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Schools (Access)

Volume 175: debated on Monday 25 June 1990

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To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what specific funding has been made available to local education authorities to enable access to school and college buildings for pupils and teachers with disabilities in each of the last 10 years; and if he has any plans to make specific grants available to local education authorities to carry out necessary capital works to facilitate physical access for people with disabilities;(2) what advice he gives to local education authorities on the standards of access for people with disabilities for new designs for and adaptations to school and college buildings; and whether he will consult interested parties concerning statutory provisions for standards of access for new school and college buildings;(3) how many primary and secondary schools in

(a) Inverclyde, (b) Strathclyde and (c) Scotland are fully accessible to pupils and teachers with disabilities; what are these figures as percentages of the total number of schools; and if he will make a statement.

Authorities are responsible for funding educational building work and other capital programmes within the broad limits set each year on the total capital expenditure which each authority may incur. Authorities have wide discretion in the use of capital resources and the limits set are not hypothecated to particular projects or limited to use for individual programmes.Since 1985, the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations have required that the design of most new or altered or extended buildings, including schools, take proper account of the needs of disabled people. The Scottish Education Department published guidance to education authorities on access to educational buildings for disabled people in educational building note 19 in 1984. Copies of the regulations and the building note are in the Library.

Information about local authority buildings which are accessible to the disabled is not held centrally.