Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:25 pm on 31 January 2018.
Yes, first of all, can I thank all the Members for their contributions to the debate and the Cabinet Secretary for his positive response to the petition and the committee's recommendations?
Mike Hedges mentioned the courage of Whizz-Kidz in giving evidence to the committee, and reiterated many of the points in the report, but added that disabled people often decide not to go out for fear of using public transport. He also mentioned the training of drivers, operators, et cetera, and the difference between the theory and the on-the-ground delivery of that training regime.
Rhun ap Iorwerth gave us feedback from his constituents over the years and from his engagement with disabled people in his constituency. He mentioned that because they cause delays, disabled people feel that they're a burden on travellers, leading them not to use public transport, causing, of course, isolation and loneliness. Rhun also mentioned that there should be an on-demand situation for disabled people.
Janet Finch-Saunders voiced her admiration for the presentations, both in person and on video, to the committee, and asked about the orange wallet-style assistance scheme. She also raised the importance of audio and visual aids on all forms of transport, particularly on railway stations. Access should be a right for disabled people.
Mark Isherwood stated that this has been an ongoing problem for a very long time, and he made the point that he thought that the Welsh Government was not really engaging with the recommendations made by the committee. He mentioned at length a desire to have disability awareness training, and the need to have cross-border collaboration to deliver the access required.
Cabinet Secretary, I thank you for your congratulations to the committee for the work that we have done in producing this report. Ken spoke of how powerful the engagement in the process of investigation had been in identifying the problems faced by the disabled. The Cabinet Secretary mentioned the improvements already made, but acknowledged that there was a great deal more to do. I thank him for his extensive outlining of his plans for addressing the problems in the future.
In summary, I want to end by reiterating the committee's thanks to the petitioners for submitting the petition, and for the powerful and moving evidence they provided to us. We hope that the next few years will see real improvements made to improve the experience for disabled people on all modes of public transport and across all forms of disability.