Tag: Richard Fuller

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which organisations for deaf people his Department consulted before the Access to Work guidance on support workers was amended.

Mike Penning

There have been no recent amendments to Access to Work guidance on support workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how the maximum grants for funding support workers under the Access to Work scheme were determined.

Mike Penning

There is no maximum grant level set for the funding of support workers under the Access to Work programme. Our aim is to use the programme budget to assist the maximum possible number of disabled workers across all industry sectors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent meetings he has had with representatives of the deaf community.

Mike Penning

I met representatives from the Deaf Community (Sir Malcolm Bruce MP, David Buxton British Deaf Association, Jim Edwards Signature and Susan Daniels National Deaf Children’s Society) on 23 October 2013. As part of the continuing commitment from that meeting to consider Government services for deaf people, officials have recently met and have remained in contact with representatives of the deaf community, including BDA and Action on Hearing Loss. Action on Hearing Loss is a member of the Disability Charities Consortium who I met on 26 February 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what consideration he has given to exempting motorists from being prosecuted for traffic light offences if they have committed the offence while making way for an emergency vehicle.

Robert Goodwill

The law is specific on a driver’s requirement to comply with traffic signs, which include signals, as defined in section 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. There is no exemption for members of the public from this, even to give way to emergency vehicles.

Clear passage should always be given (where possible) to prevent delay to emergency vehicles responding to calls, by taking reasonable action such as pulling into the side of the road. If a driver were to go through a red light to allow an emergency vehicle to pass, in most cases where no danger was caused to other road users and it was done reasonably a police officer would not be expected to enforce this. Should a red-light running camera record a traffic light violation, any claim would be supported by the emergency vehicle also being captured in a similar way. The courts would be likely to listen to mitigating circumstances and again, if done safely and or reasonably it is unlikely there would be any prosecution.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the advantages to deaf people of funding a team of interpreters through the Access to Work scheme rather than being assigned a single interpreter by their employer.

Mike Penning

We have not made any assessment of the advantages to deaf people of funding a team of interpreters through the Access to Work scheme. We appreciate that each situation is unique and may require a bespoke solution.