Public health implications of inadequate public toilet facilities
Public health implications of inadequate public toilet facilities
The Committee held a short inquiry on the public health implications of inadequate public toilet facilities in winter 2011-2012. The Committee considered the following questions as part of its work:
- what were
the effects of public toilet provision (or lack thereof) on the health and
social wellbeing of a person?
- was
there evidence of people being unable to leave their homes due to concerns
over the availability of public toilets? If so, what were the health and
wellbeing implications of this?
- were
there equality across Wales – and in relation to all people – in the
provision of public toilets?
- how should public toilet facilities address the needs of different
groups of people (men, women, disabled people, people with special health
needs, children)?
- was there a particular need for improved facilities for specific
groups?
- what
could the wider effects of inadequate public toilet provision be on public
health and the community? e.g. correspondence sent to the Petitions
Committee suggests that there was a risk of street fouling and a
consequential spread of disease.
The remit of the Health and Social Care Committee is to examine
legislation and hold the Welsh Government to account by scrutinising
expenditure, administration and policy matters encompassing: the physical,
mental and public health of the people of Wales, including the social care
system. Consequently, the focus of the Committee’s work was the public health
implications of public toilet provision and the Committee was unable to
consider:
- any
potential duty on local authorities to provide facilities; or
- the
closure of individual facilities.
Evidence from the Public
The Committee held a public consultation to gather
evidence on this topic.
The
Committee’s report
The
Committee reported in March 2012 (PDF, 530KB). The
Welsh Government responded in March 2012 (PDF, 149KB).
Business type: Committee Inquiry
Status: Complete
First published: 06/12/2011
Documents
- Public Health Implications of Inadequate Public Toilet Facilities - Report - March 2012 PDF 530 KB
- Response from the Minister for Health and Social Services - March 2012 PDF 149 KB
- Letter to Ann Jones AM, Chair of Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee PDF 371 KB View as HTML (3) 13 KB
Consultations