We supervise the process of sequestration in Scotland and act as trustee in bankruptcy when appointed by the Court. In doing so, we:
The Accountant also appoints private insolvency practitioners to act as her agents.
The general duty to promote Disability Equality has become a central part of the Accountant in Bankruptcy's functions. It has been considered in planning, policy making, service delivery and employment. We follow the social model of disability and recognise that disability is a consequence of the systematic attitudinal and environmental barriers that people face. Our efforts focus on the removing of these barriers.
Disability equality impact assessment is a mechanism for the thorough and systematic analysis of a policy or practice to determine the consequences for disability equality.
We consider all new policies, including reviews of and changes to existing policies, to establish whether disability equality impact assessment is necessary. In line with our toolkit, this covers any policy which impacts on people.
We have established a database to look at and prioritise of our existing policies and practices for impact assessment. To inform this, we will used the outcome of the 'get involved' events which were held in autumn 2006 and the recommendations of the Disability Working Group report (November 2006). We are also working with Analytical Services colleagues to examine the evidence in relation to existing policies and disability and are will be using the outcome of this to support our impact assessment priorities.
Responsibility for considering priorities and ensuring that impact assessment is undertaken will be at directorate level. The Equality Unit will continually look at how the impact assessment process can be improved and how staff from across directorates can best be supported.
Policy | Action | By whom | By when | Expected Outcome | Progress and measure |
|---|
1. Raise staff confidence when dealing with customers and disabled colleagues. | Disability Equality Training to be developed and delivered to all staff. | Corporate Strategy | Dec 06 | Staff will be able to interact with disabled people in a confident and appropriate manner. | Completed - Mandatory training for all staff on Disability Awareness was delivered in February 2007 and will continue to be delivered annually. Training materials will be reviewed annually. This will involve consulting with Disability groups on current materials and considering their recommendations for updating; this will help to ensure it maintains standards and incorporates any new legislative requirements. We will monitor the effectiveness of our training through by collecting and reviewing complaints we receive. We will also seek feedback on the services we provide. We are also investigating other methods to evaluate our service, e.g. Mystery Shopping exercises involving disabled people. |
2. All staff are aware of and understand and employ corporate standards for communication. | Agree on standard (using guidance defined by the Scottish Accessible Information Forum) and publicise to all staff. Provide training to all staff. | Corporate Strategy | July 08 | Good standard of communication skills for all staff and information is fully accessible to disabled people. | Corporate style guidelines are in the process of being developed. The date for the production and implementation of the guidelines is now July 2008. These guidelines will provide the standards of communication and will be embedded within the Agency through staff communications and training sessions. They are being developed in line with guidance from SAIF and will be made accessible via the Intranet and Office Technical Manual. |
3. Establish a network of BSL interpreters who can be called upon when required for a home visit. | Contact different interpreters and agree plan of service. | Corporate Strategy | Apr 07 | Network established, with option of emergency call out. | Completed - A network of interpreters has been established and an agreed procedure set up. This is published on our Office Technical Manual and all staff have been advised of the new procedures. |
4. Redesign our website to make it as accessible as possible. | Investigate best practice and agree requirements. Launch new website. | Corporate Strategy | Dec 08 | Website is DDA compliant and is easily navigated and understood by all. | The Intranet and Internet is currently under development. The Intranet will be ready for implementation by December 2007 and the Internet development project will commence in early Jan 2008 with a view to being implemented by the end of 2008. |
5. Develop support available for disabled employees. | Liaise with SG and other relevant organisations on best practice. Provide training and make alterations to working practices as required. | Corporate Strategy | Ongoing | Safe and inclusive working environment for all. | New procedures developed for evacuation and additional equipment requirements. These procedures are now included in the Building Information and Induction packs. These are delivered to all new staff at induction training. Current staff were informed of these new procedures via an electronic staff notice with a link to the new updated version of the booklets. These procedures were also published on our Office Technical Manual. A building assessment was carried out in June 2006. This focused on the outer building. In July 2007 a building audit was conducted to assess the accessibility of the interior of the building including staff facilities. Consideration is currently being given to the recommendations from the audit with a review to implementing the reasonable adjustments recommended by Dec 08.. We will continue to review procedures and working practices to ensure they are sufficiently flexible to take account of the different needs of disabled staff. |
6. Ensure that all staff equally take advantage of training opportunities. | Undertake an audit of those applying for training and identify trends. | HR | Oct 08 | Any barriers to people taking up training will be identified with a view to addressing. | Completed - The training audit was undertaken in October 2007. The training manager is currently analysing the information obtained from the audit to identify any trends. We will address any barriers to training identified through the results of the audit. Further training audits and reviews of staff training material will be carried out annually. |
7. Ensure that Agents working on behalf of AiB take account of equality duties. | Liaise with SG Solicitors and Procurement to ensure that the Agency contract, when renegotiated, takes account of the equality duties. | Heads of Branch HR Corporate Strategy Case Operation Branch SG Solicitors Procurement Colleagues | Feb 08 | Agents complying with equality legislation when dealing with our customers. | The Agent's contract is currently under review in conjunction with the Procurement Strategy and Business Modelling project. Decision on the options and way forward is planned for November 2007. Depending on the option chosen, the contracts are planned to be developed by February 2008. |
| Action | By whom | By when | Expected Outcome | Progress and measure |
|---|
1. What arrangements will you put in place to ensure that the policies you develop and/or the services you provide pay due regard to the need to eliminate any unlawful discrimination against disabled people? | Ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities towards disabled customers via mandatory Disability Equality Training. All our communications are available in a range of alternative formats. | Corporate Strategy | Ongoing | Staff will be able to interact with disabled people in a confident and appropriate manner. | Mandatory 'Disability Confident' training sessions were delivered to all staff in February 2007. These will continue to be delivered annually. Training materials will be reviewed annually. To do this we will, consult with relevant Disability groups on our current training material and consider their recommendations. We will monitor the effectiveness of our training through the analysis of training evaluation forms. We will seek to address any concerns and knowledge gaps. We will also examine the level of service we provide to the public through feedback forms and monitoring complaints. We have established a procedure for EQIA, and have produced guidance and training for staff. A database has also been established to audit and prioritise policies for EQIA. This will be fully completed by all branches within AIB by December 2007. |
All our communications are available in a range of alternative formats. | | | | We have included a positive statement on our publications which highlights the availability of alternative formats. This is published in our Office Technical Manual and all staff have been informed this new procedure. We maintain a spreadsheet of alternative format requests to allow us to monitor and identify trends. |
The Agency contract will be renegotiated in due course and will take account of equality duties. | Corporate Strategy COB SG Solicitors Procurement colleagues. | Feb 08 | Our customers will be able to expect the same level of service regardless of whether case is administered in- house or by Agent. | The Agent's contract is currently under review and is planned to be in place by February 2008. We will ensure that equality considerations are incorporated into the contract conditions. |
2. What arrangements will you put in place to ensure that the policies you develop and/or the services you provide are able to pay due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between disabled and non-disabled persons? | Develop an option appraisal process which incorporates equality impact assessment. | Corporate Strategy | Apr 07 | Our procedures meet the needs of all people, irrespective of disability. | Completed - Consideration is given to Equality issues when option appraisals are being developed. For example, one of the reasons that we decided to include our Intranet site within the Scottish Government Intranet was that it is DDA compliant. |
Ensure the Office Technical Manual includes an assurance that the procedure in question has been equality impact assessed. | HR | Ongoing | A working environment which allows members of staff to participate fully in the work of the Agency. | All Agency procedures and guidance on the Office Technical Manual is being transferred to a new updated system which can be accessed via the Intranet. All documents being lodged on the Intranet system will reviewed by the person drafting the document along with the person responsible for quality assuring the document on equality related issues. |
New recruits approached at induction to see what, if any, additional equipment/assistance is required. Publicise to staff details of what additional assistance is available. | Corporate Strategy Corporate Strategy | Ongoing | Staff aware of the availability of BSL interpreters, induction loops etc when dealing with customers/colleagues with a disability. | At induction, staff are informed of the process for requesting additional equipment and assistance. Facilities Management will carry out desk and risk assessment on request. This information is also provided within the induction guidance. All staff are given evaluation forms after training induction to provide feedback on the sessions, documentation and content. Our Office Technical Manual also provides information to all staff on how to book interpreters and request alternative formats of publications. |
We will develop style guidelines for all means of communication, complying with SAIF accessibility guidelines. | Agency Publisher | July 08 | Good standard of communication skills for all staff and information is fully accessible to disabled people. | Corporate style guidelines are currently being produced and we aim to implement these by July 2008. We will take into account best practice guidance on accessibility standards. |
3. What arrangements will you put in place to ensure that the policies you develop and/or the services you provide are able to pay due regard to the need to eliminate any harassment of disabled people, related to their disability? | Diversity/equality training to be delivered to all staff. Ensure all staff are aware of the Civil Service Code of Conduct and whistle blowing arrangements. | Corporate Strategy | Ongoing | A working environment which is free from harassment and discrimination. | A diversity awareness session is delivered to staff at induction. More in-depth diversity training including Harassment and Bullying, for all staff is currently being developed. All staff will be given diversity training by December 2008. The Scottish Government Code of Conduct leaflet is issued to all staff on induction and is available through AiB Human Resources department on request. AiB follow the practice and procedure arrangements of the SG for Whistle Blowing. |
4. What arrangements will you put in place to promote positive attitudes towards disabled people? | Diversity/equality training to be delivered to all staff. | Corporate Strategy | Dec 06 | Ensure that all staff are fully trained on disability equality. | A diversity awareness session is delivered to staff at induction. More in-depth diversity training for all staff is currently being developed. All staff will be given diversity training by December 2008. |
5. What action will you take to encourage the participation of disabled people in public life? | We will adhere to the SE recruitment policy. | HR | Ongoing | Fair and open recruitment available to all. | The AiB adheres to the SG recruitment policy. |
We will arrange for a building assessment to be carried out to ensure facilities are fully accessible to disabled people. | Corporate Strategy | Dec 08 | Any adjustments necessary to allow disabled people to be fully involved with the work of the Agency will be considered. | A building assessment was carried out in June 2006. This focused on the outer building. In July 2007 a building audit was conducted to assess the accessibility of the interior of the building including staff facilities. Consideration is currently being given to the recommendations from the audit with a review to implementing the reasonable adjustments recommended by Dec 08. All other recommendation will be action planned and have timescales for delivery established. |
New recruits will be approached at induction to see what, if any, additional equipment/assistance is required. | HR | Ongoing | A working environment which allows members of staff to participate fully in the work of the Agency. | At induction, staff are informed of the process for requesting additional equipment and assistance. Facilities Management will carry out desk and risk assessment on request. This information is also provided within the induction guidance. All staff are given evaluation forms after training induction to provide feedback on the sessions, documentation and content. Our Office Technical Manual also provides information to all staff on how to book interpreters and request alternative formats of publications. |
6. How will you ensure that disabled people are involved in the development of your department's policies and activities? | We will introduce an equality forum who will, for example, be asked to participate in the testing of our new case management IT system. | Corporate Strategy | Ongoing | Expert advice will be provided on how procedures and policies developed within the Agency affect minority groups. | An equality forum will not be established at this time. Instead consultation and engagement with equality groups has been established to assist with the EQIA of policies. In addition the Case Management IT system is now in Phase 2 of development and is making provisions to include the collection of equality data. The data collected will be monitored to help us to identify any issues or barriers for disabled people. |
7. What arrangements will you put in place to ensure that we are able to report on progress on an annual basis? | This requirement will be included in the Corporate Strategy Business Plan and individual work objectives will reflect this. | Corporate Strategy | Nov 07 | We will able to produce evidence of progress on an annual basis. | Completed -The Corporate Strategy Business Plan includes individual work objectives relating to equality and is updated quarterly and renewed annually. |