Capturing the Value of the Disability Equality
Duty
Early impact, benefits and lessons learnt across five
central government departments
Report for the Disability Rights Commission
May 2007
Contents
1. Executive Summary ................................................................................ 3
Key research findings .............................................................................. 3
2. Introduction and methodology ................................................................. 7
The Disability Equality Duty (DED) .......................................................... 7
Methodology............................................................................................ 8
3. Main research findings ............................................................................ 9
Prioritised and embedded........................................................................ 9
Leadership of the Duty .......................................................................... 14
Involvement of disabled people and action planning ............................. 18
Evidence base and impact assessments ............................................... 27
Training and implementation ................................................................. 31
Wider objectives .................................................................................... 32
Lessons learnt ....................................................................................... 34
4. Conclusions .......................................................................................... 37
5. Appendix 1 – Interviewees .................................................................... 38
Appendix 2 – Interview guide .................................................................... 39
Interview questions - senior department officials ................................... 39
Interview questions - equality officials in departments ........................... 41
1. Executive Summary
This report presents findings from research conducted by the Office for
Public Management (OPM) on behalf of the Disability Rights Commission
(DRC). The aim of the research was to capture the early indicators of the
value of the Disability Equality Duty (DED) in five central government
departments and in particular the benefits brought about by departments
developing their Disability Equality Schemes (DES).
Researchers interviewed twelve government officials ranging from equality
officers, directors, directors general across the five departments and the
Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. Interviews were transcribed, coded and
analysed for key themes and findings.
Key research findings
A higher status for disability equality
Interviewees reported that disability equality had risen up the agenda of
their department and the fact that the DED is a legislative requirement had
proved a useful tool in raising the prominence of disability equality. This
new focus on disability equality had happened in an atmosphere of
competing pressures around both other strands of the equalities agenda
and the core work of the departments.
The DED had helped to bring about the following improvements:
Led to departments adopting a more integrated approach to disability
equality, with these issues being considered more fully in relation to a wider
range of departmental policies, strategies and services;
Provided a stronger focus for action on disability equality with work around
the involvement of disabled people leading to actions being prioritised in
the Scheme’s action plans;
Led to improved structures and processes for promoting the DED, such as
the creation in some departments of Disability Equality Duty Groups which
involve senior managers with the role of taking forward the duty across
departments.
Senior leadership
Focused and high level leadership around the DED was viewed as critical
to the success of the DED and the implementation of effective schemes. All
interviewees reported that leadership at a senior level was essential in
responding to, and implementing, the DED within their department.
More specifically, leadership on the DED can help:
Provide an “emblematic value” to the issue of disability equality as it sent a
message to the organisation that disability equality was a priority within the
department and government more widely;
Enhance the level of commitment from policy colleagues and staff more
widely to taking forward the work required under the DED;
Bring about practical benefits to the way in which services and policies are
implemented, often leading to improved Schemes which managed to
secure real changes and benefits for disabled people;
Help apply pressure at key moments in the development of the DES to
achieve significant policy wins.
Involvement of disabled people
People that participated in the interviews reported that the DED has
improved their department’s involvement of disabled people. A wide range
of methods were used to engage with both disabled staff and external
stakeholders and disability organisations in the formulation of the DES.
The involvement of disabled people led to the following benefits:
More disabled people being engaged with policy development earlier in the
policy cycle and at a more strategic level within the department;
The action plans emerging from the DED reflected the real priorities and
needs of disabled people themselves;
Enabled stereotypes and prejudices around disability held by staff and the
wider department to be challenged;
Raised awareness and commitment to further disability equality.
Evidence and impact assessments
Research participants expressed the view that the DED had led to
improvements in how their department had developed its evidence base in
relation to disability equality. Mapping work that took place as a result of
the DED had enabled an identification of gaps in the data and this
consequently had led to changes in how and what evidence was collected.
The DED had helped departments:
Improve the way evidence was collected and used, with data sets and
approaches to monitoring becoming much more focused on disability and
progress in this area;
Develop a more joined-up approach to developing an evidence base on
disability across government departments.
Disability Equality Impact Assessments were also considered by research
participants to be carried out in more depth and more consistently as a
result of the DED.
Training and implementation
Initial and ongoing training on the DED was considered an essential
element of progressing and embedding departments’ work on the DED.
Factors which supported the success of training include:
The involvement of good speakers from organisations such as the DRC
and the Office for Disability Issues in training events;
The involvement of senior individuals such as Directors General and
Permanent Secretaries which ensured that staff understood that this work
was a priority.
Helping meet wider objectives
Most research participants stated that the gains made under the DED in
relation to disability equality were shared more widely within and outside
the department. Examples given included:
The influence of the DED in ensuring that information had been presented
in a more accessible format and this had benefits for non-disabled people
as well;
Helping the government meet wider targets such as an employment rate of
80 per cent;
Encouraging a more cross-departmental approach to disability issues to
respond to the requirements of the DED such as exploring opportunities for
more joined up approaches to disability equality as well as pooling
evidence and information between departments such as DWP and DCLG.
Barriers and lessons learnt
A number of interviewees felt that the three different Duties relating to race,
disability and gender as well as legislation in relation to age, sexual
orientation and religion was resource intensive for departments and also
created competing pressures. To counter this people we spoke with felt
that the early release of guidance and support on how to respond to the
Duties was helpful.
The main lessons learnt were:
 Government departments need to allow sufficient time and resources
for the involvement of disabled people in developing the DES due to
the process of gaining access to a wide range of disabled people who
have other priorities in their lives, have limited time and who may
already be involved in similar activities;
 The need to build ownership around the DES amongst all staff within
the department, external partners and customers right from the very
beginning of the work to ensure successful implementation.
2. Introduction and methodology
This report contains the findings of research conducted by the Office for
Public Management (OPM) on behalf of the Disability Rights Commission
(DRC) into benefits gained and lessons learnt in preparing for the Disability
Equality Duty (DED) and the preparation of Disability Equality Schemes
(DES) in five central government departments. The central government
departments selected were: The Department for Skills and Education
(DfES); The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI); The Department for
Work and Pensions (DWP); The Department for International Development
(DFID); and Communities and Local Government. The research aims to
capture the benefits of producing a DES and as such the five government
departments selected had produced relatively comprehensive Schemes
and are therefore considered to be in a good position to comment on the
benefits of complying with the specific DED requirements.
As stated, the specific objectives of the research were to assess the gains,
positive impacts and lessons learnt resulting from the work conducted by
government departments in relation to the DED and in preparing their DES.
The report considers the impact and benefits of: the leadership of the DED
by senior civil servants; the involvement of disabled people; developing the
evidence base and impact assessments; action planning; and the
implementation of the DES.
The Disability Equality Duty (DED)
The DED came into force on the 4 December 2006 and places a legal
requirement on public authorities to promote disability equality across the
public sector. The DED states public authorities must have due regard to
the need to promote disability equality in proportion to its relevance. All
public authorities covered by the specific duties must:
 publish a Disability Equality Scheme (including within it an Action
Plan);
 involve disabled people in producing the Scheme and Action Plan;
 demonstrate they have taken actions in the Scheme and achieved
appropriate outcomes;
 report on progress;
 review and revise the Scheme.
The DRC has a major role to play in challenging and supporting public
bodies in developing and implementing a DES and Action Plan. It has
produced sector specific guidance for different public bodies, including
guidance for government departments and a number of tailored documents
to help bodies with different aspects of DED implementation, such as
guidance on involving disabled people, conducting impact assessments
and evidence gathering.
Methodology
The research took the form of a small qualitative study comprising twelve
semi-structured interviews with senior individuals such as Equality Officers,
Directors, Directors General across five government departments and the
Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus. A full list of interviewees is appended to
this report. Interviews allowed the researchers to make links between
changes in attitudes and behaviour over time and explore the reasons for
these changes. Eight out of the 12 interviews took place face to face with
the remaining 4 conducted over the telephone. In some circumstances,
interviews were conducted in a group setting with a Director or DirectorGeneral and the relevant Equality Officer or Advisor. The face to face
interviews were tape recorded and transcribed. Telephone interviews were
simultaneously transcribed. All interview notes were then coded and sorted
into an analytical framework allowing the research team to identify key
themes and report on findings.
3. Main research findings
This section of the report presents the key findings from interviews across
the five government departments in relation to the introduction of the DED
and the process of drawing up and implementing their DES.
Prioritised and embedded
Interviewees reported that the introduction of the DED had ensured that
disability equality was both prioritised and embedded in the work of their
department. Most interviewees felt certain that disability equality had risen
up the agenda in their department due to the DED and developing the
DES. The DED, in contrast to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), has
an institutional discrimination focus and this focus on institutions as
opposed to individual discrimination was considered especially helpful. The
fact that the DED introduced a legislative requirement on departments to
promote disability equality at an institutional level is seen by many as a
critical lever to ensure disability equality is moved up the agenda both
within individual departments and across wider government.
“Because the DED is a legislative requirement it’s really got support. The
DED impacts across all directorates and so provided a lever for everyone
to address their policies and look at where they are now and where they
want to be and how can we make things better.” Rosie Purshouse,
Mainstreaming Advisor, DfES
The DED was seen by some as having the most impact in areas where it’s
clearer to make direct links to disability equality such as where agencies
are providing a service to the public.
“It’s had most relevance to areas like employment relations, consumer
law – areas where there’s a direct relevance to individuals. Also in our
executive agencies, for example the Insolvency Service, where they’re
providing a service to the public and you can monitor the quality of the
service they’re providing to individuals – it’s [disability equality] definitely
moved up the agenda there.” Nicola Cullen, Project Manager, DTI
Some interviewees also felt that although disability equality had risen up
the agenda in their department, this was balanced with other pressures and
requirements such as other equality strands or business drives.
“You’ve got to look at this against other factors that are going on. So for
instance there’s a Whitehall wide diversity action plan which is focused
more on the internal representation of people at different levels. There’s
quite a strong thrust on this. The fact that you have race and gender as
well as disability - there’s a collective impact of all of this.” John Alty,
Director-General, DTI
However, despite competing pressures many interviewees felt the DED
had led to a more embedded and integrated approach to disability equality
within their department’s work.
“The fact that it’s a legal requirement means that people aren’t just
thinking about disability if they have a particular personal interest.
Everybody is bound by the Duty and we did stress that this goes across
our department’s work, it covers procurement, it covers the department as
an employer, it covers communication it covers everything that we do and
this has been particularly helpful in relation to areas where disability does
not seem most obvious.” Teresa Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team
Leader, DfES
As a result of the Duty focusing on institutional discrimination, the wide
ranging nature of the Duty has enabled departments to think holistically
about the work they do and how this relates to disability equality. This has
been particularly helpful in areas which may not initially seem directly
relevant to disability equality. The process of responding to the Duty has
given departments the opportunity to assess what they do in all aspects
and capacities and to examine how it relates to disabled people and
disabled rights.
“I think the scheme has helped in that it has enabled all various parts of
the department to look at what they are doing and see if there is anything
that has relevance to disability equality issues which they may have done
before but not to any great degree. It's an occasion for people to look at
what they are doing and see how it affects disability.” Andrew Tindall,
Human Rights Advisor, Communities and Local Government
In particular, interviewees commented that the DED has provided a focus
for action through encouraging specific commitments from directorates and
departments and helping staff focus on what the department is trying to
achieve as evidenced in departments’ Action Plans.
“This isn't an area where one can talk in generalities, you've actually got
specific issues and I think that really does concentrate minds.” Susan
Scholefield, Director-General, Communities and Local Government
This was seen as essential in large complex departments with a number of
Executive Agencies and Non Departmental Public Bodies.
“In a big complex organisation like ours some people would have greater
skill or understanding depending on their job role and experience but
particularly in a business that is transforming it helped focus our people
on what it’s trying to achieve.” Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive,
Jobcentre Plus
Reflecting a more integrated and embedded approach to disability equality,
many interviewees felt that the DED had promoted awareness of disability
equality at an earlier stage in their department’s work including its planning
and policy processes.
“The DED has highlighted for instance that we need to build it [disability
equality] into business planning and we need to look at our impact
assessment methodology across the board in order to capture disability
impact effectively. So it's alerted the whole way we do equalities; that we
need to build it into our processes in all different stages.” Sheila Fletcher,
Diversity Policy Manager, Communities and Local Government
A number of interviewees expressed the view that earlier awareness,
consideration and action on disability equality has meant a more integrated
and meaningful consideration of disability equality in their department.
Further to a more integrated and thorough approach to disability equality, a
number of interviewees felt that the DED had created and/or strengthened
structures within their department and across government to progress
disability equality through the creation of DED groups.
“I’m also on the DED group this allows us to share good practice with
other government departments.” Rosie Purshouse, Mainstreaming
Advisor, DfES
Some of these newly created structures facilitated direct access to senior
individuals in government for disabled people.
“We had a steering group to guide the development of DES. The steering
group was comprised of representatives from all the policy areas within
the department and disabled people so at least once a month sitting
round the table we had representatives from disability groups, such as
Disability Equality in Education and the Alliance for Inclusion and leading
people in the department having a direct conversation. We also had a
representative from the Pakistani community and because this
representative sat directly with people that lead the policy on 14-19 year
olds they were able to get into quite a detailed practical discussion on
how they support this better and refine the policy and make it better. The
representative was saying that families can be particularly protective, that
there can be double protective issue due to culture and disability and that
trying to find provision that was culturally sensitive and accessible was
particularly challenging.” Rosie Purshouse, Mainstreaming Advisor,
DfES
These direct conversations between disabled people and policy leads led
to a better understanding of the issues relating to particular policy areas. In
particular direct access assisted policy leads and decision makers in their
understanding of the complexity and variety of disabled people’s lived
experience which helped to dispel myths around disability.
Many interviewees made the point that they were not starting from a
‘brownfield’ site and that much work had already been undertaken in their
department and across government to improve opportunities for both
disabled staff and service users. Interviewees reported that the DED was
timely as it built on a significant commitment to disability equality that their
department had already evidenced, for example, through their department’s
Disability Equality Plans which some had developed.
“The commitment to disability equality was evident but the DED has
brought more awareness.” Debbie Heigh, Director of Diversity, DWP
However, it was broadly agreed that there remains progress to be made to
achieve further equality for disabled people and that the DED provided a
framework and catalyst for the ongoing commitment and enthusiasm
towards disability equality that exists within government departments.
“The thing is this is an ever evolving process, we will constantly strive to
educate ourselves and our policy colleagues: we are in for the long game.
By 2009 DfES won’t have cracked it but we will constantly strive to
improve and the DES gives us the framework to do it. We can’t change
the world overnight but we’ve asked directorates to identify key policies to
work towards. I think the key thing is that we are committed to do this.”
Teresa Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES
The DED was felt to be particularly useful in sustaining an ongoing focus
and commitment to disability equality which could otherwise slip down the
agenda due to competing pressures. For example, the training delivered to
senior managers was seen by one Director as a helpful tool in keeping
disability equality at the top of the department’s agenda. In addition, the
Secretary of State reporting requirement in 2008 was also seen as a helpful
tool in sustaining commitment to disability equality.
Leadership of the Duty
All interviewees saw senior level leadership as critical to realising the
potential benefits and full impact of the DED. Leadership was located at
Board level and departments often had a disability champion, usually a
Director General or Permanent Secretary, who sat on the Board to oversee
the progress of the DED.
“We also had a disability champion on the board. It is important that it is
the highest powered people within the organisation who are making sure
this is happening.” Teresa Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team
Leader, DfES
Some interviewees reported that senior level individuals had put
themselves forward as disability champions as they had a particular
commitment to disability equality and wanted this commitment to be shared
by the whole department. In other cases, the Management Board had
requested a senior civil servant to serve as their disability champion.
“The department’s senior leadership team was involved in how we were
going to tackle doing the schemes and ministers were involved in signing
the schemes off. There was a significant amount of senior input.” Debbie
Heigh, Director of Diversity, DWP
“The Management Board recognised leadership needed to come from
them. In light of that they have asked for there to be a senior civil servant
champion on disability – he will champion taking these issues forward and
thread commitment throughout the organisations. Commitment needs to
be role modelled from the top of the department.” Kamaljit KerridgePoonia, Diversity Advisor, DFID
Senior leadership of the DED was seen as bringing both practical gains to
the DES as well as having emblematic value, sending out an unequivocal
message that disability equality is important and prioritised within the
department.
“It sends out a message about where it fits in terms of priorities and
incentives.” Richard Montgomery, Head of Corporate Human
Resources, DFID
“I think with anything that you want to signal as important you need to
demonstrate senior leadership . . . diversity is hard, it’s not a quick fix and
if you want to get results you need to be in it for the long haul and send a
message to senior managers that it’s important.” Lesley Strathie, Chief
Executive, Jobcentre Plus
Interviewees stated that senior leadership of the DED has led to an
enhanced commitment from colleagues in producing the DES.
“There is an emblematic value really, to be able to say, ‘Well before we
send this through to the Director General can you look at it very carefully’,
carries more weight unfortunately then if we said ‘Before we send this to
our Equalities Officer’. I think policy colleagues are aware that there is
support at the top for this and I definitely think that as a result they went
the extra mile for this.” Teresa Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team
Leader, DfES
For example, having a Permanent Secretary or Director General leading on
the process of developing the DES meant an invigorated response from
staff to requests for information such as screening questionnaires.
Essentially, senior level leadership is viewed as crucial for ‘making things
happen’, for holding managers and policy colleagues to account on the
DED and ensuring strong lines of accountability.
“I launched my own diversity challenge pledge which was signed by me
and my Director of External Relationships at an event with our top 200
leaders and they have taken forward their own individual pledges from
that. They will all be held to account on delivery against this by each other
and by me. Guidance will be followed through on – if you don’t have
senior leadership you have people saying, ‘I don’t understand’ or ‘I can’t
do this’ and it doesn’t happen.” Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive,
Jobcentre Plus
Senior leadership enabled departments to secure the commitment of
managers both in the process of drawing up the DES but also in its
implementation and ongoing review.
Further to managers and staff commitment to the DED, some interviewees
felt that senior leadership has led to an improved scheme in their
department achieving some significant wins in relation to policy which may
not otherwise have happened.
“We were chasing some critical changes and at that point we said to our
Director that policy areas couldn't agree to it without more senior
approval. He raised that with the Permanent Secretary and the
Permanent Secretary said, ‘I want you to do it’. So we went back to the
policy areas and said we want these big changes and we got them. I like
to think that we would have got most of the way eventually but having him
pushing it at the final stages meant that we got those last results.” Sheila
Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager, Communities and Local
Government
As a consequence, departments and in particular equality officers have
been able to push for services which will make huge differences for
disabled people and which had been prioritised by disabled people
themselves.
“The Scheme would have been ok, it would have been adequate but it
wouldn't have delivered the big results that it will [without senior
leadership]. For example, with inclusive design we’ve managed to alter
the funding stream that goes to the body that we sponsor and they will
now undertake a major programme of work on inclusive design.” Sheila
Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager, Communities and Local
Government
One interviewee described the dynamic and impact of senior leadership as
“a virtuous circle – you have more commitment in place and also better
quality” (Teresa Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES).
Moreover, senior level commitment to disability equality under the Duty has
led in certain cases to changes in policy which support the participation of
disabled people in public life.
“We also managed to get the Local Government White Paper altered and that really was the Permanent Secretary’s intervention. It was going
to Parliament and we wanted to put in changes about engaging with
disabled people in the local area and also requiring it as part of what will
be measured. We knew those were the changes we were after and we
needed him [the Permanent Secretary] in those final stages to tip the
balance.” Sheila Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager, Communities
and Local Government
Leadership from the very top of the departments was considered necessary
by many of the interviewees to apply the pressure needed in certain cases
to achieve the critical gains that were secured in developing the DED.
Lastly, senior level leadership of the DED opened access between senior
leadership and Equalities Officers which enabled Equalities Officers to
have direct access to senior decision makers within the department.
“We had access to him [the Permanent Secretary] and could use that
avenue immediately and we did which allowed us to push policy areas
further. If we had had to go through more layers it may not have
happened in the same way.” Sheila Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager,
Communities and Local Government
Some interviewees felt this direct access resulted in more advanced and
more effective DESs.
Involvement of disabled people and action planning
Involvement of disabled people was seen as a critical element in the
departments’ response to the DED, drawing up their DES and identifying
and prioritising actions in the Schemes’ Action Plans. Interviewees
expressed their commitment to ensuring the involvement of disabled
people was meaningful and ‘real’ and not simply limited to consultation.
This often meant involving both internal and external stakeholders at an
early stage in the process and being clear about what the purpose of
involvement was.
“We were careful that it was involvement not consultation. We decided
that partly it’s a matter of timing: consultation is going out there and
saying ‘Here’s one we made earlier’ whereas involvement is going out
there and saying ‘Here’s one we’re going to make, how do you think we
should make it?’ That’s the difference.” Teresa Clark, Equality
Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES
“The other spin off from the Duty is that we are now much more proactive
in involving disabled people in our policy making processes. We ensure
the impact of changes are considered before implementation which is a
real win for us because there has been a tendency historically to develop
policy and then ask key stakeholders to quality assure the process.
Involvement is now early in the process and shapes the way forward.”
Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive, Jobcentre Plus
Many departments showed a dedication to involving a wide range of
disabled people, from different backgrounds, areas of expertise and with
different impairments. Policy makers, senior officials and equality officers
were all part of the drive to involve disabled people in the development of
their department’s DES.
“We had national and local events; these enabled disabled people to set
priorities. There was a clear message that our staff needed more training
and so the external involvement of disabled people reached the same
conclusion as our internal involvement.” Debbie Heigh, Director of
Diversity, DWP
In addition, some departments had asked disabled staff to lead on the
recruitment of external disabled people and groups which helped secure
the involvement of a good spread of disability organisations. Other methods
of ensuring a spread of impairment types and experiences included
working in partnership with the DRC to gain advice around this and also
working with umbrella organisations such as Trade Unions.
External involvement
Interviewees talked at length about the impact and clear benefits of
involving external disabled people in developing their department’s DES.
Involvement methods were wide ranging and varied including events,
forums and interviews. Most interviewees felt that drawing on the
experiences and insights of disabled people led to some very clear
messages about what was important to prioritise within the Action Plan and
policy responses.
“I think we found out that disabled people are the experts – they are the
people experiencing these problems in their everyday lives. We can
surmise what these problems are but we aren’t actually living that
experience so it was really really valuable. Bullying was a key finding in
our involvement with disabled people from the disabled children right
through to disabled adults who had experienced bullying. That was a key
finding and as a result there will be new guidance on bullying for schools
and also schools are required to keep a log book of incidents for race and
the new guidance may well also encourage schools to keep a log for
disability also. We are also speaking to schools about their own disability
equality schemes – this is a key action for them – and they need the
evidence about disability incidents so they can look at how to reduce it.”
Teresa Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES
Once a priority area had been identified through the involvement of
disabled people, officials responsible for co-ordinating the DES were able
to present this to policy makers back in their departments to ensure an
appropriate policy response could be developed.
“Because that event happened in November I was able to take all the
priorities those children and young people had voiced and bring them
back to policy colleagues and reflect them in the DES, they were there as
a priority in the action plan. We brought the finding back to the antibullying team here in the department and they are doing a suite of
guidance on different aspects of discrimination, including racist and
homophobic bullying and as a result of the very high profile of disability
groups involved in this the next volume in this suite is going to be about
countering bullying of disabled children.” Teresa Clark, Equality
Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES
The involvement of disability organisations and people also had a direct
impact on policy decisions within the DES in some cases by raising senior
managers’ awareness of the experiences of disabled people.
“At some events, senior managers attended from relevant policy areas. At
the housing event we had the policy lead for Social Housing and other
colleagues and where we were talking about building control we had
those senior managers. I believe that by having had those managers
attending this encouraged them to agree the Lifetime Homes action so I
think there was a direct benefit to having those staff involved.” Sheila
Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager, Communities and Local
Government
Bringing staff and disabled people together was seen as beneficial in
educating staff and senior managers about disability related issues and
helping some officials to take on board the complex and diverse issues
related to disability.
“I think the event demystified disability for staff. It enabled disabled people
to be seen for who they are, real people with real needs and feelings and
not just a group to whom we acknowledge that we must do something for
them but what can we do? There are a vast range of disabilities and a
vast range of needs.” Rosie Purshouse, Mainstreaming Advisor, DfES
Involvement of disabled people challenged some of the myths and
stereotypes around disability.
“Very often we have long held prejudices and perceptions around what’s
good for disabled people – unless you have this involvement you deny
yourself the opportunity to be surprised. The Duty has helped us to do it
better.” Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive, Jobcentre Plus
Some interviewees felt that the Duty and the related involvement of
disabled people was helpful in raising awareness amongst staff on
disability equality issues which can be particularly challenging to take hold
of when focused on delivering a programme of work.
“The involvement of disabled people has raised awareness which can be
quite a challenge if you're very focused on a programme. Policy areas are
learning they need to take account of disability in the early stages.”
Susan Scholefield, Director-General, Communities and Local
Government
Ultimately, many interviewees felt that the involvement of disabled people
enabled their department to produce better Schemes which addressed the
needs of people with a range of impairments, including learning disabled
people.
“We decided to produce an Easy Read version of the Scheme and we
went down to Cambridge to meet the team, a group of 5 people with
learning disabilities and it was such an education to watch how they
looked at the text. For example, there was a girl with Down’s syndrome
and she said ‘I don’t like that picture’ and I said ‘Why not? And she said
‘Because the man is behind you and that would make me jump’. And it
was a real insight into how people with a learning disability may see
things. It was really inspirational. From now on we are creating Easy read
versions of all our schemes.” Rosie Purshouse, Mainstreaming
Advisor, DfES
In addition to helping departments identify and prioritise actions and raising
awareness amongst staff, a number of interviewees felt that the
involvement of disabled people built an ownership of the DES within their
department and the wider disability led organisations that had been
involved.
“I launched our DES in Streatham in December with lots of our disabled
customers who have gone from unemployment to successful careers. I’ve
had many experiences of launching schemes where people come up
afterwards to tell me what’s wrong with it but this was really welcomed.
Many people felt involved in the process and therefore had ownership of
the scheme. Involving our customers, our people and their networks, and
key stakeholders meant all of us were in it together.” Lesley Strathie,
Chief Executive, Jobcentre Plus
Involvement and shared ownership had created a shared vision of what the
Scheme and department was trying to achieve. Furthermore, there is a
feeling in some departments that recent involvement has led to more of an
ongoing dialogue with disabled people facilitated by the channels of
communication being opened with disability organisations.
“We’ve opened channels of communication particularly with disabled
people’s organisations and children and young people who are now
talking to us about policies and say ‘Have you thought about this and
have you thought about that?’ And we can feed this back in.” Rosie
Purshouse, Mainstreaming Advisor, DfES
Interviewees saw the ongoing involvement of disabled people as essential
in ensuring their department will meet its aims in the action plan and to
further improve the evolving document.
“The involvement of disabled people has created a much richer and
finessed DES as a result. And of course the ongoing involvement of
disabled people will fine tune the actions within the action plan because
there may be things we haven’t picked up yet and people might say,
that’s very interesting but have you thought about X, Y and Z?” Teresa
Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES
Research participants stressed the need for involvement of disabled people
to be properly resourced to ensure it is meaningful and effective. As such,
resources to involve disabled people in the future of the DES can often be
found in departments’ Action Plans and related budgets.
Internal involvement
The involvement of disabled staff in the development of the DES often built
on existing good practice and involvement within departments. However,
the DES offered a renewed emphasis on involvement in policy at a fairly
high level which was a change of emphasis for some departments.
“Although we did talk to disabled staff through their meetings we had
already developed a set of actions with them to improve the employment
experience. We could say ‘Ok let's move on from internal issues, are
there external policy issues you think should be changed?’ And disabled
staff acted as volunteers to provide advice to particular policy areas.”
Sheila Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager, Communities and Local
Government
One of the challenges of this type of involvement was that some more
junior disabled staff needed support around engaging at this policy level.
“We learnt we need capacity building for disabled staff to be involved at a
policy level. A consultant will be brought in to develop our disabled staff
network’s capability to participate. There will then be more capacity for
people to take part in impact assessments and policy debates.” Kamaljit
Kerridge-Poonia, Diversity Advisor, DFID
When disabled staff were involved in developing policy the benefits were
two fold as it developed the learning of both the individuals and the
department.
“Disabled staff are often in lower grades – this process allowed them to
develop policy so their learning grows as well as the organisations.”
Kamaljit Kerridge-Poonia, Diversity Advisor, DFID
The most significant benefit of involving disabled staff in the development
of the DES was the amount of accurate and relevant information they were
able to feed into the process giving the Schemes an added credibility and
enabling Schemes to address priorities directly identified by disabled
people.
“We get better intelligence – what are the issues, what is it really about,
rather than assuming or double guessing what the issues are. This was
our opportunity to get research based intelligence on what our actions
should be and involving disabled people gives it credibility.” Kamaljit
Kerridge-Poonia, Diversity Advisor, DFID
“I think the biggest impact from the action plan will be the training. This
will take time, we have 110,000 staff. The training will make people more
aware of disability equality and this will have the most benefit. This was
the clearest message which came out of our involvement of disabled
people and it is now prioritised in the action plan.” Debbie Heigh,
Director of Diversity, DWP
Internal involvement also supported departments to prioritise their
objectives as in many cases there were very clear messages from disabled
staff about what needed to happen. As a result of this involvement
departments have now been able to prioritise objectives and related actions
in their Action Plan.
“The main benefit is that we got from staff the universal view that staff
themselves needed more training - this is now reflected in the schemes
and prioritised in the action plan.” Debbie Heigh, Director of Diversity,
DWP
Challenges to involvement
Interviewees commented on a number of challenges to involving disabled
people in the development of the DES. Most frequently these related to
time pressures recognising that meaningful involvement takes both time
and resources. In addition, as government departments and other public
authorities were developing their Schemes in a similar timeframe,
identifying disability groups to work with that had capacity was also
challenging.
“The first thing is you need to find the people – talking to the DRC about
this helped us.” Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive, Jobcentre Plus
“We left ourselves with really quite a short amount of time in which to do
our stakeholder engagement. We were also quite aware that everybody
else was doing this at the same time and there are only so many groups
out there that can give you a representative voice.” Nicola Cullen,
Project Manager, DTI
For some departments, for example those that were not service providers
but were creators of policy, stakeholder engagement presented more of a
challenge than for others.
“There wasn't any model to do it, we are not a service organisation; we
don't have direct users so it was difficult to find a technique to engage
disabled people.” Sheila Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager,
Communities and Local Government
A number of interviewees commented that the DRC had been helpful in
supporting their approach to engaging with disabled people and
organisations.
“We worked with the DRC, on involvement that was very helpful, coming
up with ideas with us on how to do it and suggesting organisations that
we could partner with to use their contacts or work with to organise
events.” Sheila Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager, Communities and
Local Government
Consideration of accessible venues and the involvement of disabled people
across the nation presented supplementary issues for departments to
address.
“Also where do you hold the meeting? We involved over 180 disabled
people from Scotland, England and Wales most of whom identify
themselves as disabled. We made sure that we interviewed these people
in venues that were suitable for them, this included talking to people at a
residential training centre.” Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive, Jobcentre
Plus
For some disabled people with complex communication needs and learning
disabilities departments worked in partnership with disability organisations
using innovative engagement techniques such as art and drama to ensure
a voice was given to a full range of disabled people.
“For me the biggest eye opener was the event in November involving
disabled children and young people which was convened by Disability
Equality in Education. The children there had a range of impairments
including profound and complex communication and learning difficulties
and the facilitators, who were themselves disabled children and young
people, used drama and arts to draw out from participants with diverse
communication difficulties their feelings about school. To be there and
see how it is perfectly possible to involve people if you give them time, if
you have an atmosphere where they know what they say will be listened
to it can work.” Teresa Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team Leader,
DfES
Evidence base and impact assessments
Evidence base
Most interviewees felt that the DED had led to improvements in data
gathering and developing their department’s evidence base in relation to
disability equality. In some circumstances, the work around the DED built
on existing good practice in relation to data gathering but made the process
more structured and more systematic.
“We already have done a great deal of work on our evidence base but the
DES is a useful structured way of making sure this happens on a regular
basis.” Debbie Heigh, Director of Diversity, DWP
Additionally, the DES and other equality schemes highlighted the lack of
evidence base in some parts of the departments’ services and
programmes.
“The DES has highlighted that lack of evidence base and so I think that's
helped - the gender scheme has built on the disability scheme and that
built on the race scheme to say, ‘look we just don't have enough evidence
about these programmes’. So I believe it's now easier to convince the
statistics and research people that it's important whereas perhaps a year
ago that had been more difficult.” Sheila Fletcher, Diversity Policy
Manager, Communities and Local Government
As a result, work in developing the Duty will lead to improvements in the
evidence base through being prioritised in the relevant Action Plans.
“The thing is with the DES it shows where we are now but it also shows
what mechanisms need to be put in place to get to where we want to be.
So, collecting data on disability in schools is a priority and as such is in
the Action Plan. This would not have happened, or not have happened so
quickly without the Duty. As a result data will improve in the future.”
Teresa Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES
Interviewees gave examples of where their department’s DES has
managed to secure some ‘big wins’ in collecting data which will improve
services for disabled people in the future.
“One of our big achievements in gathering data is that we managed to
ensure that Social Housing will have to capture accessibility data on its
properties more fully. This data means that disabled people will be able to
look for property in social housing in the same way as non-disabled
people, with the initial information they need. This has emerged as a
result of the Scheme.” Sheila Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager,
Communities and Local Government
Internally, research participants also cited examples of where research
undertaken as part of developing the evidence base for the DED had led to
changes in their department’s strategy in collecting information and
communicating to staff the reason why this information is collected.
“Out of the research came the issue that although we have good
monitoring we have a lack of people declaring disability due to a lack of
trust. People don’t know how the information will be used. This has now
informed our approach to building up trust, getting messages out and
explaining why we collect the data.” Kamaljit Kerridge-Poonia,
Diversity Advisor, DFID
Changes to policies and procedures have been improved for disabled staff
as a response developing the evidence base.
“One of the issues that came out of our research was the issue of line
manager capability around handling disability issues and this will be
improved. Disabled staff can now talk confidentially outside their line
management about reasonable adjustments. We’ve also identified a
specific resource to work on reasonable adjustments and are now a much
better organisation in how we deal with this issue.” Kamaljit KerridgePoonia, Diversity Advisor, DFID
Furthermore, one interviewee expressed the view that the DED has
encouraged a cross-departmental approach to evidence gathering and
analysis on disability leading to a more joined up response from
government.
“Working with DWP on disability is critical because they have the
information. So the DED is very timely. It's given a sense of awareness of
where the gaps are and the questions we need to ask even though this
department may not be the one that drives that particular area.” Susan
Scholefield, Director-General, Communities and Local Government
Impact Assessments
Many interviewees report that the DED has led to a more robust, in-depth
and consistent approach to Equality Impact Assessments in relation to
disability.
“These were sometimes done before but it was not a requirement so this
will now happen for every policy. For example, the Skills part of the
department has recently just done an equality impact assessment looking
at disability, as well as other dimensions of equalities, and it wouldn’t
have happened in the same depth without the Duty.” Teresa Clark,
Equality Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES
In some cases, carrying out more thorough and effective disability Equality
Impact Assessments has led to improvements within departments’ services
for disabled service users.
Interviewees reported that their departments have involved disabled staff
and organisations in the methodology of disability impact assessments to
ensure they assess all the different aspects of a policy that is required.
“We are looking at a single tool to make sure that it's more than
generalities and it's actually informed by the depth of experience of
involving disabled staff and external disabled people in developing it.”
Susan Scholefield, Director-General, Communities and Local
Government
There is recognition that creating a multiple assessment tool is challenging
and careful attention needs to be given to ensure disability equality is
properly addressed. However, the added benefit is the reduction of multiple
assessments which may encourage managers to use them.
“The appeal is that people won’t have to do multiple assessments for
different equality strands, but the actual practicality of doing that in a way
that is meaningful is not quite so easy. But that is the goal we are seeking
to achieve.” Susan Scholefield, Director-General, Communities and
Local Government
Some interviewees also described how disability impact assessments are
becoming mainstreamed into their department’s work as part of wider
drives towards better policy making.
“It fits into an initiative called ‘better policy making’. The way we think
about this is assessing the impact policies will have on business and
individuals. The work that we’ve done on the DES will sit within the better
policy making team, which is one way we’ll try to mainstream it – it’s
something that’s very important to people in DTI and part of their day-today work.” John Alty, Director-General, DTI
Training and implementation
In terms of implementing the DES, interviewees were of the view that initial
and ongoing training for staff in relation to disability equality and the DED
was an important prerequisite. Training ranged from lunchtime seminars,
events and tailor made e-learning packages rolled out to all staff within the
department.
“We view the DES as just the start, we are arranging ongoing training. We
recently organised an event where we had young disabled people
speaking to policy colleagues and the feedback from that was
tremendous. It was a real eye opener for them.” Rosie Purshouse,
Mainstreaming Advisor, DfES
Securing good speakers and attendance at events by senior individuals
such as permanent secretaries were identified by some interviewees as
being contributory success factors to training on the DED.
“We organised a number of lunchtime seminars. There was standing
room only for many of them because the DRC was there and the
Permanent Secretary as well as some really good speakers.” Sheila
Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager, Communities and Local
Government
Training acted as both an information giving mechanism to ensure staff
understood what the DED meant in legislative terms but also gave the
opportunity for staff to ask questions and share ownership in the delivery of
the department’s DES.
“We went through the process in flagging the changes in legislation in
making sure everyone knew what was expected of them – we equipped
people to discuss the challenge and understand what was being asked of
them.” Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive, Jobcentre Plus
Specifically some interviewees felt that the training their department had
put on had led to more awareness about equality impact assessments and
would encourage a wider use of them in the future.
“Everyone has received training including senior officials. This consisted
of an introductory session from line managers on the Duty and an elearning package for everyone to complete. The biggest benefit has been
raising the awareness of disability equality for staff and particularly
around impact assessments. I definitely hear people talking and
considering impact assessments much more often.” Debbie Heigh,
Director of Diversity, DWP
Furthermore, as a result of training and involvement of disabled people,
one advisor felt that staff would be more inclined to involve disabled people
in the design and process of a disability equality impact assessment.
“As a result of an event like that we would expect that for example when
people are doing an equality impact assessment they would be talking to
and involving disabled people in the policy process from the start.” Rosie
Purshouse, Mainstreaming Advisor, DfES
Wider objectives
A number of interviewees felt that the positive gains made for disabled
staff, customers and service users under the DED would be shared more
widely amongst non-disabled people.
“It’s not about doing something that gets in the way of what we’re trying to
do, but thinking about how you can achieve what you’re trying to achieve
effectively. So for example by making information more accessible you’re
improving the service for everyone, achieving the purpose the information
was designed for, if it’s not accessible you haven’t achieved your
objective.” John Alty, Director-General, DTI
One official gave a clear example of how improving accessibility for
children and young people actually benefits the wider population.
“By making things better for disabled children and young people you also
make provision better for everyone else. I suppose the ramp is the
obvious example, where there’s a premises officer clearing snow off steps
and a child in a wheelchair says ‘Why don’t you clear it off the ramp and
then we can all go in?’ Also, bigger classrooms so they are more
wheelchair friendly are better for everybody.” Teresa Clark, Equality
Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES
One government department is also looking to use the DED and related
processes as a model of embedding ‘equalities proofing’ at a departmental
policy level.
“We are seeking as a department to embed this through the use of the
new Equalities Programme Executive. When a major departmental policy
is at its formative stage we can say to that policy area ‘these are the
critical equalities issues we want you to consider’.” Susan Scholefield,
Director-General, Communities and Local Government
A number of interviewees commented that stepping up to the DED and the
work that had gone into disability equality in their department was essential
in meeting their wider objectives. For example, in meeting the
government’s target on employment rates.
“It’s fundamental to our objectives to support people to change their lives
and to promote work for those who can work. The government has set
itself a target employment rate of 80 per cent and there’s no chance of
achieving this if we don’t address the needs of our disabled customers.”
Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive, Jobcentre Plus
There is a sense that the work government departments have done in
developing their DES has developed a wealth of practical experience as
well as a vision of what works in approaching disability equality which can
be built on in cross-government work on equality issues. Work around the
DES has also enhanced cross-governmental work between departments
such as DCLG, DWP and ODI on disability equality.
“The other challenge is this cross-government aspect and working with
the ODI and DWP to deliver change. We will be using their expertise, for
example DWP's employment information.” Susan Scholefield, DirectorGeneral, Communities and Local Government
Lastly, the DED has provided the opportunity for some departments to
exhibit a renewed and ongoing commitment and passion to delivering
disability equality which exceeds compliance with legislation.
“We are going beyond compliance with the law and saying what we can
really deliver and from the DES we've learnt that you can deliver more if
you're really determined. You can use those legislative requirements to
push harder, we know that we can get a better result if we know what we
are after and we use all our resources and commitments. I think there's
more of a passion about delivering real results.” Sheila Fletcher,
Diversity Policy Manager, Communities and Local Government
Lessons learnt
Research participants identified a number of ‘lessons learnt’ from
developing the DES. Many interviewees warned against underestimating
the time required to develop the DES and involve disabled people.
“The main lesson for me would be you’ve got to start early, particularly
around involvement.” Nicola Cullen, Project Manager, DTI
Building ownership of the DED within the department was seen as critical in
ensuring the benefits of the DED were fully realised.
“It’s important to engage and excite people early in the process rather
than allowing this to be seen as another piece of legislation.” Lesley
Strathie, Chief Executive, Jobcentre Plus
“Getting people to ‘own’ the Scheme is a big and ongoing thing. There’s
no point in going through this process if you don’t ‘live it’ – and a large
organisation has to put quite a lot of work into making sure the right levels
of ownership for each of the actions are there, and we’ve certainly put a
lot of effort into this in going forward.” John Alty, Director-General, DTI
The strategy of embedding the DED as part of making better policy and in
securing the delivery of the department’s objectives was seen by one
interviewee as a useful tool in embedding work around disability equality.
“We’re making the job part of a ‘business as usual’ directorate and
creating a centre for expertise for equality as part of Better Policy Making
and reporting on whether the actions have been achieved.” John Alty,
Director-General, DTI
Lastly, a number of interviewees commented that if Commissions take a
partnership approach to working with departments in their response to the
Duties then this is likely to be more conducive to achieving results and
realising positive benefits under the legislation.
“Commissions are enforcers but should also see themselves as partners.
Taking a more partnership approach on how to deliver on difficult areas is
very helpful and it would be helpful if the new Commission developed this
approach.” Kamaljit Kerridge-Poonia, Diversity Advisor, DFID
A partnership approach was preferred as opposed to departments feeling
that the legislation is driven solely by compliance which led to some
interviewees feeling they could be ‘tripped up’ on the process but not the
substance. The DRC was felt by a number of interviewees to have
achieved this collaborative approach to working with positive outcomes.
“We felt the DRC was much more outcome focused, in that they weren’t
saying exactly what the end product should be, and apart from telling us
about involving stakeholders they weren’t too prescriptive about the
process – it was the end product they wanted, which was a different
approach, and more helpful.” Nicola Cullen, Project Manager, DTI
4. Conclusions
From the interviews a clear picture is formed that the DED has led to a
higher status for disability equality within the selected five government
departments. Work on disability equality is now more integrated in the
departments’ work and fuller consideration to disability equality is given in
policy development.
The DED has enhanced the involvement of disabled people in the work of
the government departments and the policies and services they deliver. It
was considered that the involvement of disabled people has also led to
better quality Schemes. Senior leadership and training for staff were
identified as critical factors to the success of driving forward the work of the
DED. Many interviewees also considered that responding to the
requirements of the DED was helping their department to meet its wider
objectives such as targets on employment rates.
5. Appendix 1 – Interviewees
Andy Tindall, Human Rights Advisor, Communities and Local Government
Anne Copeland, Human Resources Director, DfES
Debbie Heigh, Director of Diversity, DWP
John Alty, Director-General, DTI
Kamaljit Kerridge-Poonia, Diversity Advisor, DFID
Lesley Strathie, Chief Executive, Jobcentre Plus, DWP
Nicola Cullen, Project Manager, DTI
Richard Montgomery, Head of Corporate Human Resources, DFID
Rosie Purshouse, Mainstreaming Advisor, DfES
Sheila Fletcher, Diversity Policy Manager, Communities and Local
Government
Susan Scholefield, Director-General, Communities and Local Government
Teresa Clark, Equality Mainstreaming Team Leader, DfES#
Appendix 2 – Interview guide
Interview questions - senior department officials
Context
1. Has disability equality moved up the agenda of your department as a
result of the DED? If yes, please give 3 specific examples.
Leadership
2. Was there senior level involvement in developing the Scheme? If yes,
can you identify 3 specific benefits of having senior level leadership in
relation to developing and supporting the department's Scheme?
Involvement - internal
3. Do you think that involving disabled staff in developing your Disability
Equality Scheme was beneficial? If yes, in what way? (please give 3
specific examples)
Involvement - external
4. Do you think that involving external disabled people in developing your
Disability Equality Scheme was beneficial? If yes, in what way? (please
give 3 specific examples)
5. Did involving external disabled people increase the understanding of
senior officials within your department about disability equality issues?
Evidence
6. Before your department started work on your Disability Equality Scheme,
would you say that the evidence base you had about disability equality in
terms of employment, services and policy areas was:
 Very Good




Good
Average
Fair
Poor
7. Has the DED prompted your department to improve its evidence base
around disability equality? If yes, please give specific examples.
8. Would you now say that, having developed your Disability Equality
Scheme, the evidence you have about disability equality, overall, is:





Very Good
Good
Average
Fair
Poor
Impact Assessment
9. Can you identify any specific improvements your department has made
to policies and practices because of disability equality impact
assessments?
Action Planning
10. What is your favourite action in the action plan and why?
Implementation
11. Since work began on your Disability Equality Scheme, have senior
officials received any training? If yes, what benefits did these officials and
the department get from the training?
12. Do you think that ongoing involvement of disabled people will help your
department to achieve its actions in the action plan? If yes, please give 3
specific examples.
13. Do you think that the focus on improving disability equality has helped
(and will continue to help) your department to meet its wider objectives? If
so, can you provide some more information about this [i.e. relevant
departmental objectives, and PSAs targets]?
Interview questions - equality officials in departments
Context
1. Can you identify 3 specific changes to how your department deals with
disability equality issues, since the DED came into force?
2. Has disability equality moved up the agenda of your department as a
result of the DED? If yes, please give 3 specific examples.
3. Did the new duty help you to raise the profile of disability equality within
your department? If yes, in what way?
Leadership
4. Were senior managers involved in the development of your Disability
Equality Scheme? If yes, can you identify 3 specific benefits of senior
management being involved in the department's Scheme?
Involvement - internal
5. Can you identify 3 specific benefits of having disabled staff involved in
the department's Scheme?
6. Were there any challenges to involving disabled staff, how did you
overcome them and what were the benefits your department gained as a
result?
Involvement - external
7. Has external involvement of disabled people increased officials
understanding of disability equality issues? If yes, please give 3 specific
examples.
8. Did the external involvement of disabled people help your department to
prioritise work and actions in your department's Disability Equality Scheme
action plan? If yes, please give 3 specific examples.
9. Has external involvement of disabled people influenced your department
to change any existing policies and practices, which might not have
happened before the DED? If yes, please give 3 specific examples.
10. Were there any challenges to involving disabled people externally, how
did you overcome them and what were the benefits your department
gained as a result?
Evidence
11. Before your department started work on your Disability Equality
Scheme, would you say that the evidence base you had about disability
equality in terms of employment, services and policy areas was:





Very Good
Good
Average
Fair
Poor
12. Please give 3 specific examples of how the DED has improved your
department's approach to policy-making.
13. Please give 3 specific examples of how the DED has improved your
department's approach to measuring progress, in terms of employment,
services and policy areas.
14. Please give 3 specific examples of how the DED has enabled your
department to identify barriers faced by disabled people and to overcome
these.
15. Would you now say that, having developed your Disability Equality
Scheme, the evidence you have about disability equality, overall, is:
 Very Good
 Good
 Average
 Fair
 Poor
Impact Assessment
16. Have disability equality impact assessments enabled your department
to pro-actively check existing and proposed policies and practices for
adverse impact? If yes, please give specific examples.
17. Have disability equality impact assessments enabled your department
to pro-actively check existing and proposed policies and practices for
missed opportunities? If yes, please give specific examples.
18. Can you identify 3 specific improvements your department has made to
existing policies and practices because of a disability equality impact
assessment?
19. Can you identify 3 specific improvements your department has made to
proposed policies and practices because of an equality impact
assessment?
Action Planning
20. Can you identify 5 actions in your action plan, which will have a
significant impact on disabled people, and which you cannot be confident
would have happened, if you had not been developing a Disability Equality
Scheme?
21. What is your favourite action in the action plan and why?
22. Can you identify those actions identified as a result of external
involvement of disabled people?
Implementation
23. Since work began on your Disability Equality Scheme, have officials
received any training? If yes, what benefits did these officials and the
department get from the training?
24. Do you think that ongoing involvement of disabled people will help your
department to achieve its actions in the action plan? If yes, please give 3
specific examples.
25. Do you think that the focus on improving disability equality has helped
(and will continue to help) your department to meet its wider objectives? If
so, can you provide some more information about this [i.e. relevant wider
departmental objectives and PSA targets]?