The Scottish Government

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CHAPTER 3 - COORDINATION OF ACTION

Introduction

3.1 The Scottish Government's stated purpose is to focus the Government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth. This will be achieved through 5 strategic objectives and a suite of national outcomes. Progress on outcomes will be measured through national indicators and targets. The Scottish Ministers' reports on disability equality will help to deliver the Scottish Government's stated purpose and national outcomes by helping public bodies tackle the significant inequalities in Scottish society.

3.2 The evidence presented in the Scottish Ministers' reports demonstrates areas where there is marked progress in relation to the position of disabled people in Scotland, but also identifies areas where further work is needed.

Outcomes

3.3 Ultimately, the purpose of coordination of services and support is to improve outcomes for disabled people. The Scottish Government is very much focussed on outcomes and the concordat between the Scottish Government and COSLA sets out a shared agenda for improving outcomes for the people of Scotland. Through Single Outcome Agreements, councils are determining which outcomes are relevant to local circumstances and how best to achieve them (see Chapter 1).

3.4 Our work on developing national indicators will be disaggregated by equality strand where possible and we are also 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.

Dialogue

3.5 Over the next 3 years Scottish Ministers will work with the Scottish public sector in order to make further progress towards equality of opportunity between disabled people and non-disabled people. We recognise that disabled people will have views on the findings of our research and the issues which have emerged. Public bodies too will be interested in how they can further promote disability equality and the issues which have been identified through the Scottish Ministers review of progress. They will also be interested in how they can consider the issues as part of the development of their approach to national outcomes. As a first step we therefore propose to have dialogue with disabled people and with public bodies.

Dialogue with Disabled People

3.6 We will have dialogue with disabled people through national disability led organisations, including Inclusion Scotland and the Scottish Disability Equality Forum. We will also engage with the broader coalition of disabled people and their organisations who have come together to work with the Scottish Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission to develop an approach to independent living in Scotland. This wider coalition includes a broad range of organisations including those relating to mental health, sensory impairment, learning disability, autism and mobility impairment.

Dialogue with Public Bodies

3.7 The Scottish Government will work in collaboration with public bodies to make progress on disability equality. We have reviewed progress towards equality of opportunity between disabled people and others and will explore the findings with Scottish public bodies, including the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. We will also engage with community planning partnerships and ensure that their key role is considered.

3.8 The purpose of dialogue will be two fold: to raise awareness of our findings with disabled people and public bodies; and to discuss collaboratively, in the context of the new arrangements for public service delivery, the themes which have emerged. We are already having dialogue with local authorities in relation to the development of Single Outcome Agreements for 2009-10. We will also ensure that we engage with all parts of the public sector and include discussion of disability equality within wider collaborative working.

Reporting

3.9 We will report by June 2009 on the outcome of our discussion with disabled people and with public bodies about the issues which have emerged through the Scottish Ministers' Duty reports. Our reporting will include a programme of specific actions for coordination.

Timetable for Action

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