Page 439 - Week 01 - Thursday, 17 February 2011
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Until the ACTION fleet is fully wheelchair accessible, commuters are encouraged to contact ACTION to provide advance details of their intended travel so that, wherever possible, accessible buses may be assigned to their intended services.
Housing—emergency accommodation
Ms BURCH (in reply to a question by Ms Bresnan on Tuesday, 15 February 2011):
I would like to inform the Member, the most recent data available indicates that the total daily average demand for supported accommodation in the ACT in 2008-09 was 297 adults and unaccompanied children. Of these, 291 were accommodated (up from 278 in 2007-08) and 6 were turned away (down from 10 in 2007-08).
The data indicates the turn away rate for all people needing supported accommodation reached a five year low (2.1%) in the ACT in 2008-09 as the number of people able to be accommodated rose.
Nationally the turn away rate increased over the same period.
In addition the ACT has in place measures to assist those people without immediate accommodation, in particular where there are safety concerns. This included the provision of brokerage funds, emergency relief services, 24-hour assistance through the Domestic Violence Crises Service, and the provision of emergency shelter supplies, such as tents, sleeping bags, and food, through the Street to Home Program.
In addition access to those emergency options has now been streamlined with the establishment of ‘First Point’ the central access service which provides callers with comprehensive information on accommodation and emergency options.
Alexander Maconochie Centre—crisis support unit
Mr CORBELL (in reply to a question by Ms Bresnan on Thursday, 18 November 2010):
(1) Of a total of 255 episodes requiring admission to CSU from 20 April 2009 (when a prisoner first entered the CSU) to 18 November 2010 inclusive, the mean (average) time spent in the Crisis Support Unit (CSU) per stay is 16 days and the median time is 5 days. The longest continuous time a detainee has stayed there is 218 days.
(2) In the mental health context, ‘seclusion’ is understood to mean the confinement of a person at any time of the day or night alone in a room or area from which free exit is prevented.
The CSU has 8 single cells and one double cell. Any prisoner within the AMC who is placed in a cell or locked in a room in a cottage is ‘confined’ or ‘secluded’, except when they are allowed out for exercise or other purposes or if they are in a double cell with another person.
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