This House of Commons Library Briefing Paper provides an overview of the duties owed by providers of goods, services and facilities to ensure that they do not discriminate against disabled people in accessing these goods, facilities and services.
Disabled access to goods, services and facilities (199 KB , PDF)
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) made it unlawful for service providers to discriminate against disabled people in certain circumstances. From 1 October 2004 service providers had to take reasonable steps to remove, alter or provide a reasonable means of avoiding, a physical feature which made it impossible or reasonably difficult for disabled people to use a service.
On 1 October 2010, the Equality Act 2010 (EA) replaced most of the DDA). The duty on providers of goods, services and facilities was replaced with a duty to make reasonable adjustments in order to avoid a disabled person being placed at a “substantial disadvantage” compared with non-disabled people when accessing services and facilities.
The EA does not prescribe what a reasonable adjustment might be – this is to be determined by the particular circumstances in each case.
The person who believes they have experienced disability discrimination as a result of not being able to access a (non-transport related) good, service or facility is, as a general rule, responsible taking enforcement action via the courts against the provider. Local authorities do not have an enforcement role in this context.
Disabled access to goods, services and facilities (199 KB , PDF)
This briefing paper looks at Hate Crime in England & Wales using figures provided by the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) and the Police Recorded Crime Series. The paper also presents data on hate crime rates per 100,000 population in each police force area and for each hate crime strand. It also looks at similar figures in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The tables that accompany the briefing paper are currently being updated.
This Commons Library briefing paper deals with the Registers of Births and Deaths Bill 2021-22, a Private Member's Bill introduced by Saqib Bhatti. The intention of the Bill is to reform the way in which births and deaths are registered in England and Wales
On Thursday 25th November, MPs will hold a general debate in the Chamber on freedom of religion or belief and the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the elimination of religious intolerance.
