NOTES of the MEMBERS' AND OFFICERS' DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT WORKING GROUP held in the Portal Room

on Wednesday 15 September 2004.

PRESENT:

Councillors: W H Wheeler (Chairman); Mrs P Dickens; Mrs E M F Randall

Also in attendance: Councillor: Mrs S M Glasspool DL.

An apology was received from: Peter Hull, County Development Officer, Disability Sport, Recreation and Heritage.

Also in attendance:

Joanna Marks, District Development Officer, Berkshire and Hampshire MENCAP.

Jane Goodwin, Equality and Diversity Adviser, Human Resources.

Marcos Frangos, Access Manager, Property, Business and Regulatory Services.

Vicky Griffiths, Corporate Marketing Manager, Corporate Communications.

Pam Hall, Person Centred Planning Co-ordinator, Social Services.

1. NOTES

The notes of the meeting held on 23 April 2004 were confirmed as a correct record.

2. VISIT BY MENCAP

Joanna Marks, District Development Officer for Berkshire and Hampshire from MENCAP attended the meeting and was introduced to Members. She advised that she was part of the Community Support Team and worked with Statutory Organisations.

Joanna talked about the work of MENCAP which stood for "understanding learning disability" and was a life long condition acquired before, during or soon after birth and affected 3% of the population. She covered how services in Hampshire County Council could be improved for people with a learning disability, the particular difficulties faced by people with a learning disability and how they were treated less favourably.

Joanna suggested what she considered were the main issues for Hampshire County Council in terms of employment, housing, education, transport, social services and supported living together with suggestions for reasonable adjustments. These were the major issues considered to be key issues faced by people with learning difficulties.

Suggestions were provided for how these issues might be overcome. Jane Goodwin advised that Human Resources was looking at ways to improve employment opportunities for disabled people and Pam Hall reported that Transition Workers were employed to ensure that future needs of young people leaving education were being assessed and employment was a key element. Joanna considered that this was a great starting point and advised that recent research showed that people with learning difficulties wanted to carry out more valuable work. Members supplied examples of people known to them with learning difficulties and the problems faced.

Members agreed that Joanna's presentation, as attached should be circulated to other Departments in particular Environment, Social Services, Education and Human Resources for comments.

Joanna was thanked for attending and providing such helpful information and advice.

3. CURRENT INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE SERVICES FOR PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

Pam Hall, Person Centred Planning Co-ordinator from Social Services gave a presentation on Person Centred Planning as attached.

Pam talked about the Valuing People with Learning Disability White Paper which set out a vision for Rights, Independence, Choice and Inclusion. Person Centred
Planning worked with people and helped them to think about what they wanted from their lives in terms of dreams, wishes and goals and in turn helped them to become more confident.

Pam advised that together with Chris Gaston in her Department she was working on the key issues, one of which was transport and the difficulties engaging people.

A website commissioned by the Partnership Board had been set up to provide information and there were ongoing consultations about the website and the need to include pictures. The website's address: www.hants.gov.uk/socservs/Idindex.html and would be available in October.

Partnership working with District Councils was underway together with an assessment of services and how friendly they were would help people with learning difficulties.

Equalities training for staff at Leisure Centres was being run by Peter Hull which had been found to be very effective and it was hoped that staff would take on board the information and change their attitudes. Direct payments had been particularly successful for people with physical difficulties and was now being extended to people with learning difficulties. This might assist a person to employ someone to help with employment.

Members offered to be included on a VIP list to assist where needed with particular topics.

4. PROMOTION OF COUNCIL MEETINGS TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC AND DISABLED PEOPLE IN PARTICULAR

Vicky Griffiths , Corporate Marketing Manager from Corporate Communications attended the meeting to report on the promotion of Council meetings to the general public and disabled people in particular. She advised that it was important to raise awareness and to improve on what was already in existence.

Councillor Mrs Randall felt that local Parish Councils needed to be kept informed of all forthcoming meetings and suggested that a monthly list of all meetings should be sent out to notify people in the area of forthcoming meetings and to hopefully encourage them to attend. Councillor Wheeler felt that Libraries and District Councils should also be included on this list. Councillor Mrs Dickens suggested that Community Notice Boards and the newsletter to Winchester City Council Councillors were as a useful aid to improving communications.

The Equality and Diversity Adviser reported that Hampshire's website was one of the most accessible websites in the country and that people accessing externally could adapt the pages according to their own needs. Vicky Griffiths advised that Corporate standards ought to be followed at all times but in certain situations where this might be problematic these should be looked at on an individual basis in conjunction with Corporate Communications. Recently there had been a move towards redeveloping the current website in two phases; improving the presentation of information available at the moment and looking at the website more broadly in terms of style, content etc. It was acknowledged that accessibility issues should be considered as a fundamental part of this process.

5. DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT DAY - 1 OCTOBER 2004

The Access Manager advised that a Disability Discrimination Act Day would be held on Friday 1 October 2004 at The Towers Arts Centre in Winchester to celebrate the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act. Councillor Waddington would officially open the day and invitations to attend had been extended to external groups with whom The Access Manager and Equality and Diversity Adviser had worked with during the previous 3 years. The programme for the day would include some presentations and performances by disabled actors and was also seen as an opportunity to network across various groups.

6. ACCESS IMPROVEMENT SCHEMES

The Access Manager provided an update on the current levels of spending for current access improvement schemes to the majority of public buildings as part of the first phase of the Schemes. He advised that 53% of works would be completed by the end of the financial year with the remaining 47% to be carried out over the next 3 years. This percentage equated to £300k spent a year on access improvements which ranged from automatic doors to providing signs. He added that he was concerned that Members of the public would expect improvements to be made as soon as possible bearing in mind the introduction of the DDA Act on 1 October 2004.

Members of the Panel suggested that the signage should be changed for all WC doors throughout the County and that both braille and tactile signs would be useful. The Access Manager agreed to provide some costings to the Buildings,Land and Procurement Panel at its meeting on 19 October.

7. ACTION PLAN UPDATE

The Access Manager presented an up to date version of the summary of points raised by Members' and Officers' at its meeting on 23 April 2004.

The Access Manager advised that the Portal and Basing Rooms were due for refurbishment in the following week and the Basing Room would be fitted with a hearing loop.

In relation to the key signage in lift cars, the Access Manager advised that the lift in EII Court had been adapted with new controls for wheelchair users and a voice announcement. It was also planned to purchase a collapsible wheelchair for Chief Executive's reception for use by members of the public.

With regard to the influence on design and the consultation on Lifetime Homes, the Access Manager advised that he was waiting for a response from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

8. AGREED OUTCOMES FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE BUILDINGS, LAND AND PROCUREMENT PANEL AT ITS MEETING ON 25 MAY 2004

It was agreed that the following issues would be referred to the Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel at its meeting on 19 October 2004.

· That the issues identified by Joanna Marks of MENCAP be circulated to other Departments, in particular Education, Environment, Human Resources and Social Services with a request for any comments.


· That the inspection of EII Court in terms of space, storage and health and safety carried out by The Access Manager and Chairman of the Panel be noted.

· The Panel expressed concerns that the plans to change signage for WC doors is linked to the rolling programme of access improvements. It is recommended that the improvements are made to all doors as soon as possible. The Access Manager will cost this option and include details on the Access Strategy update report to the Buildings, Land and Contracts Panel.

9. DATES OF MEETINGS 2005

It was agreed that Members would be contacted to arrange dates for 2005.

10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

There were no other items of business.

Meeting finished at 12.35pm.

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