Introduction

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is a local authority incorporated under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, having its principal offices at Sandwick Road, Stornoway. Like other Scottish local authorities, the Comhairle is a “most purpose” authority, with duties and powers covering a wide range of activities.

The Comhairle is committed to ensuring equality for people with disabilities, both in its service provision and in its employment and other practices. The Comhairle has developed this Disability Equality Scheme to ensure compliance with the law, but also to begin the process of improving joint disability action with all appropriate stakeholders.

The Comhairle provides a wide range of services for users who may be from the Western Isles or who may visit. The Western Isles have a population of around 26,000 although this increases significantly during the summer tourist season. The local resident population have a relatively older age profile than the Scottish population generally, with fewer young people in the 18-35 age range than elsewhere in Scotland. Many older people have disabilities and many of the Comhairle’s services are already geared towards assisting residents to make a positive contribution irrespective of any disability.

The Comhairle has a variety of policies which deal with rights of access across a range of services. Some of these arise from best practice in professional areas such as Housing and Social Work; others are driven by legal requirements such as in Employment Law. The Comhairle has had an Equality of Treatment and Access Policy since 2004, which creates a multi-strand approach towards managing Equalities across the Comhairle’s services.

Other policies and requirements demonstrate the Comhairle’s willingness to deal positively with diversity in the Community. The Comhairle’s Gaelic Policy, for example, creates parity of esteem for Gaelic speakers in line with the requirements of the Gaelic Language Act. The Comhairle’s policy document ‘ Creating Communities of the Future’ (which embeds 15 themes of Sustainability into the work of the Comhairle) deals with equal treatment for remote and rural areas and manages our approach to community development.

Involving Disabled People

This Scheme has been drawn up in consultation with the following stakeholder groups:

• Local Access Panels
• Staff consultation through the recognised Trade Unions
• Western Isles Community Planning Partnership

Early in 2006 a process of capacity development was undertaken by the Comhairle in briefing stakeholder groups on the provisions of the legal requirement for a Disability Equality Scheme. This involved visiting Local Access Panels, providing written material and presentations for stakeholder groups, and then bringing together a representative selection of Access Panel Members to form the consultation group. It is the Comhairle’s intention to continually improve the Scheme by a rolling programme of work with the Access Panels.

Staff consultation was also very important as many staff have personal experience both of disability. Once again, each Trade Union was briefed on the implications of the requirement to produce a Scheme and provided with regular opportunities to contribute to work. This work will continue through the mainstream of the Comhairle’s Joint Consultative Committee.

Impact Assessment

Disability Equality Impact Assessment is the process of assessing the impact of existing or proposed polices or practices in relation to their consequences for disability equality. The Comhairle has adopted the guidance published by the Disability Rights Commission (www.drc-gb.org) in proposing an approach to Impact Assessment.

It is acknowledged that a full Impact Assessment of the Comhairle’s ‘Back Catalogue’ of policies will take most of 2007. Work on compiling all of the Comhairle’s existing polices, their crossover, effect and reach has been undertaken by the Comhairle’s Internal Strategy team. This has provided a list, which has been prioritised for Impact Assessment.

The methods to be used by the Impact Assessment process are outlined in the DRC’s document: ‘Disability Equality Impact Assessments and the Disability Equality Duty’.

The first step in beginning the comprehensive review of policies will be to train staff who are required to carry out the impact assessments, and to practice the use of the assessment templates within Departments. Training has been commissioned by the Comhairle and is due to begin in early 2007.

As the Comhairle has adopted the standard process for Impact Assessments (the ‘Six Steps’ recommended by the DRC) it is hoped that this work will be interchangeable with work carried out by the co-terminous elements of Northern Constabulary, Lews Castle College, the Local Enterprise Agency (Western Isles Enterprise). Contact has been made with the above and an agreement reached on sharing data, practice and impact assessment material.

Gathering Information

The Comhairle has a specialist section in the Department for Sustainable Communities which is tasked with gathering general population data on a wide range of issues. The Comhairle, through the internal Working Group established to prepare for the Disability Equality Scheme, has identified this as the lead source for gathering baseline information to be used in the Comhairle’s Scheme.

However, it is also recognized that there are significant other databases within the Comhairle which are a source of information which can be used for this purpose. Provided the provision of the Data Protection Act are respected, data can also be drawn, anonymised, from the various Social Work It systems, from details of vulnerable people kept for Emergency Planning Purposes, from the statutory Education databases, and from the Human Resources/Payroll databases. Key in this are the Information Sharing principles already adopted by the Comhairle, and the legislative requirements on disclosure and confidentiality imposed at various points.

The Human Resources system has capacity to gather information on the effect of policies and practices on the recruitment, development and retention of disabled employees. This is undertaken through confidential questionnaires, recently revised, which are completed when anyone applies for work with the Comhairle; during any medical examination which may be required for specific employment purposes, and as part of the exit interviewing process. This information is reported to Human Resources Sub-Committee as required.

It is recognized that Information gathering is not an end in itself and information obtained by the Comhairle must be analysed and used as the basis for preparing disability action plans and reviewing the effectiveness of those actions taken.

The Scheme will be revised annually. It is intended that the outcome of work on the Scheme will be reported annually in December to the Audit and Scrutiny Committee or equivalent main Scrutiny Committee of the Comhairle. The Annual Report must show evidence of progress in relation to disability equality. The Annual Report will show the effectiveness, financial implication and link of the work of the Disability Equality Scheme to the main policy of the Comhairle. Each year’s Report will contain recommendations on the Scheme’s Action Plan for the next year.

Implementation

The Comhairle will, within the annual period covered by the Disability Equality Scheme:

• Take the steps which it has set out in the Scheme and
• Put into effect its arrangements for (i) gathering information and (ii) making use of such information

If the Comhairle does not comply with the specific duties, the DRC may issue a compliance notice. However, the Comhairle will not be obliged to implement elements of the Scheme if, in the circumstances, it would be unreasonable or impracticable to do so. For example:

• Where there are particular difficulties with implementing steps in the Scheme but these difficulties could not have been forseen, then it is likely to be unreasonable to have to implement them;
• Where costs associated with an action unexpectedly rise so as to be out of proportion to the duty, then it is unlikely to be practicable to implement the action

Responsible Officer. It will be the responsibility of an officer nominated by the Chief Executive to manage the operation of this Scheme on a day basis. At present, that officer is the Director of Corporate Services. The strategic management of this Scheme will fall under that Director’s area of responsibity. Reporting and monitoring arrangements will be as follows:

Officer level reporting – one formal report on the Corporate Management Team annually, followed by;
Councillor level monitoring – one formal monitoring report to the Audit and Scrutiny Committee annually, prepared by the Director with strategic responsibility.

Annual Reporting

The Comhairle will produce an annual report each December outlining:

• The steps it has taken to fulfil its Disability Equality Duty
• The results of the information-gathering which has been carried out
• What has been done with the information gathered

The Report as approved by Audit and Scrutiny Committee and Comhairle will be published annually in the relevant section of the Comhairle’s website and intranet, and with the Minutes of the above Committees.

Revising the Scheme

The Comhairle will completely review and revise its Scheme every three years. This Scheme will therefore be reviewed no later than 4 December 2009. There will be an Annual Review of work in the light of the annual report to the Comhairle.

Action Plan

An Action Plan will be produced annually no later than 1st April to take effect along with the financial year of the Comahirle. The action plan must set out the key actions the Comhairle will take to promote disability equality. The action plan will reflect:

• The priorities of disabled people, as elicited through involvement
• The strategic priorities of the Comhairle, including major projects/milestones to be implemented during the lifetime of the Scheme
• Evidence of where problems and priorities lie
• Specific outcomes the Comhairle wishes to achieve to promote disability equality against a realistic timetable
• Measurable indicators of progress towards those outcomes
• Lines of accountability

The first Action Plan will therefore be produced for implementation to take effect from 1st April 2007.