Adult Disability Payment: apply to join the advisory group

The purpose of the Advisory Group is to provide guidance, expertise, and scrutiny to the Chair to ensure the effectiveness, fairness, and integrity of the Adult Disability Payment: Independent Review.

By engaging stakeholders, experts, and people with lived experience, the Chair aims to facilitate an inclusive and transparent review process.

Remit

1. Stakeholder Engagement: The group will support the Chair and Secretariat by providing advice on the approach, methodology, engagement mechanisms and plans adopted by the Review when conducting stakeholder engagement, as well as facilitating access to a wide range of audiences. 
2. Accessibility: The group will assess the accessibility of the Independent Review process, including communication channels, to identify barriers and propose solutions for enhancing accessibility and inclusivity.
3. Equity and Fairness: The group will provide feedback and positive challenge to the Chair to ensure the equity and fairness of the Review.
4. Quality Assurance: The group will support with ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and quality assurance throughout the lifetime of the Review.
5. Accountability:   The Advisory Group for the Independent Review of Adult Disability Payment plays a crucial role in promoting transparency, accountability, and accessibility.  
6. Integrity:  The Advisory Group exercise due care in the use of information shared and protect information that is received, in confidence, from unauthorised disclosure.

Membership

We are looking to invite individuals from a variety of backgrounds (8 in total) who have a range of skills, expertise, and knowledge in respect of social security and public policy formulation to support us in the provision of advice to the Chair of the Review.  The work of the Advisory Group will help to inform the Chair's work in making recommendations to the Scottish Government.

Skills/experience required

We would like to hear from either:

• disabled people or people with a long-term health condition (we call this lived experience), or
• people with social security and public policy formulation experience.

For people expressing an interest based on having lived experience, we particularly welcome applications from people with personal experience of:

• the Adult Disability Payment (ADP) system, having applied for ADP or transferred to ADP from Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• having a mental health condition.

For people expressing an interest based on social security and public policy experience, we particularly welcome applications from:

• people (or representatives of organisations with lived experience) that have a good working knowledge of social security and public policy formulation as it relates to disabled people
• Disabled People’s Organisations
• people or organisations with experience of engaging meaningfully with seldom-heard voices.

Process for expressing an interest in participating

People who wish to express an interest in joining the Advisory Group should:

• tell us in no more than 500 words how they would help to contribute to the independent review using their experience or skills
• email their name, address and 500-word statement to adpreview@gov.scot
• send this by 12pm on 29 March 2024

Candidates may choose to record a video or audio recording instead and upload to YouTube as a private video, including the link in the email. The submission should be no more than 500 words.

The process will be short and light-touch. Those candidates who best fit the desired criteria will be invited to have a short discussion with the Chair and the most suitable candidates will be invited to join the Advisory Group.

Key dates

• 29 March 2024 - deadline for submitting expression of interest
• w/c 1 April - initial sift of expressions of interest
• w/c 8 April - discussion with Chair
• w/c 15 April - invitations issued

Time expectation and frequency of meetings

It is anticipated that the Advisory Group would meet with the Chair once every two months during the period of the Review. 

Most meetings will be 60 minutes duration (maximum) and will be held on-line (unless this causes any accessibility issues for participants). 

The Chair would welcome longer duration, in-person meetings to be held in Edinburgh. 

• one meeting at the start of the Review (it is anticipated that the first meeting will be held in Edinburgh on 26 April 2024)
• one meeting held four weeks before the draft interim report is due to be produced (October 2024)
• one meeting about six weeks before the production of the final report (July 2025) – dates and times to be determined

Secretariat support

Secretariat support required by the Chair and Advisory Group will be provided by the Scottish Government. The Secretariat will work independently of the Scottish Government in support of the Review.

Minutes for each meeting will be taken by a member of the Review Secretariat Team. Minutes of meetings will be published on the Scottish Government website. Meeting minutes must be agreed by the Chair after each meeting, prior to publication.

Members are invited to indicate to the Secretariat any accessibility requirements or adjustments they might require for participating in meetings.

Communications and information sharing

In line with independence but reflecting the Scottish Government’s contribution to the Review’s work as Secretariat support, the Scottish Government will establish secure record-keeping mechanisms that keep material relating to the Review separate from general information held by the Scottish Government. This will make clear that, for the purposes of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (‘FOISA’), the Scottish Government is holding this information on behalf of the Review.

The Scottish Government, including in its role as secretariat to the Review, is subject to requests for information under FOISA. This means that material provided to officials acting in a Secretariat role by the Advisory Group would be information held by the Scottish Government for the purposes of FOISA. In the event of a request for information being received the Scottish Government would, in the usual way, consider if any exemptions applied to the release of the information. Consideration of exemptions may involve the application of the public interest test.

The Scottish Government in its Secretariat role will ensure that any data is processed in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulations and the Data Protection Act 2018.

To support public understanding of the work of the Review, the Scottish Government, in its Secretariat role, will publish terms of reference, high level work plan and minutes of meetings. The Advisory Group will consider the publication of other information where appropriate.

The Advisory Group discussions are confidential. Review materials and any information about the subjects discussed remain confidential and are not to be shared with third parties.

Housekeeping

Please note that attendance at Advisory Group meetings or any other work undertaken as a member of the Advisory Group is voluntary and therefore not remunerated.  However, all reasonable expenses will be covered including any costs of reasonable adjustments or support that might be required for a person to undertake their role. 

Related information

• Adult Disability Payment: Independent Review