The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Annex C
FINANCE AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

This report covers the Finance and Sustainable Growth portfolio. This portfolio includes a number of significant aspects regarding disability equality which impact directly on disabled people's lives and wellbeing such as access to transport and planning and the built environment. To this end 7 key focus areas were selected for in-depth consideration and reporting: transport, tourism, enterprise, the Third Sector, planning and the built environment, local authorities, valuation joint boards.

FOCUS AREAS

Transport

This section covers public authorities that provide public transport services including train, bus, taxi, ferry and air services. It also includes demand responsive transport services and examines as far as possible the management of parking for disabled people, and the maintenance of pavements and road crossings. Two key groups of providers of public transport for Scotland are the strategic transport bodies and local authorities. Local authorities and the regional transport partnerships have recognised from their various consultation and involvement activities that transport is a key concern for disabled people.

There is evidence of positive activity, in three areas, particularly in relation to:

1. The frequent identification of transport as a key issue of concern to disabled people
2. The recognition of the importance of encouraging the use of Disability Discrimination Act compliant buses.
3. The number of authorities which recognise the importance of the street environment as a significant part of the transport experience of disabled people.

A key area for further attention is the improvement of availability of quantitative data to enable more strategic focussing of action for improvement. For example, to have robust data on the number of Disability Discrimination Act complaint buses and taxis and how these are made accessible across areas.

Tourism

This section examines how the tourism industry has responded to the disability equality duty. While a range of organisations contribute to the tourism industry, the report draws largely from the scheme and action plan of the lead agency, VisitScotland. Tourism is a key economic generator for Scotland both as a service provider and as an employer.

Progress is evident in three areas:

1. Involving disabled people in tourism planning
2. Accessibility and Marketing in order to attract more disabled visitors and to better meet the needs of disabled tourists
3. Training to raise staff and service provider awareness of disability issues

Two areas requiring further attention include firstly, improving the availability of data in terms of employee profile with the tourism industry in relation to disability and secondly, improving standards of provision for disabled visitors. Though annual accommodation inspections do check for accessibility using the quality assurance category gradings for provision to disabled people, it is not known what incentives or steps are in place to assist establishments move to achieve higher category gradings as part of their continuous improvement.

Enterprise

This section of the report focuses on the public authorities which aim to support enterprise in Scotland, namely, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the local authorities. Changes in economic participation by disabled people are always likely to be slow, and many factors influence entrepreneurship by disabled people such as the benefits system. These particular issues cannot be addressed by the bodies covered in this review. Nevertheless, there are positive signs of progress particularly in the work of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Progress was found to be evident in relation to:

1. Support to business start-ups which saw two hundred and seventy-five disabled people supported to start up a business in the period 2004-2007
2. Training programmes for employers particularly those from small and medium enterprises

The Third Sector

The third sector is a significant partner for local authorities. Local authorities are purchasers of services from the third section and work with the third sector as partners in the provision of day care services or services for pupils with additional support needs. The third sector also assists public authorities with consultation and involvement of disabled people.

Drawing primarily from local authority disability equality schemes and action plans areas where progress is evident are in the following areas:

1. Partnership and involvement
2. Sharing of expertise and resources

The onset of the disability equality duty has increased the involvement of disabled people as advisors, helping local authorities shape policy and provision in a systematic way.

There are three areas which require further attention: partners working together to encourage disabled people into public life; identifying ways to better integrate access panels into community planning processes and more effective use by local authorities of the procurement framework as an influencer for change.

Planning and Built Environment

This focus area covers the built environment in so far as it is influenced by local authorities. This includes the management of local authorities' own building stock, and the regulation of new buildings through their planning and building control functions.

While acknowledging the difficulties of auditing accessibility of the built environment, progress was found to be evident in relation to the following areas:

1. Access to local authority buildings which shows a steady improvement in the proportion of accessible local authority buildings
2. Information about access to other buildings through websites like DisabledGo
3. Improving disabled stakeholder involvement in the development of the built environment

Overall, local authority disability equality schemes recognise the impact of barriers in the built environment on the lives of disabled people. However areas requiring further attention include more explicit embedding of disabled issues into local authority planning and building control functions which can contribute significantly to removing some barriers which face disabled people.

Local Authorities

This section considers specifically work to implement disability equality in the following areas: access; elections and polling; employers' duties; environmental services; harassment; information gathering/analysis; leadership and communication; leisure; poverty; procurement; regeneration and economic development; strategic planning; and training. Other local authority areas are considered in detail in other chapters in this report.

Progress was found to be evident in eight areas:

• Communication, Mainstreaming and Impact Assessments
• Employment
• Training
• Access
• Environmental services
• Best Value
• Procurement
• Community Planning

Local authorities in Scotland have utilised the disability equality duty as a positive driver for change both as a service provider and also as an employer. What is now required is a narrowing of the gap between authorities that have done a significant amount and those that are near the beginning of the learning curve. Two areas stand out as requiring greater attention - improvement in the analysis and subsequent application of data gathered on disability, whether quantitative or qualitative; and consideration of how the procurement process can be made to work harder to assist authorities meet their responsibilities under the disability equality duty as purchasers and contractors.

Valuation Joint Boards

There are ten Valuation Joint Boards responsible for compiling and maintaining domestic and non-domestic council tax valuation lists and electoral registers in Scotland. Valuation joint boards tend to develop their understanding of disability equality in concert with their associated authorities. A review of schemes, action plans and annual reports identified progress in four areas:

• Policy and function review
• Recruitment procedures
• Staff awareness and access to training
• Physical amendments to property

Many boards have work in progress, particularly in areas such as impact assessment, monitoring and adapting the work environment to be more disability friendly. One further area for consideration is how disability related harassment is considered within dignity at work or generic anti-harassment policies.

CATEGORIES OF IMPAIRMENT

Most public authorities acknowledge that understanding disability is complex. Most use with varying degrees the Disability Rights Commission's guidance on defining disability. Actions to address the needs of people with sensory and physical impairments as well as learning disabilities were fairly wide spread. Mental health, mental illness and long term limiting illness were less well addressed.

CONSULTATION AND INVOLVEMENT

There is a range of types of public authorities in this portfolio and not surprisingly there are a variety of levels of consultation and involvement of disabled people. Public authorities that have made significant progress in this area have moved beyond consultation to active engagement of disabled people in policy formulation and practice development. Many are working to mainstream disabled people involved though out their services and functions. However, there are public authorities that need to move beyond consultation to more systematic involvement of disabled people.

« Previous | Contents | Next »