Standards For Disability Information And Advice Provision In Scotland
Prepared by The Scottish Accessible Information Forum

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4. The Standards & Localities

This section of the Standards is designed to provide a context in which individual information and advice providers can develop their services. The "Introduction" to the Standards contains an overview of the legislative framework around the provision of information and advice to disabled people. Parts of this legislation are likely to apply to the funders or commissioners of services as well as to the providers.

This section is particularly addressed to those whose role it is to plan and fund information and advice services and is designed to provide such bodies with a range of tools to assist with compliance.

Within this section there is a recognition that strategic planning on a locality basis should underpin the development of individual services in order to ensure equitable access. It aims to place disabled people at the centre of the planning process for information and advice services.

The model we have used for the development of these Standards is a dynamic one that should allow for constant improvement. It suggests a process that will see both service planners and providers of services engaging with disabled people in the planning and delivery of information and advice.

In developing this section we are aware of the financial pressures upon statutory agencies. Depending upon local circumstances there may be some cost implications to other Standards and this will need to be balanced against both other priorities and the potential cost of non-compliance with the new legislative framework.

In our experience of developing local strategies for accessible information and advice, clarity in the objectives underpinning information and advice provision and a robust framework are more likely to release funding from other areas to support this work. In addition, we consider that involving existing service users and other disabled people who are potential service users is likely to ensure that resources are allocated most effectively.

4.1 Strategic Responsibilities

Local authorities currently have duties with regard to the planning of services for disabled people. In accordance with the Enabling Information Report (1995), this should be seen to extend to the provision of accessible information and advice. The key areas of responsibility are:

• Undertaking demographic profiling to establish the number of disabled people in the locality and the nature of their impairments.
• This information should be used to assess the need for information and advice and the ways in which such information and advice can be made accessible to disabled people.
• To prepare a plan to ensure that in the locality there are a sufficient range of services, that are sufficiently well co-ordinated, to meet these needs.
• To contribute to, and encourage others to contribute to the funding of such services.
• To ensure that groups that are funded to provide information and advice comply with these Standards. The self-assessment checklist may be adapted as a monitoring tool.
• To keep these plans under review in order to meet changing and emerging needs.
• To collate this information in a way which could inform social policy development on a Scotland-wide basis.

4.2 The Process For Planning & Review

The way in which these responsibilities are discharged is also important. The process should:

• Involve all key funders and commissioners in the area. As a minimum it should involve representatives from the local authority, the health board and the training enterprise council.
• Involve the providers of services to ensure that there is a seamless service for disabled people. For small organisations compliance with Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act with regards to the range of impairments may prove difficult if they work alone. However, by working together in a co-ordinated way a range of agencies may be able to meet these needs. For example, one agency may take a lead in services for the visually impaired whilst another could address the service needs of people with impaired mobility.
• Even more critically both the planning and review processes must involve disabled people.

Where forums of disabled people exist these should be formally involved in the planning process. Where these do not exist they should be established. The make-up and manner of operating will need to take account of what exists and what can work within the specific location. These forums could also serve as a vehicle for statutory bodies to discharge their duties with regard to consultation with service users in other areas such as community care.

In addition to this consultative role the active engagement of disabled people in such forums is best progressed where these forums have another role. We suggest that funding for a community advocacy role should be considered. This would include:

• Brokering access to mainstream services for disabled people
• Collating this information to advise service providers on ways in which policies and practices could be developed to enhance the services received by disabled people
• Such a body could also act as a resource for other agencies with regard to disability equality training and accessibility audits for material and premises.

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