DCIL Consultation Topics
Consultation Topics
Topics are grouped under the following policy
headings:
DCIL ~ LOCAL ~ NATIONAL ~INTERNATIONAL
This page is about our Members responses to consultations on policy matters, and others that DCIL makes as an organisation.
We have to be very selective about these, because some policy makers and service providers who consult only want a rubber stamp on decisions that are already made. General rules we mostly follow are:
- We seldom respond to questionnaires, because someone else has set the terms of the replies.
- We don't have a lot to do with simple 'satisfaction' surveys, because they tend to put us in passive roles as 'consumers' when what we really want is an active say in the purpose and direction of services and policies.
The consultation topics included on this page will be anything from good examples of local action to detailed responses that contain ideas wed like to share around.
DCIL POLICY
- DCIL Strategic Plan - MS-Word Version - PDF Version
LOCAL POLICY
FAIRER CHARGING POLICY
Derby City Council consulted on charging for services, carrying
out very close Government directions on what they had to ask
about. DCILs Local Members Group for Derby-Erewash-Southern Derby
responded. They did background work including e-mail discussions
with HQ staff, and discussed options at one of the monthly
meetings. They invited representatives from the Council to
another meeting to explain detail and hear their views. This
meant they werent confined by a questionnaire, and made up for
DCILs omission from the list of organisations to be consulted
directly.
The immediate response, within narrow limits set by the consultation process on offer, was at the meeting where a Council officer noted the points raised by members. Some members also decided to complete individual questionnaires.
Outside the scope of this particular consultation, DCIL needed decisions on two other levels.
- How to support members who are assessed for a contribution to the cost of their services.At present, this only can be by determined advocacy to maximise the disability related expenditure deducted from income deemed available to pay charges.
- What long-term strategy to follow. As our campaign leaflet on charging says:
"policies on charging for services are supplying ideal models of what is wrong in the provision of services to disabled people. Charging policies expose the lack of any sense that services ought to be supporting the inclusion of disabledpeople in society."
The members group considered a range of positions that DCIL could take. Our main argument will be that people who opt for Direct Payments should have exemption from charges, since they have assumed the main responsibility for managing their living arrangements. A longer term goal will be to harmonise charging policy with progressive aspects of the tax-benefit system and include it in the system for tax credits.
Why Councils need Organisations of Disabled People Word
NATIONAL POLICY
HOME OFFICE SUPPORT TO THE VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY
SECTOR
Several agencies have done research for the Home Office to help
it decide policy on support for the Voluntary and Community
Sector. An agency called Governance Works asked us for a small
focus group to get information on how our member participation
strategy has affected governance of DCIL. Based on this, the
Centre for Research and Innovation in Social Policy and Practice
later asked DCIL for an interview as one of a small panel of
organisations, during preparation of its report, A Survey of
Civil Society in the UK.
This consultation had a very helpful spin-off when a newspaper article introducing the new report gave DCIL as an example. An extract reads:
"The prime target for voluntary and community action is to encourage people to link with one another and participate in the public domain. In our audit, we found organisations that are particularly good at this.
The Derbyshire Coalition for Inclusive Living is composed of 605 disabled people who use their common experience of exclusion, discrimination and oppression to take control of their lives, live independently and integrate with non-disabled people.
This activity revitalises civil society in a way service providing cannot. Our audit suggests that what is needed from voluntary and community action is social solidarity, not service philanthropy. Public money is going to the wrong parts of the sector".
(The Guardian, 1 October 2003)
INTERNATIONAL POLICY
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No current articles
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