Contents

Enabling Information: A report on improving access and raising standards in information services for disabled people and their carers in Scotland.

3 Local Provision

The Working Group felt disadvantaged by the fact that it was unable to start with a clear picture of the pattern of provision of local information services at local level. The Scottish Office survey was limited and partial, while responses to the working group's statement similarly could not provide a comprehensive picture.

3.1 Local authorities

As mentioned above (Part 1, section 3.3) local authorities have a statutory duty under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 and the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 to identify disabled people in their areas, to find out what their needs are and inform them of the range of services available, both about their own services and about any services provided by other agencies which they have knowledge of and which would be relevant. The National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990, imposes a statutory obligation on social work departments to work with the health authorities and the "independent sector" to offer choice as to whether care is provided in the community or in residential accommodation. If community care is perceived as involving a shift from professional dominance of resources and prescriptions to a situation where users and carers can more fully take control over their care needs, then information is of critical importance to the effective exercise of choice.

Research in 1980 into the information needs of physically disabled people showed that the 1970 Act, which required authorities to create a register of the chronically sick and disabled in their community had received limited enforcement and that one third of the names and addresses given were inaccurate. (17)

Research in England and Wales (18,19) has shown that local authorities need to give a greater priority to information provision as a service in its own right, that there is a need for information strategies to be developed, and that local authorities should involve users and carers at every stage.

There are indications that information services provided to users and carers are inadequate for instance in many comments made during the conference held by Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector in June 1994. One of the messages from the conference was that current information services available to users and carers are inadequate and in need of urgent overhaul.

"There is an urgent need, not being satisfactorily met by statutory agencies, to communicate clearly in plain language, to inform user and carers about the services available, about how to access them, about rights and responsibilities, about how to get independent advice and advocacy services."

Pleas were made for the better use of existing networks and information projects within communities and localities, and for resources to be deployed to address the specific communication needs of people from ethnic minorities, and for those with hearing and visual impairments. (20)

The Scottish Office survey attempted to compare the ease with which respondents had obtained the information they sought. The responses suggested that it was easier to access information in some Regions than in others, with greater difficulty being experienced in Tayside, Lothian and Strathclyde, but the survey does not specify whether those experiencing difficulties were approaching the statutory or voluntary sector for information.

In 1993 KPMG Management Consultants conducted a piece of research for the Scottish Office on residents' choice in residential care (unpublished), which explored how far four local authorities were providing elderly people with clear information about their choices after assessment. The report was critical of some regions, but Fife was commended for producing clear objective information for service users.

There is no consistency in the way in which service providers in regional and district councils have attempted to meet their statutory duty. The diversity of approach can be seen in the community care plans which local authorities and health boards are required to produce. A variety of approaches has been adopted:

• No special effort is made to provide information: information is simply provided as an adjunct to service provision.
  • Some community care plans make no reference to information provision, eg Orkney and Shetland, while some give only a general commitment to its importance, eg Borders.
• Publication and display of written material such as leaflets.
  • The social work department of Tayside Regional Council produces a comprehensive range of leaflets which have been awarded the Plain English Campaign's Crystal Mark. Users and carers are involved in the planning of new publications. Tayside maintains information display racks in all social work establishments, as well as in some superstores, and staff ensure that the leaflets are kept stocked and up to date. Their information is also sent to agencies in the voluntary sector such as the Tayside Disabled and Carers Information Centre.
• Funding of information initiatives.
  • These may deal specifically with disability, eg Disabled Living Centres or similar organisations such as the Ability Centre in Dundee; with community care issues, such as Grampian Caredata; or with council services in general, such as the establishment of an advice forum in Cumnock and Doon Valley which has developed a database of both regional and district council services and is opening one stop offices in the district.
• Funding of projects in the voluntary sector.
  • This may be the result of an explicit decision to meet the authority's statutory obligation through an organisation in the voluntary sector, eg Lothian Regional Council and Health Board's funding of Grapevine, the Lothian Disability Information Project. In Fife the provision of services to visually impaired people is met through the Fife Society for the Blind, which receives funding from social work, health, and education sources. Equally a project which has started off as an urban aided project in the voluntary sector and proves its effectiveness may then be funded by the statutory authority. This has happened with the Infobus in Renfrew and the Fernan Street Information Project in the East End of Glasgow.
• Incorporating a remit to provide information in resource centres.
  • The Disability Resource Centres in Strathclyde each have an information officer. The recently opened Moray Resource Centre in Grampian is another example.
• The development of a regional information strategy, with general services backed up by a specialised disability information service.
  • In Central Region the Council Help and Information Services are backed up by the Disability Information Service. In Grampian Region the health board and regional council have a joint information strategy and strategy group.

Many local authorities in Scotland are actively addressing the importance of providing information and advice, particularly since the introduction of the community care legislation. However there are problems which have been identified in responses to the Working Group's statement, and in the experience of members of sub group 3.

• The lack of consistency between councils makes it difficult to refer clients to appropriate sources of advice in another geographical area.
• The low priority given by service providing departments to the provision of information as an aspect of that service. The Working Group believes that it is desirable that information provision is recognised as a service in its own right and that the establishment of an information strategy within local authorities could strengthen the position of information provision in the local authority context.

This low priority is demonstrated by

• the lack of an information strategy within many so