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CHAPTER 2 - ANALYSIS OF CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES

Introduction

2.1 This chapter summarises cross-cutting issues emerging from the analysis of the social position and progress of disabled people in each of the areas covered by Scottish Ministers' portfolios. The over-arching themes identified arose from an analysis of the disability equality schemes and action plans of 273 public authorities, mainly published in December 2006, and the first round of annual reports, mainly published in December 2007. Analysis was also based on a review of official statistics and the academic and policy literature. We recognise that disability equality schemes are still in an early phase of development. We have, therefore, focussed on areas where progress has been made, identified areas for greater attention in the future, and drawn out some lessons to inform progress towards equality of opportunity between disabled persons and other persons over future years.

2.2 Overall, it is clear that progress has been made in relation to promoting equality between disabled persons and other persons. However, the picture varies in different policy and geographical areas and in relation to specific groups of disabled people. Furthermore, disability equality schemes did not always provide an accurate reflection of the actions taking place at grass roots level, and sometimes did not use existing evidence to best effect in order to create a baseline, prioritise actions and subsequently monitor progress. These points are explained more fully below.

2.3 This chapter looks first at access to public services. If disabled people are to have equality of opportunity then it is essential that public services are delivered in a way which enables access. The issues are presented in detail in individual portfolio reports and summarised here to provide context for emerging policy priorities and process issues.

2.4 This chapter then looks at the key overarching policy priorities and process issues that have emerged from an analysis of the evidence. These priorities and issues highlight where action across ministerial portfolios and the domains of a range of public sector bodies might be needed to deliver progress towards equality. The overarching policy priorities and process issues presented here will be subject to further discussion with disabled people and public bodies during the early part of 2009.

Access to Public Services - An Overview

2.5 Across the piece, it is evident that considerable progress has been made in facilitating access to services for disabled people, and in this section we provide examples from different areas.

Further and Higher Education

2.6 For example, in further and higher education the proportion of disabled students has increased rapidly and steadily. However, the need to look closely at the relative benefits to different groups of disabled people is very evident, since, in universities, the main beneficiaries of this increased participation appear to be students with a diagnosis of dyslexia. By way of contrast, there has been a slight decline in the proportion of students with multiple disabilities, whose needs are obviously expensive to resource. Universities which have analysed their data carefully have recognised this issue, and in at least one case a target has been set for increasing the proportion of students from under-represented groups, such as those with mental health difficulties.

School Education

2.7 Access to school education is clearly essential to achieving equality between disabled and non-disabled pupils. Achieving well within the education system ensures that disabled children enter the post-school world equipped with the knowledge and skills to obtain worthwhile jobs in the labour market. The impact of the Disability Equality Duty, combined with other legislation on accessibility and additional support for learning, has encouraged authorities and schools to review their policy and practice in relation both to disabled children in school and to disabled employees. Their initial disability equality schemes and annual reports reflect a willingness to take action to improve equality of opportunity. At this early stage, it is not surprising that many of their actions are concerned with setting up systems for reporting, establishing consultation groups and appropriate methods of discovering, and taking account of, the views of pupils and their parents, undertaking training of staff in the Disability Equality Duty, and discovering where changes may be required in, for example, collection and monitoring of data to enable reporting in future. The Scottish Government's disability equality scheme includes plans to improve the gathering and collation of disability statistics at education authority and Scottish Government level.

Healthcare

2.8 In the field of health, access to health services by disabled people is being prioritised, and debates continue about the balance between promoting access to mainstream and specialist services. Some groups who were extremely disadvantaged in the past in terms of accessing primary health care, such as people with learning disabilities, are having their needs taken much more seriously. It is now recognised, for example, that a person with learning disabilities may need to be supported by an advocate in order to have a useful consultation with a GP, and may need to have more time set aside for their consultation. The Scottish Government Health Directorates, working with health boards, is proposing a number of measures to promote the health of particular groups, such as regular health checks for people with learning disabilities and mental health difficulties. Disability equality considerations are also being embedded in the areas of cancer, stroke and mental health treatment, which are the clinical priorities of the NHS Scotland.

2.9 In some areas, greater progress needs to be made, for example, data bases on people with particular impairments need further development. Clearly, there are issues with the construction and maintenance of such registers because, for example, decisions need to be made about which individuals should be counted as having a learning disability or a mental health difficulty. However, reasonably reliable data bases are necessary to facilitate the planning of services and co-ordinate service delivery across different agencies. In relation to services for disabled children, in the context of the Scottish Government initiative Getting it Right for Every Child, discussions are taking place between health, education and social work with a view to developing a common assessment instrument and shared data bases. Pilot projects are currently running in a number of local authorities to take forward this work, led by education.

Housing

2.10 Significant progress has been made in improving access to services for disabled people in the area of housing, reflected in the disability equality schemes and annual reports of a considerable number of local authorities and the Scottish Government Housing Directorates. About a third of councils are developing new strategies or reviewing existing strategies. In 2006/07, for example, Communities Scotland (now the Scottish Government Housing Directorate), ensured that 96% of new social housing approved for funding was accessible by people with a range of impairments. Guidance was also published for landlords on accessibility issues. These actions are supported further by the Scottish Government disability equality scheme, which specifies that 95% of all new housing funded by the Scottish Government should be accessible. The Scottish Government scheme also states its intention to encourage local authorities to place grater emphasis on identifying and meeting the needs of disabled people who are homeless. Regulations under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 were approved by Parliament in November 2008, and introduce a simpler and fairer system of local authority financial assistance with adaptations from 1 April 2009.

Community Care

2.11 Within community care, it is evident from policy documents, research and statistics that there is a move away from standardised services delivered in institutional settings such as long-stay hospitals for people with learning disabilities and mental health difficulties, and much more emphasis on personalised services delivered in community settings which focus on user autonomy and control. For example, following the publication in 2000 of the Scottish Executive's strategy for people with learning disabilities, entitled The Same as You?, services for people with learning disabilities are being restructured, with more emphasis on the development of supported employment opportunities. Day centres are increasingly being used as bases for other activities in the community, rather than being seen as places where individuals spend most of their time.

2.12 Scottish Government statistics and the wider research literature show that significant change has also taken place in the field of direct payments. These are funds paid directly to disabled people and others who have been assessed as requiring community care services. Direct payments have been promoted by the disability movement as a vehicle for independent living, since the disabled person employs their own personal assistant and therefore has far more control over how services are provided. There has been a marked increase in the use of direct payments in Scotland since these became mandatory in 2003, but they are still only accessed by a minority of community care users and are concentrated in a small number of local authorities.

2.13 From policy documents, research and statistics, a picture emerges of much greater availability of person-centred and community-based services. However, many local authority disability equality schemes fail to reflect these changes and some make no reference to community care services. Similarly, health boards often fail to refer to their community-based work with local authorities within the Joint Futures Programme. Clearly, there is a need to raise awareness amongst these public bodies that community care is a key area in providing greater equality for disabled people. In the future, it is hoped that access to community care services will feature more prominently in health board, as well as local authority, disability equality schemes, and that the principles of independent living will infuse all aspects of service delivery in this area.

Transport

2.14 Transport is another area where considerable progress is apparent. In one Scottish city, the entire fleet of buses run by the municipal operator have been low floor since 2004, and other operators are moving in this direction. This attention to accessibility issues is reflected in a narrowing of the 'travel gap' between disabled and non-disabled people, and the Scottish Household Survey for 2006 showed that disabled people were more likely to use buses than non-disabled people. However, much still remains to be done. In particular, attention needs to be focused on other means of transport, including trains, which disabled people use less than non-disabled people because of slow progress in ensuring that all stations are accessible.

2.15 Attitudinal issues clearly play a part in facilitating or hindering access. For example, consultation with disabled people by one local authority revealed difficulties in accessing local taxis because drivers were reluctant to use ramps. This prompted the local authority to request the local college to re-examine the content of the training course for taxi drivers to ensure that access to taxis by disabled people was emphasised. Again, differences between impairment groups are apparent, with the needs of people with mobility difficulties being prioritised, and less attention paid to the needs of other groups such as people with learning disabilities and mental health issues. Furthermore, differences between urban and rural areas are apparent, with much greater problems arising for disabled people in isolated communities.

The Built Environment

2.16 Access to the built environment, including council buildings and galleries, is also an area where considerable improvements are evident. Many public bodies, for example education authorities, colleges and universities, have been auditing their estates for a considerable number of years, assisted by targeted grants. Plans are in place for a gradual process of improvement, with a future goal of making all public spaces fully accessible. Despite problems with listed buildings in older institutions, disabled people are now much more visibly present, leading to changes in public perception and attitudes.

2.17 However, progress is not consistent across the piece; evidence presented in the finance and sustainable growth report shows large differences across Scottish local authorities in the accessibility of council buildings. At one extreme, the figures compiled by Audit Scotland, on the basis of data supplied by local authorities, suggest that in one local authority, only 15% of council buildings are accessible, whilst in another local authority at the other extreme, 83% of buildings are accessible. However, it is acknowledged that this very wide range may reflect differences in applying the audit standards; a local authority adopting a very strict approach in applying the audit standards would appear to have a less accessible environment than a local authority which applied the standards in a less rigorous manner. As is the case with transport, the needs of people with mobility difficulties have been prioritised because these are perhaps the easiest to comprehend. The changes which might be helpful to an individual with learning disabilities or mental health difficulties, which might encompass simple signage and layout, a calm environment and rest space, have received less attention in disability equality schemes.

Access to Information

2.18 Many public bodies understood the importance of access to information and were exploring ways of making their web-site and printed information accessible to different impairment groups. Having said that, the research team found that locating disability equality schemes, action plans and annual reports on institutions' websites was often challenging, and sometimes these documents were unavailable. Other important documents to facilitate access to services for disabled people and their families were often difficult to find. For example, only a small minority of education authorities had web-based additional support needs policy documents, including information on redress mechanisms, available for parents of disabled children to download.

Conclusion

2.19 Ensuring access to services is clearly the first stage towards greater equality between disabled and non-disabled people. The next stage is to adjust services to ensure that the experiences of disabled people within particular environments are positive. Clearly, much remains to be done in this area, for example, ensuring that people with learning disabilities can access cultural experiences and adapting the school and university curricula to ensure that students have much greater freedom to demonstrate learning outcomes in a variety of ways. Close consultation with disabled people with a range of impairments is clearly of critical importance here (see below). Finally, since access is a central concern across ministerial portfolios, there is considerable scope for joint learning with regard to altering the physical environment, creating an accessible IT environment, which may be particularly beneficial to people in rural areas, and focusing on the access needs of particular groups.

Emerging Policy Priorities and Process Issues

Introduction

2.20 In order to make progress towards equality of opportunity between disabled people and non-disabled people requires action in relation to a wide range of Scottish Ministers' responsibilities. Here we present overarching policy priorities and process issues that have emerged from an analysis of the evidence, and which cut across a range of portfolio responsibilities and public bodies.

2.21 The term 'policy priorities' is used to identify what needs to done. The key overarching policy priorities which have been identified from our analysis of the data and evidence available are:

• Promoting Employability
• Tackling Poverty
• Supporting Transitions
• Delivering Independent Living

2.23 The term 'process issues' is used to identify how we might make progress, and relates to all areas of public sector policy, including education and lifelong learning, health and wellbeing, social care, transport, justice, the arts, the environment and rural affairs. The key overarching process issues which have been identified from our analysis of the data and evidence available are:

• Awareness Raising and Changing Attitudes
• Use of Evidence and Data
• Inter-Agency Working
• Understanding of Disability
• Strategies for Particular Impairment Groups
• Consultation and Involvement
• Employment in Public Sector Bodies

Emerging Policy Priorities

Promoting Employability

2.25 Access to employment is one of the key areas determining progress towards equality for disabled people (Roulstone and Barnes, 2005). This is an area which crosses ministerial portfolios and where it appears that actions require greater co-ordination. In relation to health and well-being, there is a recognition that disabled people find it much harder to obtain and retain a job compared with non-disabled people, and as a result disabled people are much more likely to be living in poverty. There is a clear link also with child poverty, since many households include both a disabled adult and a child or children. Furthermore, the experience of long-term unemployment or economic activity is likely to lead to deterioration in an individual's physical and mental health, including increased risk of suicide. At the same time, many people become ill whilst in work, and stress and anxiety account for the majority of working days lost. The UK Green Paper on welfare reform ( DWP, 2008) envisages an important new role for medical professionals in helping people back into employment in the early stages of sickness absence, identifying this as an important measure in preventing people from becoming permanently disabled.

2.26 Employability is also germane to the education and lifelong learning portfolio, since it is within schools, colleges and universities that disabled children, young people and adults develop the knowledge and skills required for employment in a rapidly changing labour market. Furthermore, local authorities have responsibility for providing services for disabled adults, and for groups such as people with learning disabilities and mental health difficulties, there is a commitment to developing supported employment opportunities or work in social firms as opposed to long-term day centre provision. Finally, employment and employability are central to the Finance and Sustainable Growth ministerial portfolio, which has responsibility for enterprise and business support.

2.27 Overall, further work is required to promote equality of opportunity in the labour market. The Scottish Government's Annual Population Survey showed that whilst the employment rate for non-disabled people of working age in Scotland was about 82% in 2007, the rate for disabled people was less than 50%. The position varied greatly by local authority, with four authorities having fewer than 40% of disabled people of working age in employment. In the 15% most deprived areas, the employment rate was 26%. In rural areas, disabled people were more likely to be in work than in urban areas. For both disabled and non-disabled people, the employment rate rose between 2006 and 2007, reflecting buoyant economic conditions, but the gap narrowed only slightly. Low employment rates for disabled people are reflected in a greater likelihood of living in low income households compared with non-disabled people. The Scottish Household Survey of 2005 showed that disabled people in Scotland were much more likely to be living on low income than non-disabled people. Forty two per cent of those with incomes lower than £6,000, and 51% of those with incomes of £6,000 - £10,000, were disabled. As emphasised in Government employability, economic and anti-poverty strategies (Scottish Executive, 2006a; The Scottish Government, 2007; The Scottish Government, 2008), increasing the employment rate of disabled people, and reducing the proportion of disabled people living in low income households, are vital measures. However, whilst some disability equality schemes address these areas, for example, by planning the expansion of supported employment programmes, many local authorities and health boards do not include employment issues. In future years, it is hoped that all disability equality schemes will address the problem of unemployment, economic inactivity and low income.

2.28 The Scottish Government does not publish educational outcome or post-school destination data for disabled and non-disabled school leavers, and this is an area where longitudinal data would be extremely helpful. Whilst the proportion of disabled students in higher education has increased, which is a very hopeful sign, it is evident that the majority of disabled school leavers move into special programmes on leaving school, either within further education colleges or on Get Ready for Work programmes, the Skillseekers stream aimed at people at greatest distance from the labour market. Disabled young people also constitute part of the group categorised as needing more choices and more chances (Scottish Executive, 2006b), who may find it difficult to find any suitable post-school opportunities and may find themselves living at home and being looked after by their parents instead of progressing into a more independent adult life. As highlighted in the education and lifelong learning report, the proportion of disabled young people on Skillseekers programmes, particularly those most closely leading to employment such as Modern Apprenticeships, is extremely low. This may, of course, reflect a problem with the gathering of statistical information, since schools currently identify very few pupils as disabled (see below for further discussion of this issue), possibly leading to an under-identification of disabled trainees.

2.29 There are currently important debates taking place about which groups of young people should have most resources invested in their training, and in particular, whether investment should be focused on those who are most likely to move into 'high quality jobs' on completion of their training programme. At the same time, the level of investment and type of training programme available to those with additional support needs, including young disabled people, is also being discussed. Strategies for groups such as people with learning disabilities (Scottish Executive, 2001) are geared towards the use of mainstream rather than special training programmes wherever possible. In addition, the UK welfare to work reforms are premised on the idea that people receiving benefit, including disabled people, should do all that they can to get into work, but should be given help in looking for work and overcoming barriers. However, a recent report for the then Scottish Executive by Cambridge Policy Consultants (2006) questioned whether young people with significant additional support needs should participate in Skillseekers programmes, and suggested that Get Ready for Work, including the life skills components within it, might be better located within a social development rather than an employment and skills development framework. There are clearly tensions with regard to prioritising particular groups for additional training investment, and it is important that these issues are recognised by Scottish Government and Skills Development Scotland. Already, funding incentives tend to encourage training providers to select candidates closest to the labour market who are most likely to complete the programme and move into employment with little further support, whilst those at a greater distance from the labour market, including young disabled people, may be seen as less attractive clients by training providers since they are less likely to move into employment on completing the programme.

2.30 Government training programmes, such as Skillseekers and Training for Work have been criticised on the grounds that they have primarily been concerned with moving disabled people into work, and have paid less attention to the quality of jobs obtained (Roulstone and Barnes, 2005). In addition, they have tended to measure programme outcomes shortly after their completion, and have been much less concerned with the long-term sustainability of employment (Riddell and Banks, 2005). For disabled people and other groups excluded from employment, there needs to be a far greater focus on skills development and job sustainability, so that people do not get caught in a revolving door of a training programme followed by a low paid and insecure entry level job, followed by further training or economic inactivity. Supported Employment is a systematic approach that provides flexible support to enable people with disabilities or other disadvantaged groups to secure and maintain paid employment in the open labour market. The Scottish Government in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities ( COSLA) has also established a Task Force that will develop a framework and standards for supported employment for use at a national and local level.

2.31 Overall, employment and employability of disabled people is an area of critical importance which crosses ministerial portfolios and where greater co-ordination of action is needed. The low participation of disabled people in employment is clearly linked with their higher rates of poverty, posing the risk of social exclusion. At the time of writing (October 2008), economic conditions are worsening in Scotland as they are in the rest of the UK and Europe. Since disabled people are much more likely to be included in employment when economic conditions are buoyant (Riddell et al, 2001), there is a danger that rates of unemployment and economic inactivity of disabled people may worsen drastically both in real terms and in relation to the position of non-disabled people.

Tackling Poverty

2.32 Achieving Our Potential sets out the approach of the Scottish Government and COSLA to reducing poverty and income inequality in Scotland. (The Scottish Government, 2008). This framework sets out the Government's commitment to tacking poverty and acknowledges the fact that disabled people are disproportionately likely to be living in poor households, defined as those with less than 60% of the median household income.

2.33 This is an area which again crosses ministerial portfolios. New Policy Institute analysis conducted in 2007 showed that about 42% of households including a disabled person have low incomes (less than £6,000 per year), twice the rate for non-disabled people. Disabled people were more likely to be in low income households regardless of family status (couples without children; couples with children, single without children; single with children). In schools, Scottish Government statistics show that children with additional support needs, a group which includes disabled children, are twice as likely to be entitled to free school meals as other children.

2.34 Despite this clear association between poverty and disability, only a minority of health boards and local authorities made this link and devised specific action points to break the link between poverty and disability. Regeneration strategies often failed to include specific measures targeted at disabled people in communities. This is clearly an area which requires further attention in the future.

2.35 Achieving Our Potential commits the Scottish Government to progressing with a range of activity to advance equality and to tackle discrimination including:

• Work with the public and third sector and the Equality and Human Rights Commission to embed and progress equality, building on the public equality duties.
• Activities to raise public awareness and challenge the stereotypes and attitudes which limit the opportunities for particular groups.
• The development, in concert with the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the UK Government, of a framework for measuring progress on equality.
• Working with disabled people, CoSLA and the EHRC in shaping a programme to improve the opportunities for disabled people to live independently.
• Developing guidance for CPPs on the Equality Impact Assessing of Single Outcome Agreements.

Supporting Transitions

2.36 Disabled children and adults undergo many different transitions during the course of their lives, as they move from pre-school into primary followed by secondary school. As young people progress into the adult phase of their lives, further transitions are involved in the move from school into a training programme or into further or higher education. At the end of this period, the expectation is that the young adult will move into the labour market and/or into the family formation life phase. However, these transitions may be disrupted and may lead into a revolving door of training programmes, since, as discussed above; disabled people are much less likely to be in employment than non-disabled people. Transitions clearly involve not only shifts from one institution to another, but also changes in identity in relation to the category of disability amongst other things (Weedon and Riddell, forthcoming 2009). For example, a child might be identified as having additional support needs at school, but at university might be encouraged to disclose a disability in order to claim the Disabled Students Allowance. Subsequently, the young adult might decide not to disclose a disability when moving into the labour market, since the benefits of reasonable adjustments might be outweighed by a fear of stigmatisation (Riddell and Weedon, forthcoming 2009).

2.37 The Additional Support for Learning (Changes in School Education) (Scotland) Regulations 2005 specify the actions the local authority must take at various transition points of children with additional support needs. It is evident from the review of statistics in the education and lifelong learning report that local authorities vary greatly with regard to the proportion of children identified as having additional support needs, and one result of this is widely varying practices with regard to identifying which pupils qualify for special transitional arrangements. Co-ordinated Support Plans, instituted by the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, are being opened for only a small minority of children (on average less than 0.5% of the age group), with wide regional variation. Many disabled children do not qualify for a Co-ordinated Support Plan since their needs are met entirely by education, and many do not have an Individualised Educational Plan either, since many local authorities are devising their own non-statutory planning processes. However, some pupils are still recorded under the old system (RoN (Record of Needs)) in the 2007 pupil Census and Scottish Government publications generally cover pupils with IEP, CSP and/or RoN as all of these pupils are classed as having Additional Support Needs. Clearly, given some of the variable practice in the implementation of the new legislation highlighted by HMIe ( HMIe, 2007), there is a need for research to explore its impact on disabled young people at the potentially difficult point of post-school transition. The Scottish Government's disability equality scheme includes plans to improve the gathering and collation of disability statistics at education authority and Scottish Government level. The aim is for a standard set of categories to be developed listing the different types of disability, which would be used in the Scottish Government annual pupil census.

2.38 Given the complexity of the transitions noted above, it might be expected that public bodies such as local authorities and health boards might prioritise support for disabled children, young people and adults at these critical times. However, very few health boards or local authorities mentioned transitions in their disability equality schemes and action plans, suggesting that this is an area where better co-ordinated action is required. The need for greater action with regard to transitional arrangements for young people with additional support needs, involving a high degree of inter-agency co-operation, is highlighted in recent Scottish Government policy initiatives, including More Choices, More Chances (Scottish Executive, 2006b) and Partnership Matters (Scottish Executive, 2004a). In addition, the Scottish Government is funding a National Development Officer post to coordinate local and national partnership approaches to effective implementation of the Additional Support for Learning Act, with a specific focus on transitions for young people at risk of missing out on education and training opportunities, including disabled learners. And the Scottish Government has commissioned 2 development officers, one from education and one from the allied health professions, to develop guidelines to promote and support more effective partnership working between local authorities and allied health professionals.

Delivering Independent Living

2.39 In the publication Independent Living in Scotland (Disability Rights Commission, 2007) the Disability Rights Commission defined independent living as:

"Disabled people having the same choice, control and freedom as any other citizen - at home, at work and as members of the community."

2.40 Given this broad interpretation of independent living, it clearly lies at the heart of efforts to achieve greater equality between disabled and non-disabled people, and might be expected to receive a mention by all public bodies. Indeed, many health boards and local authorities mention independent living, but the concept tends to be construed differently. Health boards tend to focus on the provision of aids and adaptations, which are mentioned far less frequently by local authorities, despite their responsibility for housing adaptations. By way of contrast, local authorities tend to focus on community care, an area that is often omitted from health board disability equality schemes and action plans. Despite the fact that health boards and local authorities have collaborated extensively on community care through frameworks such as the Joint Futures Fund, this is mentioned in only a minority of health board disability equality schemes, although two thirds of local authorities refer to it. In addition, self-directed support, seen by the disability movement as a key means of empowering disabled people by making them co-producers of services, receive scant attention.

2.41 To summarise, the production of disability equality schemes provides an excellent opportunity for further reflection on the meaning of independent living and the actions which may be taken by public bodies, including those concerned with transport, education, the built environment, sport and the arts to shift services in this direction. There is some evidence of the concept being understood and developed, but there is also scope for further co-ordinated action in this field. In June 2008, the Scottish Government announced plans to develop a long term approach to supporting independent living for disabled people. This initiative would be supported by an expert group including disabled people and would involve the Government working with public sector bodies to identify ways to break down barriers in areas such as housing, transport, employment and education.

Emerging Process Issues

Awareness raising and changing attitudes

2.42 Promoting equality for disabled people is partly a matter of targeting resources effectively to promote access to services, but it is also about changing damaging social attitudes which restrict opportunities for autonomy. For example, the See Me campaign funded by the Scottish Executive was geared towards creating more positive public attitudes towards people with mental health difficulties, and was seen as very successful. Public bodies were clearly aware of the 'hearts and minds' issues and many disability equality schemes referred to disability awareness training programmes which were planned or ongoing. However, less attention was paid to evaluating the impact of this training, an important part of the process since poorly delivered training can have a negative effect. In addition, few public bodies focused attention on the issue of harassment, which is clearly relevant to the experiences of disabled people as service users and employees.

2.43 As noted in the justice report, a bill to legislate against hate crime relating to disabled people has been introduced to the Scottish Parliament. It will be important to ensure that the public are well informed about these new measures and that data are carefully gathered by police in relation to reported incidents. Higher reporting rates of disability hate crimes may of course signal enhanced public awareness of the problem, and are not necessarily indicative of worsening attitudes.

2.44 A number of social attitude surveys have been conducted in Scotland which provide insight into public attitudes towards a range of equality issues and groups (see, for example, Bromley and Curtice, 2007). These provide useful comparisons of attitudes by and towards particular social groups, and suggest that discriminatory attitudes are less common in relation to age, disability and gender than in relation to race and sexual orientation. Younger people and those with higher educational qualifications are generally less prejudiced than other groups. Survey findings such as this provide interesting insights into social attitudes and changes over time which might inform the work of public bodies, but they are also somewhat limited. Disability, for example, is treated as a generic category, and different findings might well have emerged if public attitudes in relation to people with mental health difficulties or learning disabilities had been compared with attitudes towards, for example, people with mobility difficulties or visual impairments

Use of evidence and data

2.45 Judicious use of evidence and statistics is essential in setting appropriate targets for change, measuring outcomes and evaluating the experiences of service users and employees. Existing evidence needs to be used effectively, and additional data may need to be gathered where necessary.

2.46 There is also room for closer co-operation between organisations to develop work on measurement and we recognise the need, identified through the Equality Review, for a new means of measuring change and progress over time. The Scottish Government is contributing to the development of an Equalities Performance Framework, which is being taken forward with the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Government Equalities Office at Westminster. The measurement framework will help us to better understand outcomes for the diverse range of communities and in this context disabled people

Inter-agency working

2.47 Inter-agency working is recognised as a key element within the modernisation of welfare agenda, which emphasises the need for co-ordinated and personalised services. Disabled people are clearly likely to require services delivered by a range of agencies, including health, education, social work and transport. Within disability equality schemes, there was some evidence of imaginative collaborations between different agencies, for example, joint working between social services, a transport agency and an FE college in an island authority. There was also evidence of some degree of joint working between health, education and social work, but also scope for much further development, for example, in relation to independent living and support for disabled children and their families.

2.48 Whilst recent research has traced the development of inter-agency working (e.g. Purves et al. (2008) in relation to support for disabled children and their families) many local authority and health board plans did not refer to these important and innovative developments. This suggests the need for much better internal communication about important developments both with local authorities, and between local authorities, health boards and other agencies.

2.49 Planning mechanisms developed over the last decade have sought to promote joined-up policy making in particular areas, such as community care and children's services. It is interesting that disability equality schemes often failed to cross-refer to other planning mechanisms and documents within the public sector, such as Accessibility Strategies, Children's Services Plans, Community Care Plans, Health Improvement Plans and Community Development Plans. Clearly, there is a danger of public bodies sinking within a welter of plans, which in themselves have an opportunity cost in that valuable personnel time has to be invested in order to make the exercise informative and worthwhile. However, careful thought with regard to the links between different plans would lead to better informed, co-ordinated and evidenced disability equality schemes. As noted in the justice report, co-ordinated actions between police, fire and rescue and health emergency services would be particularly beneficial for disabled people.

Understandings of disability

2.50 It was evident from our analysis that public sector bodies were working with widely different understandings of disability and were using a range of different categories. In its guidance on evidence gathering in relation to Disability Equality Schemes ( DRC, 2006), it was recommended that the following broad impairment categories should be used:

• Physical impairment (such as mobility issues - including use of a wheelchair or crutches);
• Sensory impairment (such as blindness/serious visual impairment or being deaf/hearing impairment);
• Mental health condition, such as depression or schizophrenia;
• Learning disability/difficulty, (such as Down's syndrome or dyslexia) or cognitive impairment (such as autistic spectrum disorder);
• Long-standing illness or health condition.

2.51 Very few organisations stuck to these categories for a range of reasons, for example, in further and higher education, colleges and universities worked with the categories stipulated by the Higher Education Statistics Agency which have been used for data gathering purposes for more than a decade. Even though these categories are a slightly off mixture, they are probably useful in that they allow comparisons to be made in relation to participation by different impairment groups over time.

2.52 Health boards clearly had some difficulty in moving away from categories of illness, which have tended to inform their data collection activities. Similarly, it was evident that education authorities were closely wedded to the concept of additional support needs and sub-categories of difficulty within this over-arching concept. The disability equality schemes of some education authorities indicated some degree of reluctance to embrace the notion of disability within the Disability Discrimination Act. For example, one authority noted that the concept of disability appeared to be based on an idea of deficit, and they preferred to work with the concept of additional support needs as specified within the Education (Additional Support for learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. A lack of understanding of the Disability Discrimination Act definition of disability probably explains the under-recognition of disability in statistics gathered by education authorities and reported to the Scottish Government in the annual school census. These statistics indicate that only 1.6% of pupils in Scottish schools are disabled, whilst health boards typically identify about 4% of children as disabled. Since education authorities are the responsible body on which the duties of the Disability Discrimination Act fall, there is an urgent need to improve their understanding of disability. Education authorities are unlikely to be able to raise awareness of disability in schools unless they first understand the legal definition. Many local authorities have recognised the need to boost awareness of disability, and are organising training programmes for senior staff to this end. And the Scottish Government is revising their accessibility guidance to education authorities to take account of recent legislative changes and policy developments.

Strategies for particular impairment groups

2.53 As discussed above, public sector bodies have widely varying understandings of the definition of disability with the Disability Discrimination Act and different levels of experience of disability and equality issues. It is therefore unsurprising that they differ in the extent to which actions proposed are targeted at specific impairment groups. In areas such as justice, public sector bodies tended to refer to disabled people as a homogeneous group, and this was also the case in considering access to services for disabled people in rural areas. Health boards and social services departments within local authorities appeared to have a more sophisticated understanding of the needs of different impairment groups, often targeting particular actions on specific groups, for example, people with learning disabilities, mental health difficulties, sensory impairments, physical disabilities and long-term conditions.

2.54 Education authorities, on the other hand, were sometimes unfamiliar with the Disability Discrimination Act definition of disability and impairment categories, preferring to use the over-arching term 'additional support needs'. They rarely specified actions targeted at specific impairment groups. Universities, by way of contrast, were used to working with Higher Education Statistics Agency categories and the best university schemes targeted actions on particular groups, such as students with mental health difficulties, and were beginning to analyse student experience and educational outcomes by impairment group.

Consultation and involvement

2.55 All public bodies appeared to have made efforts to consult disabled people in relation to their priorities for action. This took a variety of forms, sometimes consisting of one-off focus groups, and at other times long-term consultation bodies, such as parents' fora, had been established. In rural areas, there appeared to be scope for the further development of video conferencing to enable those in isolated locations to contribute their views. More attention needed to be given to accessing the views of 'hard to reach' groups, such as people with mental health difficulties, profound learning difficulties, long term illnesses and older disabled people. The views of disabled pupils in schools are also very important, but sensitive and imaginative consultation methods are required. For some groups of disabled people, advocacy may be a very important means of allowing their views to be accessed, but was mentioned in only a minority of schemes. In addition, some public bodies were working in conjunction with voluntary organisations to access user views, for example, universities and colleges were often working closely with Skill Scotland. Rather than setting up new consultation mechanisms, some public bodies worked with existing fora such as Pupil Councils in schools. Service user satisfaction surveys were also being used to good effect by a range of bodies ranging from universities to art galleries, illustrating the merits of utilising existing data sources.

2.56 Disabled people were usually involved at least to some extent in the development of disability equality schemes and action plans. They were generally less involved in evaluation and the writing of the annual report: although this is not a statutory requirement, it may be an area for fruitful further development.

Employment of disabled people in public sector bodies

2.57 All public sector bodies included a section in their disability equality scheme on the employment of disabled people within their organisation. Generally, it appeared that a relatively low proportion of workers disclosed a disability, often less than 1% of employees. Many public bodies lacked adequate data on the employment position of disabled people. For example, amongst health boards, just over half (12) had information on the employment of disabled people, two had partial information and eight health boards were in the process of puting monitoring systems in place. Of those boards which had disability monitoring systems in place, it was recognised that the number of people reporting a disability appeared to be low as a result of reluctance to disclose. This means that there is no overall figure for the number and percentage of disabled people employed across the health service in Scotland, as there is for gender, race and religion. Questions therefore arise as to why, across all public sector bodies, data are lacking or incomplete. On the one hand, it might be that public sector bodies allow some degree of flexibility which enables disabled workers to manage their job without needing to disclose. A second explanation is that individuals fear that disclosure will bring little or no benefit and might lead to victimisation. For example, Riddell and Weedon (forthcoming, 2009) found that disabled students undertaking B.Ed. programmes were happy to disclose a disability within the university because of the additional support they received, but chose not to disclose on school placement and during their probationary year because of far less positive attitudes in the workplace. Some local authorities had decided to make attempts to increase recruitment of disabled people, and one council was working with a partner agency to encourage disabled people to apply for jobs.

2.58 A few organisations, including a few colleges and universities, had set themselves the task of investigating reasons for non-disclosure, with the aim of creating a more supportive climate, thus increasing the number of disabled staff willing to disclose a disability. Identifying and supporting those with mental health difficulties was seen as a particular priority in view of the number of working days lost through stress and anxiety.

2.59 A number of public sector organisations, for example those concerned with culture, natural heritage and sport, use volunteers in the delivery of their programmes as well as paid workers. More work needs to be done in identifying the proportion of disabled volunteers, the nature of their impairments and the support they need in order to undertake their work effectively.

Conclusion

2.60 The evidence presented in the Scottish Ministers' reports, summarised here, demonstrates areas where there is marked progress in relation to the position of disabled people in Scotland and areas where further work is needed. In particular, some issues which cross ministerial portfolios and the domains of a range of public sector bodies, such as poverty, independent living and transitions, clearly demand greater concerted action. Process issues relating to inter-agency working, use of data, the definition of disability and the needs of particular groups of disabled people have also emerged, and are relevant to all areas of public policy.

2.61 Over the next 3 years Scottish Ministers will take action to co-ordinate activity across the Scottish public sector in order to make further progress towards equality of opportunity between disabled people and non-disabled people. These relate to both policy priority areas and process issues, as presented in this report and are as follows:

• Areas where concerted action across social policy arenas and agencies is required to promote further progress towards equality for disabled people include - employability, poverty, independent living, transitions and support for disabled children and their families.
• To avoid planning fatigue and unnecessary duplication of effort, public bodies could develop stronger articulation between disability equality schemes and other plans.
• Lessons on best practice could be shared between public bodies working within particular geographical areas and social policy sectors.
• Judicious use of evidence and statistics is essential in setting appropriate targets for change, measuring outcomes and evaluating the experiences of service users and employees. Greater efforts should be made to ensure that existing evidence is used effectively, and additional data are gathered where necessary.
• Across public sector bodies in Scotland, there are marked differences in terms of understanding and applying the DDA definition of disability. There is scope for further education and dialogue to clarify understandings.
• Disabled people are very diverse and there is a need for public bodies to improve their understanding of the categories of impairment recommended by the Disability Rights Commission.
• Efforts have been made to consult with disabled people across the board, but there is room for further development in this area, particularly in relation to carrying out meaningful consultation with hard to reach groups, for example, older disabled people, disabled children and disabled people living in poverty.

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