King’s Speech May Open Opportunities to Improve Accessibility of Health and Transport Services

Date posted: 18th July 2024

Yesterday’s King Speech, 17 July 2024, set out the priorities of the Government for the coming Parliamentary year. It is delivered as part of the State Opening of Parliament and is the first for the new Government led by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The King’s Speech proposals contain some key issues affecting blind and partially sighted people and sight loss organisations, including:

• Mental Health Bill – this will seek to reduce the waiting times and focus on prevention and improve mental health provision for young people. It will ensure mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health and will modernise the Mental Health Act. Medical researchers have found close links between eye health and mental health. People with vision impairments often develop mental health problems like anxiety and depression because of the stress of living with sight loss. People with mental health problems are also more likely to develop vision issues later in life.¹
• Better Buses Bill – this will allow local leaders to take control of their local bus services with more control and flexibility over bus funding and accelerate the bus franchising process. Thomas Pocklington Trust funds 24 Sight Loss Councils across England who continue to work with bus operators to bring about independent and accessible travel experiences. Our aspiration would be to introduce a proper Public Transport Accessibility (Sight Loss) Bill.
• Rail Reform – this will bring forward legislation to improve the railways by reforming rail franchising, establishing Great British Railways and bringing train operators, over time, into public ownership. A Public Transport Accessibility (Sight Loss) Bill would be a better way to meet the accessibility shortfalls in the overall rail system irrespective of ownership.
• Equality (Race and Disability) Bill – this will enshrine the full right to equal pay in law and introduce mandatory disability pay reporting for larger employers.
• Skills England Bill – this will establish Skills England, a body bringing together businesses, providers, unions, mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) and national government, to improve lifelong training. As blind and partially sighted people, only one in four of us are successful in gaining employment ². We would hope the Skills England Bill can make a priority to address that issue.
• Children’s Wellbeing Bill – this will raise standards in education and promote children’s wellbeing. Through our work with blind and partially sighted children in post 11-years education, it is important that any new wellbeing Bill takes into consideration streamlining support such as DSA and non-medical assistance to blind and partially sighted students.

We are calling on newly elected MPs to consider introducing one of our 10 Bills, which will help change the world of blind and partially sighted people.

Campaigner Andy, who has been blind since birth, said “I want the government to do more to put eye health at the top of their agenda. Half of all sight loss is preventable, and we need a national eye health strategy Bill to tackle this. We need service consistency for people with sight loss, preventable and incurable, which would include equal access to general health information as well as quality responses to people’s eye conditions”.

Amongst the 10 Bills we are seeking the Government to consider in its first year are two that relate to the announced mental health Bill and bus and rail improvements. They are: The Sight Loss Healthcare Access Bill: Ensures that individuals with sight loss receive specialised healthcare and support services, including mental health services tailored to their unique needs, and The Public Transport Accessibility (Sight Loss) Bill: Aims to make public transportation systems more accessible through audible announcements and tactile feedback systems, enhancing travel independence of blind and partially sighted people.

Mike Bell, Head of Public Affairs and Campaigns at Thomas Pocklington Trust, said; “The King’s Speech sets out a whole load of new legislation as part of the new Government’s agenda. We welcome new laws being proposed in several areas that are important to blind and partially sighted people including buses, rail travel, mental health and skills.

“We will continue our work to engage with ministers and officials to influence the proposed new laws and promote more action including on eye health and prevention and support to get into employment.”

You can support our campaign by asking your MP to introduce one of our Bills.

Notes

1. Source: Myvision.org (2022)
2. Source: RNIB