Disabled Worker’s Group Minutes

Location
Imperial Rooms Matlock / Date
16 April 2015
In attendance / Apologies
Rachel Burton
Sara Jones
Dawn Kelly
Sue Mitchell
Paula Twells
Karen Wilson / Julie Baker
April Bell
Councillor Diane Charles
Prem Chera
John Cowings (for all future meetings)
Amanda Elkin (HR)
Michelle Else
Pauline Hubble
Louise Machin
Kirsty Matchin
Vicky Powers
Emma Proctor
Neil Ridley
Julie Wilson
  1. Welcome, Apologies and Introductions

Sue welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were taken. Rachel was welcomed back to the Group. She will attend as and when she feels up to it.

  1. Minutes of the last meeting

The Minutes from the previous meeting on 20 January were agreed – subject to it being noted that apologies had been received from Sara Jones that she was not able to attend.

Matters arising

Apologies were received from, amongst others, Councillor Diane Charles and John Cowings. Councillor Charles is the link with the Equalities Group and others. Despite committing to attending meetings she has not been able to do so which is difficult for the Group.

John Cowings now has a new role with Unison and will not be attending any future DWG meetings. His commitment and contribution to the Group was noted.

There was a discussion as to the format, size and type of font used in the Minutes. In general terms people felt that the layout of the Minutes was preferable if justified on the left hand side.Verdana is a better font than most others. Size 13 font is specified as a minimum standard size for those with sight impairments and size 14 font has been generally used for DWG minutes for the last few years. These modifications can be adopted for future use and assessed as to suitability.

There was also a discussion as to whether the Minutes were sufficiently detailed – balancing this against what was ultimately published on DNet and was publically accessible through the website.

It was agreed that what was discussed in meetings did not necessarily have to be Minuted in detail and that in future unless somebody raises something specific Minutes would be accepted as they had been prepared.

There were no other matters arising that would not otherwise be dealt with elsewhere within the minutes.

  1. Updates

Those people able to provide feedback on these issues were unable to attend the meeting and hopefully would be able to do so in July (Pauline Hubble and Amanda Elkin).

Pauline had however sent some information regarding the Diversity and Inclusion Board.

It is understood there is no corporate funding to run any specific Equality & Diversity training. A corporate directive is awaited on form(s) of training already exist, whether this is adequate, what particular areas need addressing and how this will be funded. Alternative methods of delivering this training will then be looked be looked at (perhaps through the ESPO framework).

There is a meeting of the Diversity and Inclusion Board on the 7 May which may provide some more insight on the current position on topical issues such as the apprenticeship scheme, Equality Impact Assessments, Changing the Way Derbyshire Works and Training. Copies of the last minutes from the meeting in February had been provided to the Group but rather too late to circulate amongst the Group. A copy of the Council’s ‘brief’ for engaging with employees about Equality and Diversity has also been made available. It is suggested that this is circulated to the group for discussion at a future meeting.

Concerns were expressed that EDRM has not been adequately assessed in terms of the disability issues. Research undertaken identified that other Councils have noticed that it gives a problem to disabled people in terms of it being a purely electronic system. However despite a number of requests no one has been able to provide a copy of the Equality Impact Assessment. This is to be followed up at the Equality and Diversity Group.

Concerns still exist that posts are being backfilled from earlier candidates without being re-advertised both in the same and other service areas which is impacting on the career development of disabled people.

There are concerns that training materials are still not dyslexia friendly and that no one seems to be addressing it although research undertaken indicated that other Authorities had done so.

It was suggested that various IT issues needed to be taken to the Equality and Diversity Group.

It had been intended to bring forward the IT problems to the Equality and Diversity Group Meeting but this had been cancelled. Sue had mentioned that she was due to attend a future meeting and would raise the possibility of accessing Minutes for the Equality and Diversity Group to make sure that issues were being noted and acted upon.

  1. ‘Take a Stand Campaign’

As Amanda Elkin was unable to attend the meeting it was not possible to discuss the ‘Take a Stand campaign’ further. It is understood that this a project designed to create an engaging, easy-to-navigate section on the ‘working for us’ part of the DCC website, bringing together all the employee group strands on a single webpage under the ‘Take a Stand’ banner. Although primarily aimed at employees, the pages could be accessed by anyone.

It is hoped that Amanda can provide more information at the next meeting.

  1. Day of the Disabled – December 2015

The Group were invited to submit ideas as to whether we did this on an individual basis or in conjunction with others ie the Dyslexia event to be run by Pauline Hubble.

  1. The future of the DWG

Appointment of a new Chair was discussed. It is unlikely Rachel will feel up to returning to the role. Work pressures and time constraints can make it difficult for one individual to fulfil the function. The possibility of a rolling Chair Person was discussed. People were asked to consider this for discussion at the next meeting.

Julie has indicated that after four years she is unable to continue as Secretary for the Group. Expressions of interest are invited. A replacement must be identified as Julie cannot continue. Anyone interested can contact Julie. It will be discussed at the next meeting.

  1. Issues for further consideration

It is unclear whether there is a formal constitution from when the Group was first set up. It was felt that this needed to be re-addressed.

It was agreed we needed to look at the whole purpose of the Group, its direction, workings and future.

Concerns were also expressed that the Council’s new system of E-Learning was proving difficult for those with certain disabilities and again did not seem to have been thought through in terms of the Equality Impact Assessments.

It was suggested that the Group could undertake more networking using the internal Yammer site to get more information about personal experiences so that these could be taken forward as a group through Councillor Charles.

A general discussion took place about individual’s experiences, how these were being addressed and whether they had been resolved. It was clear some progress had been made but that difficulties prevailed in other areas. It is also clear that lack of information can lead to misconceptions, frustrations and downright hostility which if permission is given to share personal information it can be avoided. If the individuals are prepared to allow Managers to give limited explanations for decision making processes this can potentially avoid difficult working environments and relationships with other colleagues. However where bullying or harassment remains members should not hesitate to pursue this through the proper channels and should not put up with it.

  1. Corporate Policy and Strategy

It was agreed that the Council’s commitment to disability issues needed to be reviewed as many concerns continued to roll on unresolved.

  1. Any Other Business

The International Womens Day on 6 March appeared to have been very successful and well attended.

10.Date of next meeting

14 July 2015 at 10.00 am at the Imperial Rooms

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