1. Convener’s Update

1. Convener’s Update

This is the fourth annual report I have written as Convener of the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) and this takes me into my second term. Working with my MACS team this year, we have taken time to develop and produce our Strategic Plan for 2021-2024, which will cover the full second term of my appointment. Each year, as part of our planning cycle, we will revisit this as well as other areas of our work and the feedback we receive from our external engagements, to develop our annual Work Plan. Our Strategic Plan and Work Plan has been agreed with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, prior to parliamentary recess.

We left you at the end of last year confirming that this year we would prioritise our focus on progressing previous “sticking points” and on the first and last mile of journeys and inter-modal connections.

As we experienced the impact and disruption of Covid-19 and the public health crisis, work in these areas was never so critical to assist with physical distancing, ensuring disabled people and older people could reconnect after lockdown and stay connected, eventually with the confidence to return to public transport as it becomes safe to do so.

We also needed to ensure pop-up infrastructures, re-purposed roads and pavements (to support physical distancing, increase active travel and assist with sustainable transport choices to reduce emissions) and Transport Transition Plans, developed by the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland, were accessible and inclusive to all.

In our work in these areas we were keen to ensure that there was an understanding that some of these options would not work for many disabled people and older people and as such our drive remained reducing inequalities and providing a transport system (and supporting infrastructure) that was “Available, Accessible and Affordable” to all (MACS triple A check).

Our focus being to prevent any further exclusion of disabled people who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, to reduce the existing inequality gap and to advocate that new infrastructures and travel options need to be accessible and inclusive to all.

I could never have foreseen the events that have unfolded over this reporting year in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected each and every one of us, in one way or another.

In this report I will give you my personal update and my Workstream Leaders will give their updates. I will also update you on our Development and Scoping Days and our recent series of ministerial engagement meetings (including the key questions raised at these sessions). This report will also provide an update on our “sticking points” – the areas we have previously identified as hard to move, or progress, regardless of our advice, engagements and impetus.

But this year, I will also dedicate time to the tireless work of the Committee in its response to Covid-19 where we undertook our own secretarial role for several months and developed ways of working to stay connected and get doors opened to ensure the voices of disabled people were heard at the tables, especially where plans and strategies were being developed in response to, and for the recovery from, the pandemic.

I am grateful to my MACS Team for stepping up without question and selflessly giving additional commitment in pursuit of our objectives.

During the period from lockdown (23 March 2020) through to the end of July 2020, and as a result of the withdrawal of the Sponsor Team and Secretariat support, as Convener and leader, I quickly established and coordinated a series of shorter and more frequent internal meetings to assist with team welfare and ensure continued communications. This allowed the Committee to progress its work independently. It is recognised that these arrangements meant Committee members working more flexibly and also significantly added to the workload of the Planning and Strategy Workstream in particular.

I would like to record my thanks for this level of contribution, dedication and commitment and for the many unpaid hours my team committed to responding to numerous requests, with most at extremely short notice, to ensure the voices of disabled people and older people were heard.

Finally, I will conclude on some good news for the Committee. We have recently appointed six new MACS members. The appointment of these new members provides us with further experience and knowledge, to complement that within the team, and I am sure will also generate fresh and new thoughts, new ideas and bring some new energy and innovation into the Committee. Our new members have a wide and varied background and I will give more detail later in my report.

I would also like to thank Scottish Ministers, our Secretariat and Sponsor Team, and our partners and stakeholders, for working with, and supporting us as we all found our way through this challenging year, raising awareness and highlighting the challenges many disabled people and older people were encountering, whilst adapting to our new ways of living and working.

Transport is a key enabler and never more so this year, as we all sought to undertake our essential and critical journeys during stressful times and under a new set of rules and regulations. I know, like me, many people have as yet not attempted to use the transport system, whether that was due to adhering to public health messaging, adapting to working from home or if you were shielding, but for those who did, we worked hard to ensure that you had the right support and information you required to make your journey and travel safely.

I would especially like to thank some of the organisations we have worked more closely with this year, to ensure we heard the voices of disabled people and older people and that these voices were current and related to grassroots issues. So thank you to Disability Equality Scotland for allowing us to test our thinking via your members’ polls and webinars and to Sustrans Scotland and The Alliance for the discussion on 20-minute neighbourhoods. We look forward to continuing to work with you this year.

We were also pleased to see, and take part in, Transport Scotland’s response to the pandemic through the introduction of the:

• Transport Transition Plan National Advisory Group, and
• Transport Equalities Network.

There are many people to thank here but in particular we would like to thank the Transport Policy and Integration Team and the Strategy Team in Transport Scotland for reaching out to MACS early in the transport planning process and for being so receptive to the issues we raised and our many asks.

MACS played its part in the above groups and I will provide more detail on our roles and responsibilities within these forums in the Response to Covid-19 Section below.

I will also provide some details of MACS contribution to the National Transport Strategy (NTS2) via the Delivery Board chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity.

As in last year’s Convener’s Introduction I would like to take the time to share my personal highlights (yes, there were some) and the pieces of work that I am proud of over the past year. These are outwith my team’s performance which I am most proud of. We couldn’t have achieved my top four without a team approach.

1. In this year’s Programme for Government (PfG) we saw a greater focus on equality and inclusion, which we have been pushing for, and after our “dog with a bone” approach we also saw “wheeling” not only being introduced into PfG and the NTS2 but taking pride of place at the top of the Transport Hierarchy where it belongs. This sends out a strong message of our Government’s intent and we hope to see actions follow these strategies to reduce the mobility gap.

Transport Hierarchy: Prioritising Sustainable Transport

• Descriptor - The graphic Image 1 shows the transport hierarchy as an inverted pyramid with the most sustainable transport modes at the top five tiers.
• Top - walking and wheeling
• Next level - cycling
• Dropping down to public transport
• Next level down - taxis and shared cars
• Bottom of the hierarchy - private cars

Prioritising Sustainable Transport

• Walking and wheeling
• Cycling
• Public transport
• Taxis and shared transport
• Private car

Image 1 - Sustainable Transport Hierarchy

2. Through our engagements and constant messaging we are hearing, and seeing more departments, policy teams and organisations conducting Equality Impact Assessments (EqIAs) and more recently starting to involve disabled people or their representatives early in this process. We know we still have work to do here and this remains one of our five high level objectives that will span more than one year.

3. I have been particularly pleased to also see and hear others refer to, and use, MACS Triple A check for Transport. That is, that it is “Available, Accessible and Affordable”. This ties in well with the work of the NTS2 Delivery Board and the Transport Equalities Network and will be a good focus for the emerging Transport Citizens’ Panels.

4. We also saw progress on our previous work on Transport to Health and Social Care. The need to address this was recognised in the “Reduces Inequality” pillar of NTS2. Our Recommendation One from our roundtable events was also accepted as core to the transport elements of the Review of Adult Social Care.

Adult social care: independent review - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

https://www.gov.scot/publications/independent-review-adult-social-care-scotland-easy-read/

Recommendation One:

Transport should be built in as an integral part of the care pathway. There needs to be better joined-up care planning and working with NHS, Local Authorities and the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS), with the Community Transport Association (CTA) recognised as key partners in the planning and care pathway.

We are strengthening our relationship with Scottish Government (SG) Health officials to pick this work back up as the NHS in Scotland remobilises from the Covid-19 pandemic. We are also asking that the SG engage to “lock in” good practice initiatives that saw organisations work across boundaries that previously prevented transport planning to medical appointments from being designed around the patients’ needs. More recently Transport Scotland’s Accessible Travel Policy Team have also agreed to make this area a focus for their 2021-2022 Delivery Plan, working with their SG colleagues in Health and MACS to progress much needed improvements.

This year involved a swift and rapid transition for the Committee to move to virtual meetings, and this has not been without its challenges, not least the loss of the human interaction we all thrive on. Moving to this format, although presenting challenges, also provided opportunities, opportunities for us to really get to know and understand each other’s needs, skill set, passions and challenges.

We are all now fully aware of our new buzz words – “you’re on mute”, “is my camera on – can you see me?”, and my personal favourite, “you can log off now”. We even managed a MACS Zoom Christmas Party, fantastically hosted by one of our Leads (Marsali Craig). Surprising, given that Marsali regularly refers to herself as the least “tech-savvy” member of the team. I think we had the wool pulled over our eyes there!

With our new technology, whether it’s adapting to using Skype, Zoom or MS Teams, we are all now proficient and confident in the use of these tools. They have offered some respite for members having to manage care plans and caring and for those having to make daily commutes. Whatever the “new normal” holds I hope some of our new ways of working can continue in some capacity.

I am not sure what the challenges for the year ahead holds, but I am sure of one thing: the Committee that I lead stands ready to embrace it, contribute to it and do our best to ensure that accessible travel improves for all.

I thank you all.

Linda Bamford
National Convener
Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS)