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2 The Big Picture
2.1 Targeting recommendations
Achieving positive change for disabled people in Scotland will require action by the Scottish Executive and the Westminster Government and the many stakeholders involved in influencing, implementing and delivering policy deriving from either source. It is important to understand respective areas of responsibility. It is also helpful to be aware of current political agendas and debates, and identify opportunities to promote recommendations and demonstrate their relevance.
Devolved policy areas, like education and training, community care and health, have potential to play a major role in promoting equality and social inclusion for disabled people. Although it went beyond the DWG's remit to make recommendations for Westminster policy change, clearly policy areas reserved to the Westminster Government, like anti-discrimination law, employment and social security, also have a direct impact on disabled people in Scotland. Furthermore, initiatives originating in Westminster may require action by the Scottish Parliament and others in Scotland.
This section briefly describes the key features of the 'big picture'.
2.2 Changing institutions, processes and outcomes
a) The Disability Equality Duty ( DED)
Perhaps the most important contextual factor for this report is the Disability Equality Duty ( DED). Many of the DWG's recommendations are directly or indirectly relevant to it, and they should be helpful in steering its implementation. The DED is contained in the (Westminster) Disability Discrimination Act 2005, although there is a key role for Scottish Ministers and there are separate Scottish regulations.
There is a General Duty and Specific Duties. The General Duty means that a public body, when carrying out its public functions must have due regard to:
- promoting equality of opportunity between disabled people and other people;
- eliminating discrimination that is unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act;
- eliminating harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability;
- promoting positive attitudes towards disabled people;
- encouraging participation by disabled people in public life; and
- taking steps to meet disabled peoples needs, even if this requires more favourable treatment.
Public authorities listed in schedule 1 of the Scottish regulations are covered by the Specific Duties, which set out the steps that must be taken to fulfil the General Duty. They will have to produce a 'Disability Equality Scheme' by December 2006. The scheme will need to include a statement about how disabled people have been involved, the impact assessment method to be used, an action plan, arrangements for gathering evidence regarding employment and (if appropriate) delivery of education and its functions.
Scottish Ministers also have a Duty requiring them to publish reports every 3 years (the first in December 2008) giving an overview of progress and proposals for co-ordinating future action.
The DRC is producing a range of guidance documents and the Code of Practice is on their web-site: http://www.drc.org.uk (click on 'Employers and Service Providers', then on 'Disability Equality Duty').
b) The Commission for Equality and Human Rights ( CEHR)
Provisions to establish the CEHR are contained in the (Westminster) Equality Act 2006. From October 2007 it will subsume the work of the Disability Rights Commission, the Equal Opportunities Commission and, in April 2009, the Commission for Racial Equality. Its remit will extend the areas covered to include age, sexual orientation and religion or belief. Recruitment is currently underway for a Chair and key Commissioners, including the Scottish Commissioner, who would then be involved in setting up a Scotland Committee. There will also be a Disability Committee and one of the Commissioners must have personal experience of disability.
It remains to be seen quite how the CEHR will function. Ideally it should provide a structure for identifying and addressing equality issues of particular relevance to Scotland, and to disabled people, while promoting greater understanding of issues which cross groups and diversity within groups.
c) Mechanisms for engaging and involving disabled people
The need to develop such mechanisms is gaining momentum with the Disability Equality Duty's requirement that public authorities involve disabled people in the development of their Disability Equality Schemes.
The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit report 'Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People' (January 2005) proposes the establishment of a 'National Forum of Organisations of Disabled People' - a body through which disabled people across the UK can participate at an early stage in the design of policies and services. A short-term Advisory Group was appointed to make recommendations about the Forum. In July 2006 Westminster announced the creation of a new body to be known as "Equality 2025: the United Kingdom Advisory Network on Disability Equality". This may well have implications for the part of the DWG's remit covering the development of proposals on longer term mechanisms for engagement with the disability sector. It is in no one's interests - and certainly not disabled people's - to set up two structures which duplicate each other. However, the DWG is concerned specifically with mechanisms for disabled people and their organisations to engage with the Scottish Executive. Work to take this forward is therefore in hand. Each process needs to remain alert to the implications of the other, and be committed to ensuring a coherent outcome.
2.3 Key changes to policy direction
a) Independent Living
In February 2006, the Scottish Executive published Changing Lives: Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review. This emphasised the importance of personalised services, the need to engage service users as 'active participants', prevention and earlier intervention, and the need to work with other professionals. It set a 'new direction for social work services in Scotland', around core values including respecting the right to self determination, promoting participation and taking a whole person approach. The document is on the Scottish Executive's web-site: http://www.scotland.gov.uk (click on 'Publications').
At Westminster, the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit report 'Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People' (January 2005) proposes to introduce 'individualised budgets', building on the principles of direct payments and independent living. The aim is for existing resources to be allocated and services delivered in ways that personalise responses. They should also smooth transition points, e.g. between education and employment, by bringing together currently separate sources of funding. The scheme, currently being piloted, would be the same across England and probably Wales. It will not cover Scotland, as some of the funding sources include those within devolved areas of responsibility. However, some of the UK/ GB budgets to be pooled also cover Scotland (e.g. Access to Work, Independent Living Funds). It remains to be seen how this will be resolved.
b) Welfare to Work
Workforce Plus - An Employability Framework for Scotland was launched in June 2006 by Allan Wilson, Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning and Malcolm Chisholm, Minister for Communities. Despite record levels of employment in Scotland, the intention is to be more ambitious about helping disadvantaged people find work. Workforce Plus sets out the collective leadership and action needed at national and local level to achieve this. It sets a headline target to help 66,000 people move from benefit into work by 2010, in seven key areas: Glasgow, North and South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire. The document highlights six themes: early interventions; client-focused interventions; employer engagement; sustaining and progressing employment; joined up planning and delivery of services; and better outcomes. It proposes to establish local employment partnerships to deliver appropriate services. The Executive is making available £11m over this year and 2007-08 to facilitate local actions, but Workforce Plus is mostly about making better use of the estimated £500m a year spent across Scotland on employability services. The Framework has its own website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/employabilityframework.
The Scottish Union of Supported Employment ( SUSE) has been commissioned by the Scottish Executive to produce a blueprint for supported employment in Scotland. ('Supported employment' aims to let disabled and disadvantaged people get 'real jobs' in the open market and is not to be confused with 'sheltered employment').
The blueprint will be the first time that the concept of 'supported employment' has been set out in Scotland, along with the suggested roles and responsibilities of different organisations in promoting and delivering supported employment.
A (Westminster) Green Paper entitled A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering People to Work was published at the end of January 2006. It proposes to replace Incapacity Benefit with a new Employment and Support Allowance. New claimants, except those with the most severe disabilities and health conditions, will need to participate in work-focused interviews, produce action plans and engage in work-related activity, or see their benefit level reduced.
The Green Paper also proposed that the Incapacity Benefit 'Pathways to Work' pilots should be rolled out nationwide. The Pathways to Work areas, including one in Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Argyll and Bute, and others in Dunbartonshire, Glasgow and Lanarkshire have a package of measures including Work Focused Interviews, Condition Management Programmes (delivered in partnership with the NHS) and a Return to Work Credit. They also include strategies to engage employers. Future Pathways to Work provision will be delivered primarily by the private and voluntary sector with 'payment by results'. The Green Paper proposes a 'Cities Strategy' - which would fit well with the local employment partnerships proposed in the Scottish Executive's Employability Framework. This clearly implies a reduced role for Jobcentre Plus and an expanded role for Scottish private and voluntary sector organisations in the provision of employment services to disabled people. There may also be implications for the role of NHSScotland.
For more information see the Department for Work and Pension's web-site: http://www.dwp.gov.uk.
2.4 Setting a new agenda
The DWG's recommendations will go alongside the outcomes of other current initiatives aiming to explore disability issues and set agendas.
a) Equal Opportunities Committee Disability Inquiry
A key part of the context for the DWG's work is the Scottish Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee's major inquiry into disability issues in Scotland called 'Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities'. Announced on 22 June 2004, the inquiry has focused on access to work, further and higher education and leisure and the arts. Information on attitudes, access to information and advocacy was gathered throughout. The outcome of the inquiry is expected to report in late 2006 - much the same time as this report is to be published. Together the two should help promote a high profile for disability issues and strengthen the call for action in the run up to the implementation of the Disability Equality Duty in December 2006.
b) DRC's 'Disability Debate'
The DRC has been running the 'Disability Debate' for the last six months, with the aim of developing an agenda on disability for the CEHR. The outcome of this exercise is expected at the end of 2006.
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