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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The provision of public toilets
— twelfth report of session 2007-08: report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence | | Corporate Author | Communities and Local Government Committee, House of Commons |
| Publisher | The Stationery Office, London, 22 October 2008 |
| Pages | 146 pp (HC 636 2007/08) |
| Source | TSO, PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN. |
| Keywords | Toilets ; Services ; Local Authority ; Government publications. |
| Annotation | Public toilets matter to everybody, regardless of age, class, ethnic origin, gender, mental ability or physical ability; yet they are even more important to certain sections of society, and this quite definitely includes older people. While the Public Health Act 1936 gives local authorities a power to provide public toilets, it imposes no duty to do so. This lack of compulsion, together with a perception of nuisance associated with them, has resulted in a steady decline in the provision of public toilets in recent years, which now needs to be addressed. The Committee supports the Government's Strategic Guide on the provision of public toilets, 'Improving Public Access to Better Quality Toilets' (2008), which highlighted existing powers at the disposal of local authorities that can be used to improve public access to toilets. Some local authorities have developed strategies for the provision of clean, safe, accessible toilets, including partnerships with local businesses (such as pubs, cafes and shops) that make their own toilets available to non-customers. Other local authorities are less committed, which has led to great disparities between different towns and regions. Some local authorities may have used the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as an excuse to close public toilets, rather than bring them up to the standards required by the Act. This report considered evidence from organisations including Help the Aged, who recommended that "local authorities ensure that public toilets are taken into account in needs assessments of older people and in supporting the independence of older people". The Committee aimed to produce simple and practical recommendations to improve this important social amenity, and made the over-riding recommendation that the Government imposes a duty on local authorities to develop a public toilet strategy, which should involve consultation with the local community, for their own area. (KJ/RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-090113501 B |
| Classmark | YDL: I: PE: 6OA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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