Greenwich Council

Draft Disability Equality Scheme

2010 - 2013

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Greenwich Council

Corporate Policy Team

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LondonSE18 6HQ

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Greenwich Council

May2010
Contents

Page Number

1Introduction

2The Disability Equality Duty

3 Arrangements for assessing impact, gathering information and putting the information to use

4Our responsibilities for the education of disabled children

5Our role as an employer

6Involving disabled people

7Action Plan

8 Responsibilities for delivering the Scheme

9Arrangements for monitoring and reviewing the Scheme

10Arrangements for publication

Appendix 1What is a disability?

Appendix 2Greenwich disability profile

Foreword

It gives us great pleasure to introduce Greenwich Council’s second Disability Equality Scheme. The Council has a long-standing commitment to achieving equal opportunities for all our residents and employees. This commitment underpins every aspect of our work to make Greenwich a better place to live, work, and learn in.

The Scheme sets out the Council’s arrangements for promoting equality for disabled people over the next 3 years within the framework of the Greenwich Strategy and our Local Area Agreement.

At the heart of our approach is the modernisation agenda that will see the replacement of many outdated Council buildings with three new fully accessible service centres across the borough, and improved physical access to our schools including the construction of new school buildings that are fully accessible. Our Children and Young People’s Plan will ensure that all children including disabled children have the opportunity to succeed. We are now well under way with our preparations for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 which will provide new opportunities for disabled people in Greenwich. We also have a detailed plan for improving our employment of disabled people.

We are confident that the Disability Equality Scheme will help us to achieve equality and real improvements in the lives of disabled residents and employees.

Councillor Peter Brooks, Lead Member for Social Inclusion

Mary Ney, Chief Executive

1Introduction

This is our second Disability Equality Scheme. It sets out how we will put the Disability Equality Duty into practice.

We aim to ensure that disabled people living or working in Greenwich are treated equally and have the same opportunities as everyone else. We will do this by making disability equality central to the way we plan, commission and deliver services, and in the way we recruit and support our staff. We will take specific and targeted action to address the many barriers faced by disabled people. The Council has a long-standing commitment to the social model of disability and this commitment informs our approach.

In April 2010 the Equality Act introduced a new general equality duty that will replace existing legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act. The main provisions of the Equality Act are expected to come into force in October 2010. Details of the new public sector duty have yet to be finalised but we will be reviewing our policies and services and this Disability Equality Scheme to ensure that they comply with the requirement of the new Act.

The Scheme sets out our framework for implementing disability equality through positive action, service planning, equality impact assessments and monitoring.

It also includes separate sections on two key areas– our role as an employer and our responsibilities for the education of disabled children.

Our action plan sets out our key priorities for the next three years within the framework of our Local Area Agreement which determines how we implement our strategic objectives in partnership with other local public sector agencies such as the Police, Primary Care Trust, Jobcentre Plus and Learning and Skills Council.

The five priority areas for the Local Area Agreement are:

  • Sustainable Communities;
  • Safer and Stronger Communities;
  • Healthier Communities;
  • Children and Young People;
  • Building the Council’s Capacity.

Each year we will publish a progress report showing how the Council has met its equality responsibilities including those under the Disability Equality Duty. We will review the actions we need to take, where appropriate in consultation with disabled people and representative organisations.

2The Disability Equality Duty

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (known as the DDA) provides protection for disabled people against discrimination in employment and in access to goods and services including education.

In 2005 a further Disability Discrimination Act introduced a new Disability Equality Duty specifically for public authorities.

The Council has a General Duty to:

  1. promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and other people;
  1. eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act;
  1. eliminate harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability;
  1. promote positive attitudes towards disabled people;
  1. encourage participation by disabled people in public life;
  1. take steps to meet disabled peoples needs even if this requires more favourable treatment.

The Duty applies to all aspects of the Council’s functions and activities, except in areas where other legislation takes precedence. This includes employment, service delivery, budget setting, procurement, and regulatory functions.

It is a positive Duty – this means we are required to take account of the needs of disabled people when we are planning and developing services and functions, rather than making adjustments after they have been put in place. The Duty is intended to bring about a shift from a legal framework that relies largely on individual disabled people bringing cases of discrimination, to one in which the public sector becomes a proactive agent of change.

We also have a number of Specific Duties under the 2005 Act including the requirement to publish a three year Disability Equality Scheme and an Action Plan. The Scheme must include information on:

  • how disabled people have been involved in the development of the Scheme;
  • the Council’s arrangements for:
  • assessing the impact of our policies and practices on disabled people, and in respect of proposed policies;
  • gathering information on the recruitment, development and retention of Council staff;
  • gathering information on education opportunities and achievements of disabled children;
  • putting the information we have gathered to use;
  • an action plan that sets out what we will do to meet the General Duty;
  • how the Scheme will be published and implemented, and how progress will be reviewed and reported.

The DDA duties will remain in place until the 2010 Equality Act comes into force. The main provisions are expected to be implemented in October 2010 with the public sector equality duty, the socio-economic duty and dual discrimination protection becoming effective from April 2011.

How the Council will comply with the general Disability Equality Duty

Requirement / How we will comply
Promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and other people /
  • Promoting equal access to Council services and services contracted out to other agencies for disabled people;
  • Promoting equal access to Council jobs for disabled people;
  • Providing accessible information about our services;
  • Improving the life chances and outcomes for disabled people in Greenwich;
  • Training staff to raise awareness and promote equality of opportunity between disabled and non-disabled people;
  • Ensuring that events we host or support are accessible to all members of the community.

Eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act /
  • Monitoring service uptake, outcomes and satisfaction for disabled people;
  • Carrying out equality monitoring reviews on services, functions and policies and undertaking specific activity to address any identified negative impact on disabled people;
  • Consulting disabled people on the likely impact of proposed new policies;
  • Integrating disability equality criteria within service contracts and monitoring these;
  • Training staff so that they are aware of the Council’s equality policy and standards and how they apply in their day-to-day work;
  • Monitoring workforce representation by disabled people and undertaking specific targeted action.

Eliminate harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability /
  • Tackling harassment and bullying of disabled people in the workplace;
  • Making our staff aware of their legal responsibilities and of how to report incidents of harassment;
  • Tackling hate crime against disabled people through multi-agency partnership working.

Promote positive attitudes towards disabled people /
  • Providing our staff with training to ensure they are aware of the needs of disabled people and treat disabled people with dignity and respect;
  • Reporting positive stories and using positive images of disabled people in our publications.
  • Making good use of the opportunities presented by the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Encourage participation by disabled people in public life /
  • Involving disabled people in influencing Council policies and the way in which we deliver our services;
  • Engaging disabled people in key partnerships such as the Local Strategic Partnership;
  • Ensuring that disabled councillors and other representatives are able to carry out the full range of their duties;
  • Ensuring public meetings are held in fully accessible venues and at times that are suitable for disabled people;
  • Encouraging and supporting disabled people to take up community activities and public duties.

Take steps to meet disabled peoples needs even if this requires more favourable treatment /
  • Taking the needs and views of disabled people into account when we design and deliver services, make access improvements or develop policies;
  • Continuously monitoring and improving the ways in which we deliver services to disabled people.

3 Arrangements for assessing impact, gathering information and putting the information to use

In 2009, the Council adopted the Equality Framework for Local Government which replaces the Equality Standard. This provides a framework for ensuring that equality is embedded in the Council’s mainstream arrangements for planning, monitoring and reviewing its activities. The Council is aiming to achieve the highest level (3) by March 2011.

Assessing the impact of Council services and policies

All new or proposed services and policies within the Council must be assessed for their equality impact to ensure they do not have an adverse effect on disabled people. They must take into account the views of people likely to be affected. Disabled people will therefore be consulted on relevant proposed policies. A key focus of equality impact assessments will be to identify any potential barriers to service uptake or outcomes and ensure that these are addressed or mitigated.

All equality impact assessments and reviews are published on our website and copies are available on request.

Gathering information

Most services provided by or contracted out by the Council routinely monitor whether users are disabled or not. This information is used to monitor service take-up, outcomes and satisfaction. Where there are unjustifiable disparities between disabled and non disabled people, targets will be set and an action plan developed to address them. Where information is difficult to obtain through routine monitoring we will collect information through surveys or other methods.

We require that any relevant services we commission will collect monitoring data and we will monitor compliance with the Disability Equality Duty.

We also monitor any disability discrimination related incidents and complaints that occur as part of the delivery of a Council service.

We will monitor the participation of disabled people in public life by the numbers of disabled Councillors, school governors and similar democratic bodies.

Education

Information related to disability and special education need is collected to analyse achievements at different educational key stages. A disability register is maintained to support children and young people with social care needs. A statement of Special Education Need (SEN) is prepared in order to provide person centred support to the disabled child or young person. The Council works closely with schools to collect information on admission, achievement, access and the experience of children who are disabled or have special education needs.

Our strategy is to use existing, coordinated ways of gathering information on equality, inclusion and anti bullying related initiatives through:

  • the School Health Education Unit survey distributed by Greenwich Primary Care Trust;
  • monitoring incidents of bullying;
  • encouraging schools and other organisations to have their own systems of gathering data and other information in order to monitor patterns and trends;
  • focus groups involving children and young people;
  • the school Self Evaluation Form;
  • liaising with Governor's Services to identify how many parental complaints have involved bullying.

Employment

Information on disability is collected on applications for Council jobs, recruitment, training and secondments, grievances and disciplinaries. This information is compared with non disabled people and presented at least annually to the Social InclusionScrutiny Panel – an elected Member panel.

There are opportunities for staff to raise concerns with their managers through the Performance, Review and Development Scheme. Staff can also raise issues at a forum for disabled staff.

The Council will continue to encourage staff to declare a disability through information campaigns and questionnaires.

A staff attitudes survey is undertaken every other year, which enables us to analyse the views of disabled staff.

Putting the information to use for service planning

All Council services analyse their equality monitoring data and where appropriate set equality targets to reduce disparities in service uptake, outcomes and satisfaction between disabled and non disabled users and staff.

Equality objectives, targets and actions are incorporated into service plans and linked to a named individual within the Council. These are used to inform the Council’s Corporate Equality Plan which is published each year.

4Our responsibilities for the education of disabled children

Our Directorate of Children’s Services aim to achieve five outcomes for all children and young people in the Greenwich. These outcomes, set out in ‘Every Child Matters’, are that children and young people should: be healthy; stay safe; enjoy and achieve; make a positive contribution; and achieve economic well being. We are conscious of the multiple barriers disabled children may face in achieving these outcomes, and are committed to:

  • promoting high standards of education for children with disability and special education needs (SEN);
  • encouraging children with disability and additional educational needs to participate fully in their school and community and to take part in decisions about their education and care plan;
  • collectinginformation about disability and special education needs in consultation with schools, in order to identify needs and develop appropriate support;
  • supportingschools in implementing their duties under the disability discrimination legislation;
  • encouragingschools to share their practice in making special educational provision for children with disability and additional educational needs;
  • working with other statutory and voluntary bodies to provide support for children with disabilities and additional educational needs;
  • protectingdisabled children and young people from abuse and neglect.

Our vision is for all children and young people to have the opportunity to learn in their local community, with access to an education that meets their individual needs, and enables them to develop their full potential emotionally, socially and academically. Our work is underpinned by the principles of the duty of care to safeguard children and everyone's right to be treated with respect and dignity.

5Our role as an employer

The Council is committed to achieving a diverse workforce, which represents the local labour market. A key part of this is to improve the representation of disabled people.

Currently (2010) approximately 2.5% of employees have reported that they are disabled according to the DDA definition.

As an employer we are committed to:

  • interviewing all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a job vacancy, in line with the Disability Symbol awarded by Jobcentre Plus;
  • providing and receiving job applications in alternative formats such as Braille, audio and large print;
  • making reasonable adjustments including funding for workplace adaptations and aids in order for people with disabilities to secure and remain in employment with us;
  • offering work life balance options, for example, flexible working, which can improve the recruitment and retention of disabled people;
  • monitoring, reviewing and challenging employment policies and practices and setting improvement targets and actions;
  • maintaining and developing existing equality monitoring procedures and take appropriate improvement actions;
  • consulting our workforce to ensure we understand issues of concern, needs and expectations;
  • training our workforce, to raise awareness and understanding of disability issues in the workplace;
  • conducting regular staff surveys.

6Involving disabled people

The Council is firmly committed to the involvement of disabled people and over the period of the Scheme we will aim to strengthen and enhance this.

Current arrangements for involving disabled people include:

  • Greenwich Association of Disabled People has a formal role advising the Local Strategic Partnership Board on disability issues;
  • The Greenwich Community Network of Disabled People enables the views of disabled people to feed into strategic partnerships and the service priorities within the Local Area Agreement;
  • Our arrangements for equality impact assessments ensure that disabled people are consulted on all relevant proposed policies and plans;
  • People with learning disabilities are involved in planning and reviewing services through the joint planning forums;
  • The Council has supported the development of a deaf action group run by deaf people;
  • The Council supports a forum for disabled employees;
  • There are regular meetings with representative organisations such as Greenwich Association of Disabled People;
  • The Supporting People Team runs a regular forum involving service users. It also has a dedicated Information and Service User Involvement Officer whose role is to ensure that service users have a say in developing the Supporting People programme;
  • Each summer, the Council carries out a number of events called ‘The Great Get Together’ designed to take consultation out to the community and involve people who do not usually attend consultation meetings.

Preparing the Disability Equality Scheme