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1737590

registered interest
date	28/10/2024
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Assistance Animals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people with an assistance dog require documentation to enter food retail outlets and licensed premises.
tabling member constituency	Warrington South
tabling member printed	Sarah Hall
uin	11449
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/11/2024 answer text <p>There are no rules or regulations that make it a requirement for people with assistance dogs to have documentation to enter retail outlets, licensed premises or any other premises of businesses or service providers.</p><p> </p><p>The Equality Act 2010 places a general duty on businesses and service providers to make reasonable adjustments to allow disabled people, including people with assistance dogs, access to goods and services so they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people.</p><p>The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act. It has published guidance - <a href="https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/assistance-dogs-guide-businesses-and-service-providers" target="_blank">‘Assistance Dogs: a guide for businesses and service providers’</a> - to help those bodies understand what they can do to meet their legal duties to assistance dog owners.</p><p>Duties and protections under the Equality Act are ultimately enforceable through the courts, and anybody who thinks that they have been discriminated against - including where access to an assistance dog has been refused - can take legal action to seek to resolve the issue. The EHRC will support people who have experienced discrimination through that process.</p><p>This Government fully supports the principle that guide dogs and assistance dogs should always be allowed access, except in the most exceptional circumstances.</p> answering member constituency East Ham answering member printed Sir Stephen Timms question first answered 04/11/2024 11:40:45 answering member 163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms
tabling member	5154

1729521

registered interest
date	12/09/2024
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Assistance Animals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle illegal access refusals.
tabling member constituency	Derby North
tabling member printed	Catherine Atkinson
uin	5768
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/10/2024 answer text <p>No one deserves to be held back or treated unfairly because of their disability. We are determined to tackle barriers and work with disabled people to ensure they have equal access to every opportunity.</p><p> </p><p>The Equality Act 2010 protects everyone against discrimination and ensures disabled people have the right to be treated equally. Further, The Equality Act 2010 makes it illegal to refuse entry to a disabled person with an assistance dog (with very few exceptions). Access refusals are nearly always against the law.</p><p> </p><p>Where individuals are concerned they have been a victim of discrimination, the Equality Advisory and Support Service is there to provide information and advice and it is important that both the government and businesses address the issue to ensure that assistance dog users feel welcome in society.</p> answering member constituency East Ham answering member printed Sir Stephen Timms question first answered 10/10/2024 15:26:39 answering member 163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms
tabling member	5143

1716225

registered interest
date	07/05/2024
answering body	Department of Health and Social Care
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health and Social Care
answering dept sort name	Health and Social Care
hansard heading	Assistance Animals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support the mental health of people working in the companion animal welfare sector.
tabling member constituency	Rother Valley
tabling member printed	Alexander Stafford
uin	25116
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/05/2024 answer text <p>Mental health is a cross-Government issue as it affects everyone in society, and we continue to work closely with other Government departments in addressing the wider determinants of mental ill health. We are currently working with stakeholders to develop a Mental Health Policy Tool to support Government policymakers to take mental health and wellbeing impacts into account, and address disparities when designing new policies.</p><p>Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government is providing record levels of investment to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services in England, so that more people, including those working in the companion animal welfare sector, can get the help and support that they need.</p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Maria Caulfield question first answered 13/05/2024 09:40:21 answering member 4492 label Biography information for Maria Caulfield
tabling member	4866 label Biography information for Alexander Stafford

1550671

registered interest
date	12/12/2022
answering body	Women and Equalities
answering dept id	31
answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
hansard heading	Assistance Animals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will take steps to tackle access refusal of people with assistance dogs by businesses.
tabling member constituency	Chatham and Aylesford
tabling member printed	Tracey Crouch
uin	108148
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2022 answer text <p>No one should be refused access to businesses or services because they legitimately have an assistance dog.</p><p>The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on businesses and service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve disabled people’s access to goods and services so they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people. This reasonable adjustment duty is an anticipatory duty, meaning that those who provide goods, facilities and services to members of the public are expected to anticipate the reasonable adjustments that disabled customers may require, including auxiliary aids.</p><p>The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is the public body responsible for enforcing the Equality Act. In 2017, the Commission published two pieces of guidance – a guide to help businesses understand what they can do to meet their legal duties to assistance dog owners, and a guide to help tourism businesses welcome people with access requirements. The EHRC supports disabled individuals who have experienced discrimination to take their cases to court.</p><p>In recent years, case law has strengthened the equalities law for people with assistance dogs. There have been a number of significant cases brought under the Equality Act involving assistance dogs, which have been successfully litigated, for example, <em>Bloch v Kassim</em> (assistance dogs in taxis); <em>Clutton and Williams v Pen-y-Bryn Group</em> (assistance dogs in restaurants); and <em>McCafferty v Miah</em> (assistance dogs in shops). The Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), the equalities and human rights helpline, receives about 35,000 customer contacts a year, more than 60% of which concern disability issues. The EASS can intervene directly with or assist the complainant to take the case up with the relevant service provider in many cases, including those involving assistance dogs.</p> answering member constituency Pudsey answering member printed Stuart Andrew question first answered 15/12/2022 11:21:45 answering member 4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew
tabling member	3950 label Biography information for Dame Tracey Crouch

1175165

registered interest
date	21/01/2020
answering body	Women and Equalities
answering dept id	31
answering dept short name	Women and Equalities
answering dept sort name	Women and Equalities
hansard heading	Assistance Animals
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to amend the Equality Act 2010 to give the same rights to owners of emotional support animals as those who own certified assistance animals.
tabling member printed	Baroness Brady
uin	HL609
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/02/2020 answer text <p>The Equality Act 2010 requires service providers to make reasonable adjustments for their disabled users and customers so that they are not disadvantaged compared with people who are not disabled. This requirement includes permitting access to assistance dogs where reasonable. If a person meets the Act’s definition of disability and has an emotional support animal to help them manage that disability, they should ask the service provider to consider allowing access to the animal.</p><p>Other than in relation to taxis, the Equality Act does not refer to assistance dogs or any other specific form of support or facility for disabled people, because each reasonable adjustment must be considered on its merits and in the context of the particular circumstances of the case. We therefore have no plans to include emotional support dogs in the Act, as this would be at odds with the basic and long-standing basis of the legislation.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 05/02/2020 11:36:15 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	4339 label Biography information for Baroness Brady