Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare:

·        Any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        Any prejudicial interests or

·        Any disclosable pecuniary interests

Which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

Members were asked to declare any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests, or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they might have in the business on the agenda.  None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 26 August 2014.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting of the Disabled Access Task Group held on Tuesday 26 August  2014 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Task Group’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is 5pm the working day before the meeting, in this case 5pm on Monday 1 December 2014.

To register to speak please contact the Democracy Officer’s for the meeting, on the details at the foot of the agenda.

Filming or Recording Meetings

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting, i.e. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officer’s (whose contact details are at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/downloads/download/3130/protocol_for_webcasting_filming_and_recording_of_council_meetings

It was reported that there were no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme

This interim report presents information gathered to date in support on the ongoing scrutiny review of Disabled Access to York’s Heritage & Cultural Offer, and asks the Task Group to agree an appropriate way forward.

The Task Group received a report that presented information gathered to date in support of the ongoing scrutiny review of Disabled Access to York’s Heritage & Cultural Offer and asked them to agree an appropriate way forward.

The Chair welcomed the Account Manager from DisabledGo to the meeting. He had been invited to discuss the current York offer and what could be done to develop this. 

He explained how DisabledGo were the leading providers of access information for disabled people in the UK. Their website featured over 120,000 places of interest, which included over 1000 for York with 300 of them displayed in full detail.  Their aim was to provide as much information on any type of venue, including travel options, to allow a disabled person to decide if it was accessible to them.

Before uploading the information to their website a venue was visited and inspected by DisabledGo using a survey method that over 800 groups of disabled people had fed into. Contact was also made with the sites on a yearly basis to check for any modifications.Their current contract with City of York Council allowed them to inspect 25 new venues per year.  

He discussed the barriers they faced and the opportunities that were missed especially when some venues, including City of York Council and Visit York, did not advertise a link to their website.  It was noted that DisabledGo could customise their link to match the venues own branding.

The Account Manger proceeded to log into the DisabledGo website to demonstrate how it operated and how informative it was. He explained how the pages could be altered so they were suitable for all users. Some options available were, text to speech, altering the font size which also included a special dyslexic font, changing the contrast or language.

In answer to Members questions he confirmed that:

·        other York providers could display the DisabledGo link on their website free of charge through the City of York Council contract.

·        an app containing all the places of interest was available to download to electronic devices and once downloaded to a mobile phone it could be used offline.

·        York Council had not paid the additional cost to use the app.

·        Users do have the option to leave feedback on a place they had visited. DisabledGo would also consult with the venue before the comments were uploaded to give them the opportunity to respond.

·        An annual report was produced for each venue.

The Task Group thanked the Account Manager for attending the meeting and agreed that this facility should be utilised more effectively. 

Members also agreed that:

·        a campaign should be organised in partnership with York Press to raise awareness.

·        a uniform approach was essential and that DisabledGo was a good example of good practice.

·        support should  be offered to the voluntary sector and smaller businesses to encourage them to use this facility.

·         a discussion with Visit York regarding a link being placed on their website was required.

·        a briefing note from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.