SAIF: End of hosting of SAIF by Consumer Focus Scotland
Added on Monday 5 Nov 2012
Please find below a letter from the Chair of Consumer Focus Scotland which he has asked to be circulated to all SAIF stakeholders.
Dear Colleague,
Scottish Accessible Information Forum
I am writing to let you know that hosting of the Scottish Accessible Information Forum (SAIF) project by Consumer Focus Scotland will shortly be coming to an end. In consultation with Forum members the project's 2012/13 workplan is now being brought to an orderly conclusion and all work carried out under Consumer Focus Scotland supervision will have ceased by the end of December 2012.
Hosted for over 15 years by, successively, the Scottish Consumer Council and since 2008 its successor Consumer Focus Scotland, the project has worked to combat social exclusion by striving to ensure that people who find it hardest to access information due to disability get the same access as others.
Much has been achieved by the project in this time through providing public bodies and others with training, advice, work-tools and a range of publications to help them improve the accessibility of their information.
Sadly, it is no longer possible for Consumer Focus Scotland to continue to host the project. This is because the UK Government are implementing a major restructuring of Consumer Focus which will result in a changed role which is not compatible with the work of SAIF.
Consumer Focus Scotland and the Forum have been working with the Scottish Government, the funders of the SAIF project, to determine how this important agenda might best be maintained. The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting people with disabilities and is considering ways to ensure that access to information will continue to improve. I understand that they will be making contact with Forum members before the end of the year to discuss the available options.
I would like to pay tribute to the dedicated team of staff and the Forum members who have provided expert guidance, and to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed over the years to the valuable work of this project while hosted by Consumer Focus Scotland.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Chris Thirkettle at Consumer Focus Scotland in the first instance. He can be reached on:
Tel@ 0141 226 5261
Your sincerely
Doulgas Sinclair
Chair
Consumer Focus Scotland