Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): The Minister for Communities to detail any steps he is taking to increase the
provision of visually impaired sports facilities.
Minister for Communities: My department has provided Disability Sport NI (DSNI) with £1,221,700 in Exchequer funding over the last three years towards its core operating costs.
DSNI delivers the Inclusive Sports Facilities (ISF) Accreditation Scheme, which promotes and recognises excellence in the design and accessibility of sports facilities. The ISF Accreditation is awarded to sports facilities which successfully meet the recommendations outlined in DSNI’s ‘Accessible Sports Facilities Design Guidelines’, which include specific considerations for people with visual impairments.
As this is also an operational matter for Sport NI, I have sought input from the Chief Executive who provided the following response.
“Sport NI has previously made ISF awards to organisations to ensure that their new facilities have been designed to meet optimum levels of good practice in terms of access for disabled people. The awards provide for the cost of:
Delivery of a Disability Inclusion Training Course for facility managers.
Disability Access Audit and preparation of a Report.
Review of designs and drawings by an access consultant.
Support from an access consultant during the construction phase.
An Inclusive Sports Facility inspection visit.
Provision of guidelines and templates for facility managers.
Since 2021 to date, through the Sport NI Multi Facility Fund (MFF), ISF Awards totalling £45,600 have been made to 4 projects. Following this, £5.34m was awarded to construct the relevant capital projects.”
ENDS
