National Performance Framework - disability perspective: analysis

2. Communities

National Outcome: We live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe

In total there are eight indicators for Communities in the National Performance Framework. Two indicators are newly developed, while a further two are not yet developed. Updated data is available for the following indicators:

Perceptions of Local Area (Pre COVID-19 Data)

The Scottish Household Survey (SHS)^[18] asks respondents if their neighbourhood is a very good place to live. Figure 1, below, suggests that since 2011 the gap in perceptions between disabled and non-disabled people has been growing, with fewer disabled people viewing their neighbourhood as a very good place to live. In 2019, significantly fewer disabled people viewed their neighbourhood as a very good place to live compared to non-disabled people (51% vs 59%).

Access to Green and Blue Space (Pre COVID-19 Data)

"Access to green and blue space" is measured by the SHS using a question which defines greenspaces as "public green or open spaces in the local area, for example a park, countryside, wood, play area, canal path, riverside or beach".^[19] The SHS indicates that, compared to non-disabled people, a smaller proportion of disabled people lived within a 5 minute walk of their local green or blue space. This access gap has remained fairly consistent over time (see figure 2). In 2019, significantly fewer disabled people lived within 5 minutes' walk of their nearest green or blue space - three fifths (61%) of disabled adults had this access, compared to just over two thirds (67%) of non-disabled adults.

Perceptions of Crime (Pre COVID-19 Data)

This National Indicator looks at the proportion of people who believe the local crime rate has stayed the same or reduced (combined). According to the 2018/19 Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS)^[20]significantly fewer disabled people than non-disabled people thought that the rate of crime in their local area over the last two years had stayed the same or reduced (67% vs 75%). In the same period, significantly more disabled than non-disabled people thought that crime had increased in their local area over the last two years (28% of disabled people compared to 20% of non-disabled people).^[21]

There was no significant change in the perceived change of the local crime rate amongst disabled people between 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Crime Victimisation (Pre COVID-19 data)

The 2018/19 SCJS also indicates that disabled adults were significantly more likely to be victims of crime than non-disabled adults. In 2018/19, 14.7% of disabled adults had been a victim of at least one crime, compared to 11.8% of non-disabled adults. Disabled adults were more likely to have experienced violent crime compared to non-disabled adults (3.2% compared to 1.9%) however there was no significant difference between these two groups when looking at experiences of property crime.

There was no change in the proportion of disabled or non-disabled adults experiencing crime between 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Loneliness (Pre COVID-19 Data)

The SHS asks respondents if they have felt lonely in the last week. In 2018, significantly more disabled people felt lonely some, most or all of the time during the last week than non-disabled people (34% compared to 16%).^[22]

Places to Interact (Pre COVID-19 Data)

Figure 3, below, demonstrates that in 2018-19 disabled people were significantly less likely than non-disabled people to agree or strongly agree that there were places people can meet up and socialise in. In 2018, 55% of disabled people agreed that there are places to socialise compared to 60% of non-disabled people. By 2019 the percentage for disabled people had dropped slightly to just over half (51%) compared to three fifths (59%) of non-disabled people.

Additional Indicators

Hate Crimes (Pre COVID-19 Data)

As is demonstrated in figure 4, below, in the latest year (2019-20), 387 charges were reported with an aggravation of prejudice relating to disability, almost a third (29%) more than in 2018-19. This is the highest number of charges reported since the legislation creating this aggravation came into force in 2010. The number of charges reported has increased year on year since the legislation was introduced, with the exception of a small fall in 2016-17.^[23]

By comparison, however, racial crime was the most reported hate crime reported from 2003-04 to 2019-20, with a total of 3,038 charges relating to race crime reported in 2019-20. Sexual orientation aggravated crime was the second most commonly reported type of hate crime, with 1,486 charges reported in 2019-20. In addition, there were 660 religiously aggravated charges reported in 2019-20, an increase of 24% compared to 2018-19.^[24]

In addition, the SHS demonstrates that in 2019 disabled people (those with a limiting long-term condition) were significantly more likely than non-disabled people (those with non-limiting long-term conditions and those with no conditions) to have experienced discrimination and harassment. Around one in eight (12%) of those with a limiting long-term condition had experienced discrimination, compared to only 6% of those with a non-limiting condition and 6% of those with no conditions. Almost one in ten (9%) of those with a limiting long-term condition had experienced harassment, compared to only 4% of those with a non-limiting condition and 5% of those with no conditions.^[25]

Accessibility of Places (COVID-19 Data)

Inclusion Scotland ran a short survey (n=164) from Tuesday 10 November 2020 until Tuesday 17 November (during the COVID-19 pandemic) to ask disabled people their views on the A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People plan. Disabled people were asked if they thought the accessibility of places (housing, transport, the environment) had got better, got worse or stayed the same since 2016. Almost half (43%) said the accessibility of places had stayed the same, around a third (31%) said they had got worse, 16% said they had got better and 10% said they were not sure.^[26] It's worth noting that the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions were likely to have negatively impacted responses to this survey.