained that we could have that, but it’s not binding on the Government. But I said if the Minister was able to come back to me with a proposal that would enable us going forward on this within this Assembly term, I’d be pleased to perhaps consider that and talk that through with her with a view, possibly, to removing today’s motion. Well, I heard nothing, and therefore I’ve gone ahead with the motion as proposed.

As I say, these amendment regulations represent progress, but they don’t go far enough because they still disable too many people. I therefore call on the Welsh Government to temporarily defer the introduction of these regulations in order to bring in the flexibility being called for by so much of the sector and people affected.

If the Welsh Government is not prepared to do that today, I call on Members to ensure that your support today for enabling the Welsh Government to go forward, or not, is based upon their commitment, after today, to go away and consider and review the current regulations that may well still go ahead if you don’t support me, with a view to bringing in the flexibility that’s so badly needed by so many people and which paradoxically triggered this whole process in the first place with the previous Minister. If you’ll back me this can go through with that commitment publicly made by the Welsh Government, but if you simply talk down what I’m saying then the Welsh Government will implement the regulations without any commitment to introduce the flexibility that so many people need. I leave it with you. I hope you’ll do the right thing so that we can collectively achieve what I think, in your hearts, all of us want to achieve, which is remove those barriers to access and inclusion facing people with impairments and disabling too many of them. Thank you.

I have a great deal of sympathy with this desire to be more flexible in terms of temporary badges. But, I do disagree with the Member’s approach to this. Supporting his motion would mean one thing: no rights to a temporary blue badge, which is a situation that would be far worse than the one we’re currently in. So, I’m encouraging you to vote against this motion. There is no reason to prevent disabled people from having a temporary badge, affecting the independence of all those people who are recovering from conditions that impair their mobility. Of course, the Conservatives don’t have a particularly good record in this area. Can I just remind you—? [Interruption.] And a number of other areas. But could I just remind you of cuts to disability benefits and the bedroom tax, just to name two? Plaid Cymru will continue to fight for the rights of disabled people and this motion today won’t assist that.

I call on the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure to speak—Ken Skates.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. To recap for those Members who were not part of the fourth Assembly, the regulations will enable people with an impairment lasting at least 12 months to access disabled parking spaces in exactly the same way as they would if their condition was permanent. Now, the disabled persons blue badge scheme is intended to enable those who cannot walk or who have considerable difficulty in walking to access services and facilities, thus assisting them to live independently. Blue badges are issued by the local authority and they are responsible for assessing applicants and deciding whether to issue a badge. There is no formal route of appeal against the decision of a local authority beyond the local authority general complaints process.

Welsh Ministers have limited powers in this area. We have issued non-statutory guidance and we work with local authorities to promote a high-quality and consistent service to applicants. Issuing statutory guidance or changing the issuing arrangements, such as creating a central assessing and awarding body, would require a change to primary legislation, which can be pursued if the current arrangements prove unsatisfactory.

In terms of the 12-month or six-month question, the approach was endorsed by the task and finish group’s recommendation in 2015 when they said,

‘The Welsh Government should consider providing a temporary badge system where qualifying conditions are likely to last at least 12 months.’

In terms of why badges are issued for 12 months rather than for a shorter or a longer period, or indeed more flexible periods of time, one of the priorities was to introduce a scheme which was going to be workable and also practical. The consultation sought views on effective administration of the temporary badges from all stakeholders, including local authorities, who will be responsible for issuing those badges. Over 80 per cent of respondents who expressed a view on this topic felt that a standard 12-month issuing period was the best approach to take. This was also the opinion of the implementation group tasked with overseeing the effective delivery of the task and finish group recommendations.

Can I support and thank Sian Gwenllian for her appeal to Members to not support Mark Isherwood’s attempt for an annulment of the regulations? But can I equally suggest to Mark Isherwood that, if Members wish to discuss and debate the blue badge scheme in more detail, then I am more than happy to make an oral statement on the scheme? This will give an opportunity for questions and further debate.

I call on Mark Isherwood to reply to the debate.

Thank you. Clearly, the opportunity to have further debate would be welcomed if this goes through. Unfortunately, again, that will not be binding. I hope that you would confirm that, if the arguments you hear—some of which I’ve rehearsed today—are persuasive, that that might actually lead to the Welsh Government revisiting this subsequently with a view to making further regulations or further amendments to the regulations accordingly.

I say to Plaid Cymru that I support the objective behind temporary blue badges. This is to help and to maximise the help available to disabled people—disabled by the barriers society places in their way. Had you stood with me, perhaps we could have persuaded the Welsh Government today to agree to bring in a consideration of more flexible measures subsequently and then I could have withdrawn the motion knowing that they’d made that commitment. But, because you’ve rubber-stamped them, we don’t have that commitment. All we now have is a statement with a non-binding outcome. I therefore regret that you haven’t used that perhaps political nous to take that forward on that basis, but there we are. Perhaps, over time, things may change.

The proposal, therefore, is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? [Objection.] I will defer voting, therefore, under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.

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