Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is committed to promoting and protecting equality and human rights for disabled people in Scotland and we are working in co-production with disabled people to shape our policies and services.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD) sets a common international standard of rights and treatment of disabled people across the world, and requires governments to take action to remove barriers to independent living and enable disabled people to enjoy real freedom, dignity and equality. It is the framework that the Scottish Government uses to improve the lives of disabled people and deliver change.

The Scottish Government published its first Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report in April 2013 which outlines how the public sector equality duty is being integrated across Scottish Government functions. It sets out eight equality outcomes which the Scottish Government is working towards, including ‘Disabled people have improved access to justice and to advice in relation to their rights by 2017.’

An update was published in 2015 which outlined a number of actions that are being taken forward within the Justice sector. The full update can be found here: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2015/04/7781/7#DAJA. A final report on progress against this outcome will be published in 2017.

In 2015 we consulted on our Disability Action Plan (formerly Disability Delivery Plan) which includes an outcome of “Equal and inclusive access to the justice system without fear of being unfairly judged or punished, and with the protection of personal and private rights”. We will publish the final plan later this year and the commitments within it will be worked on through the course of the current Parliamentary session.

Transport Scotland obtains detailed information on levels of development from local planning authorities. This is used as an input to the regional transport model which provides forecast changes in travel demand. A transport appraisal using information from the model in relation to the capacity of strategic routes, including the A720, is currently underway to identify mitigation needed to address the cross boundary impacts of development proposed in the South East Scotland Strategic Development Plan.

The average costs to the NHS of each patient, broken down by GP practice per year can be found for the financial years 2014-15 and 2013-14 at https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/General-Practice/Publications/2015-11-03/2015-11-03-ScotlandGPPayments2014-15-Report.pdf and https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/General-Practice/Publications/2015-05-26/2015-05-26-ScotlandGPPayments2013-14-Report.pdf. NHS Scotland Payments to General Practice 2015-16 will be published in November 2016.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information for independently contracted practices. It does expect patients to be offered an appointment with a member of GP practice staff within two days; the latest figures (Health & Care Experience Survey 2015/16) show that 91.8% of people were able to get a consultation within that time.

The figures on the percentage of patients in 2015-16 able to arrange an appointment with a member of GP practice staff within two days by board are given in the following table:

The Scottish Government is working with partners to support delivery of the national dementia post-diagnostic service offer, which is underpinned by a national target that everyone diagnosed from 1 March 2015 is offered the service.

Since April, Integration Joint Boards are formally responsible for commissioning dementia services, including post-diagnostic services, in their area. Responsibility for the delivery of those services remains with the statutory body tasked with leading the service in each area and this is determined locally.

Other national activity to support service delivery includes work by NHS Education for Scotland and Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s Focus on Dementia Unit to help embed consistent quality principles into post-diagnostic support training and practice; and work by NHS National Services Scotland to ensure post-diagnostic data quality and consistency

The Scottish Parliament recently passed the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 2015. The 2015 Act is currently being implemented and contains several measures which strengthen the provisions in the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 that promote and protect service users’ rights. This includes giving service users more control over their representation and strengthening the position of advance statements and advocacy which help service users express their will and preferences.

The Scottish Government is engaging with stakeholders about how the work to implement the 2015 Act can be used to further promote the rights of service users, including those in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

As part of the draft plan on implementation of UNCRPD, the Scottish Government committed to consulting on the Scottish Law Commission’s review of Adults With Incapacity (AWI) legislation with particular reference to issues around deprivation of liberty and thereafter to carry out a scoping exercise in relation to a wider review of AWI legislation. That consultation has concluded and the Scottish Government is now actively engaging with service users and stakeholders to determine the focus for areas of reform.

The Scottish Government is working with partners to support delivery of the national dementia post-diagnostic service offer, which is underpinned by a national target that everyone diagnosed from 1 March 2015 is offered the service.

National post-diagnostic performance data, subject to a nationally comparative validation process, will be published for the first time in December and will show how many people have been offered the service between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2015

The provision of NHS wheelchairs in Scotland, including adjustable, tilt-in-space chairs, is via one of the five NHS Scotland centres in Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Edinburgh or Glasgow. Decisions are made on a clinical basis, in consultation with the patient, taking into account the person’s individual needs to ensure that the most appropriate type of wheelchair is provided in each case.