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SDEF Newsletter No.1 - December 2001
This newsletter is available by email, on disc or in other formats if preferred. Please contact us to let us know how you would like to receive it.
SDEF Update
Changes at the
Scottish Parliament
Legislation
Consultations
Scottish Executive Publications
News from the sector
What
are we up to?
You’ve joined the new-look
SDEF - what have we been up to since our conference in July?
We have amended our constitution
and now have charitable status (charity no. SC031893).
We also changed our rules of membership to make it easier for a wide
range of organisations to join us. You
will find a list of our current members at the end of this newsletter.
We have consulted with members and drawn up a strategic plan for our next year’s work, and identified priorities for longer term work. Our immediate priorities are to:
- build
SDEF’s membership to make it more fully representative;
- share
information with our members, and involve them fully in the work we are
doing;
- work
closely with other infrastructure bodies, and develop good working links
with the other bodies in the disability field and with the other
infrastructure bodies dealing with equality issues;
- continue to work with our members to identify the gaps in support for people with disabilities and their organisations. An infrastructure for access organisations is a key current concern for our membership, and must be a first priority.
We
have responded to four recent Scottish Executive consultations.
The Management Committee drafted a response to the recent
consultation on the draft regulations for a Mobility and Access Committee
(Scotland), and circulated this to Scottish Access Panels before submitting
it to the Executive. We also
responded to recent consultations on legislation surrounding special
educational needs and building regulations.
We
are now setting up a fully representative system for responding to
consultations, which will allow members to input at every stage.
This involves setting up an “early warning” system of monitoring
Scottish Executive publications to ensure that we have the maximum notice of
relevant consultation papers.
We
have started to make links across the voluntary sector and develop
relationships with decision-makers. We
have joined the Paths for All Partnership to represent disability interests.
We have met with SATA and Disability Agenda Scotland.
We have been in touch regularly with the Disability Rights Commission
in Scotland. Our Convenor has been made Vice-Convener of the Scottish
Parliament Cross Party Group on Disability.
We
have compiled a database of 1300 disability voluntary organisations from a
variety of sources and are working to contact all of these groups.
We
have met with Scottish Executive officials from the Equality Unit and the
Community Care Division to discuss financial support for our work, and have
received a further tranche of funding to allow us to continue to develop our
membership and links with other groups.
We are funded until the end of March 2002.
We are meeting with officials later this month to discuss long term funding from the Scottish Executive for our work - watch this space!
Changes at the Scottish
Parliament and Executive
The
New Cabinet:
Deputy
First Minister/ Minister for Justice
Jim Wallace, Lib Dem
Minister
for Education
Cathy Jamieson, Lab
Minister
for Enterprise, Transport, and Lifelong Learning
Wendy Alexander, Lab
Minister
for Finances and Public Services
Andy Kerr, Lab
Minister
for Health and Community Care
Malcolm Chisholm, Lab
Minister
for Parliamentary Business
Patricia Ferguson, Lab
Minister
for Environment and Rural Development
Ross Finnie, Lib Dem
Minister
for Social Justice
Iain Gray, Lab
Minister
for Tourism, Arts and Culture
Mike Watson, Lab
Deputy
Ministers
Deputy
Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs
Nicol Stephen, Lib Dem
Deputy
Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning
Lewis MacDonald, Lab
Deputy
Minister for Finances and Public Services
Peter Peacock, Lab
Deputy
Ministers for Health and Community Care
Hugh Henry, Lab and Mary Mulligan
Deputy
Minister for Justice
Dr Richard Simpson, Lab
Deputy
Minister for Parliamentary Business
Euan Robson, Lib Dem
Deputy
Minister for the Environment and Rural Development
Allan Wilson, Lab
Deputy
Minister for Social Justice
Margaret Curran, Lab
Deputy
Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture
Elaine Murray, Lab
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES Committee Membership
Kate
Maclean (Lab) - Convener
Lyndsay
McIntosh
Gil Paterson
Jamie Stone
Michael McMahon
Cathie
Peattie
Tommy
Sheridan
Elaine
Smith
Kay
Ullrich - Vice Convener
Richard Walsh (Clerk) 0131 348
5216
HEALTH
AND COMMUNITY CARE
COMMITTEE
Margaret
Smith
(LD) - Convener
Dorothy-Grace Elder
Janis
Hughes
Margaret
Jamieson - Vice Convener
John
McAllion
Nicola
Sturgeon
Shona
Robison
Mary
Scanlon
Richard
Simpson
Jennifer Smart (Clerk) - 0131 348 5210
News on Legislation
Proposed changes to Direct
Payments Regulations
The Community Care and Health
(Scotland) Bill will make a number of changes to legislation on Direct
Payments in Scotland. The
provisions in the Bill are based on proposals made in the consultation
document Better care for all our
futures (April 2001). The
changes will be phased in over the next two years.
What are direct payments?
Direct payments allow people to
purchase services to meet their care needs instead of the Local Authority
providing services for them. They
can increase the choice and control people have over their own lives by
increasing independence and freedom of choice.
This has been possible for some years, however changes have to be
made.
Changes
under new legislation
- Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001
This will allow 16 and 17 year
olds to use Direct Payments to purchase children’s services.
Disabled parents will also be able to access these to assist in their
parenting roles.
- Community Care and Health Scotland Bill
This Bill will impose
a duty on Local Authorities to offer community care to those people who
choose this method to meet their care needs.
These will be extended to other
community care groups who are not eligible at present e.g. people who are
frail, receiving rehabilitation after an accident, recovering from alcohol
or drug dependency, or fleeing from domestic abuse,
may now be considered.
This money will also now be able
to be used to purchase care from Local Authorities. At
present this is prohibited. This
will also increase choice and will also help make Direct Payments available
to people in remote areas where Local Authorities may be the only source of
services.
A representative, such as a
guardian or lawyer with the relevant powers will be able to ensure that
someone can receive Direct Payments. This
will allow people with mental health problems or learning difficulties to
benefit from Direct Payments. It
will also allow parents to purchase services which their children are
assessed as needing.
There will still be a
requirement for some recipients to make a personal contribution, but the new
legislation will allow payments to be made on a gross basis and the user’s
contribution recovered later. This
will put Direct Payment recipients on equal footing with those receiving
Local Authority services. The
Bill will however give the Local Authority a mechanism to recover the amount
it has assessed to be due.
Land Reform Bill
After a long period of
consultation and re-drafting, the Land Reform Bill was published on
Wednesday 28th November. The Bill, if passed into law, will give
new rights of access to the Scottish countryside and provide rural
communities and crofters a right to buy land.
The Fieldfare Trust has been
campaigning for greater consideration within the first section of the Bill
for the rights of disabled people to access the Scottish countryside. As
is typical of so much legislation the Bill has just one reference to
disabled people. Where local authorities exercise their discretionary
power to make access improvements, they will be required “to have regard
to the needs of disabled people”. None
of the other parties with responsibilities for access management including
landowners have any specific duties to meet the needs of disabled people.
One argument goes that such new
duties should not be necessary now that the Disability Discrimination Act
1995 (DDA) is in place, and countryside accessing managers are service
providers under its provision. This misses a key issue with respect to
rights for disabled people. The onus is on disabled people to challenge
discrimination where it takes place. Countryside managers will face no
sanction or incentive to meet the needs of disabled people unless they wish
to avoid being caught out or challenged where their provision discriminates
on the grounds of disability.
If real progress is to be made in improving access for disabled people, all those responsible for delivering services must be required to act and not wait for disabled people to take the necessary steps to rectify an unacceptable situation. How else will standards of provision ever be improved? This approach applies to many areas of social policy, not just countryside access. However, the opportunity exists for the Scottish Disability Equality Forum to influence the passage of the Land Reform Bill and set a precedent for the inclusion of disability orientated clauses in all future legislation.
The principle of people with
disabilities having things by right is fundamental.
If you feel that this is an important issue, we urge all members of
SDEF to allow us to co-ordinate the comments of your organisations, and join
Fieldfare Trust, and others to lobby the Scottish Parliament. It is vital to
ensure the rights of people with disabilities are recognised and enshrined
in law.
Please contact
us if you would like to be involved.
You can see the Land Reform Bill on the Scottish Parliament web site (www.scottish.parliament.uk/parl_bus/bills/b44s1.pdf)
SDEF has responded to several
recent consultations - on access to transport, building standards, and
education. Copies of our
responses are available on request.
Here are a few current
consultation documents:
Disability Discrimination Act
1995: Carrying of Guide & Hearing Dogs in Taxis
There are four consultation papers now out on this issue. Closing date is 31st December and copies of the papers can be obtained from Stephanie Bow at the Scottish Executive Local Government Division on 0131 244 7058. If members are responding on their own behalf, we would be grateful for a copy of comments made. If you would like SDEF to take up any issues, please let us know.
Vulnerable Adults
A consultation paper has just
been issued looking at the provision of a legislative
framework to protect vulnerable adults, beyond those with mental disorder.
Responses are due to the Justice Department by 8th March
- please let us know if there are any issues you would like SDEF to raise.
The paper is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations/justice/vacp-01.asp
or from Jean Wilson, Justice Department, Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive,
Edinburgh EH11 3XD.
Education
for Work and Enterprise
The
Scottish Executive is currently consulting on how to educate young people
for work. If you have any views
on this issue which SDEF could feed into the consultation, please let us
know. Copies of the
consultation paper are available from David McNeil on 0141 242 0146.
Closing date for the consultation is mid-January 2002, so please
pass us your comments by Monday 7th January.
If you would like to comment directly, you can do so online at www.educationforwork.com - but please let us have a copy of your comments if you can.
Review of the European Blue
Badge scheme of parking concessions for disabled people
A consultation document on this issue is currently being prepared. If you would like to receive a copy, send your contact details to:
Michael
Toyer Esq
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Disability Policy Branch
Mobility and Inclusion Unit
Zone 1/18
Great Minister House
76 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DR
Email:
[email protected]
Getting Involved in Planning - a consultation paper on increasing public involvement in the planning process has been produced. Comments should be made by 31st March 2002. Copies of the paper are available from tel. 08457 741741 or at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/planning/gtcp-00.asp
Scottish Executive Publications
New statistics have been released (end November) by Scottish Executive National Statistics on registered blind and partially sighted people in Scotland (see http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/health/infonote_2.asp)
The
Social Justice Annual Report 2001
has been produced, setting out progress against the social justice
milestones (see http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/social/sjsu-00.asp)
National
Care Standards for Care Homes for Older People
have been produced (see http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/social/chop-00.asp)
Designing
Places - A Policy Statement for Scotland
has been produced by the Scottish Executive Development Department as a
strategy for improving urban and rural design and planning (see http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/planning/dpps-00.asp)
The Preliminary Report on the Equality Strategy was published in October - a report on progress in mainstreaming equality across the Scottish Executive. It is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/society/equality/pres-00.asp
BAYWATCH and YOU
We all complain about the misuse
of supermarket parking spaces but what have we done about it?
In 1999, major supermarkets
launched “Disabled Link-up” - an initiative to show their commitment
to improving car parking facilities for customers with a disability.
The Disabled Drivers’ Motor
Club (DDMC) were involved in their own “Give us back our parking spaces”
campaign. The British Polio
Fellowship (BPF) surveyed a sample of supermarkets across the country and
found that nothing was known about these initiatives.
In September 2000, BPF wrote to the head offices of all the major
supermarkets. The overall
responses showed that a coherent policy of preventing abuse wsy not being
followed despite the existence of “Disabled Link-up”.
BAYWATCH was formed, involving
BPF, DDMC and DDA (Disabled Drviers Association) and the work is being
publicised by “Disability Now”.
At the mobility Roadshow in
Crawthorpe, an opportunity to complete a questionnaire on supermarket
parking was available at the stands of the participating organisations.
The BAYWATCH survey undertaken
by BPF revealed that although supermarket chains had good policies on
parking, there was a high level of ignorance at individual store level.
The findings were similar to those of DDMC’s “Give us back our
parking spaces” and although there are shining examples of good practice,
supermarket parking is still a major headache for people with disabilities.
The aims of BAYWATCH are:-
- to ask for good management
- stop the abuse of spaces
- put in good signage
- see that the spaces are in the right place
Where does BAYWATCH and YOU come
in?
YOU can look out for bad practice and turn it to good practice
YOU can publicise BAYWATCH in your area
YOU can offer to get involved.
To get involved, phone BPF on Freephone 0800 018 0586
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