EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report is one of a series of three produced as a result of research into disability organisations across Scotland and their capacity to influence public authorities. The other two reports are on the mapping of disability organisations across Scotland and a guide to the resources available to support and enhance engagement.
The findings of the work that focussed upon the capacity of disability organisations to engage with public authorities are summarised here. The findings within this report are based upon interviews and group discussions with 87 disability organisations in Scotland. The main objectives of this strand of the project were:
- To explore the level and type of contact/influence organisations have with local authorities, service providers and Scottish Government, including views on whether previous engagement has been successful, and identify any barriers to engagement
- To explore the views of groups and organisations about how to improve public authorities' engagement with disabled people in general
- To identify the extent to which organisations are aware of, and use, existing guidance and standards on community involvement
- To identify good practice in engaging with disabled people and public authorities
- To explore how best to share good practice, knowledge and experience amongst groups, as well as with service providers and policy makers
- To make recommendations as to how to build the capacity of disability groups/organisations to engage with public authorities
Level and type of influence
As might be expected, national disability organisations are more likely than local organisations to have influence at a national strategic level and to have the resources to support this influence. However, this is not the case for all national organisations. Although they may have greater influence at national level it can also be difficult for some national organisations to influence at a local level because of the sheer number of local bodies in existence.
Some disability organisations, both local and national, have formed alliances to enable them to influence more effectively, for example local forums whilst others may use their branch structure, if they have one.
Local disability organisations varied in their level of influence, but most felt their influence was limited to their specific type of local service or contract. Only a few local organisations said they had a good level of influence on public authorities overall.
Barriers to engagement
The barriers to engagement reported in this research existed either within the disability organisation itself or were related to public authorities and how they engaged.
Within disability organisations, there were barriers related to people, income, structure, reputation and approach - in other words, the capacity of the organisation to engage. An organisation's capacity to engage was enhanced by having people with the right skills, funding for posts with a remit to influence, having an effective structure and communications, building relationships with key people and having a high profile. Conversely, a lack of these attributes made it more difficult for organisation to engage effectively.
Similarly, within public authorities, there were barriers related to people, structure, funding, attitudes and engagement policy and practice. Having a commitment to engagement, people with the right skills and attitudes, sufficient resources for engagement and an inclusive and transparent engagement process were crucial to effective engagement. Where these attributes are not present, engagement is less likely to be effective.
Standards
Disability organisations still experience and witness policies, practices and attitudes within public authorities that impact negatively on the level of engagement and influence that they could achieve. This is four years after National Standards on Community Engagement were published by Communities Scotland in 2005. Awareness of the level of good practice to expect from public authorities is however low with only 12% of disability organisations having heard of the Standards. During the course of this research, many examples were given of engagement practices that had not met the standards, suggesting that many public authorities may also be either unaware or not implementing the standards.
This project has produced an accompanying guide to resources on engagement. It can be used as a source of reference by organisations wishing to improve their practice. (E ngagement standards, guidance and tool kits: A Guide to resources, December 2009).
Good engagement practice
A range of examples of good practice in engagement by public authorities was given in the research; however there were many more examples of poor practice.
The examples of good practice included having a genuine commitment to engagement and getting the process right from start to finish, which means involving people from the start in setting the agenda, ensuring the process is inclusive and accessible to all, acting on the outcome of the engagement and providing feedback.
How to improve
Disability organisations made a number of suggestions about how engagement policy and practice could be improved, including providing training for staff in both public authorities and disability organisations, to improve the skills needed for effective engagement; public authorities providing more support to disability organisations to enable them to engage; and better communication between public authorities and disability organisations.