Ministry of Agriulture and Forestry
New Zealand Disability Strategy Implementation 2007. Work Plan 2007-2008 and Report on Progress 2006-2007
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry - Te Manatu Ahuwhenua, Ngaherehere
Introduction
In performing our role, MAF informs, advises, regulates and delivers services relating to the agriculture, forestry, rural affairs and biosecurity.
“Contributing to New Zealand’s sustainable development
… enhancing its natural advantage.”
In doing so MAF contributes to the economic, environmental and social/cultural wellbeing of New Zealand.
It does this through the outcomes it seeks to achieve with respect to: the economic, environmental and social performance of the sectors, maintaining and enhancing New Zealand’s biosecurity status, providing health assurances to foreign governments for animals, plants and their products, protecting the health of consumers by ensuring the safety and suitability of food.
New Zealand is unique in the world in its dependence on a biological and natural resource-based economy and society. Sustaining and managing those resources will continue to be important to New Zealand as a society into the foreseeable future. It will mean significant challenges as the country faces the uncertainty of how the world and the markets on which it depends change in the future.
As MAF pursues its outcomes – in respect to the performance of biosecurity – it looks to develop and implement well-informed sustainable development policies maximising the shared benefits and minimising the trade-offs between economic growth, environmental management and social and cultural aspirations.
For these reasons issues of sustainability are at the very core of MAF’s mandate and future direction.
MAF supports and will actively pursue the State Services Commission’s State Sector Development Goals, especially those related to: Employer of Choice; Excellent State Servants; Networked State Services; and Accessible State Services.
The following initiatives will progress our work toward these goals during 2007/08. Equal Employment opportunities and Positive Aging strategies will be supported by a review of MAF’s recruitment marketing, enhanced management skills in hiring and staffing, making effective use of the new competency framework to focus on skills identified, and flexible employee arrangements to meet the needs of a diverse workforce.
Accessible government
All government agencies are asked to prioritise actions to increase their accessibility to disabled people. This is about getting the basics right, so that disabled people can access government on the same basis as other people.
These actions support realisation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy’s objective 6: foster an aware and responsive public service.
Four critical areas where disabled people interact with government agencies are:
- information – such as brochures, letters, publications, websites
- buildings – such as service centres, corporate offices
- services – such as face to face at a service centre, call centres, information electronically or hard copy
- as an employer – such as job application procedures, job descriptions, accommodations in workplaces, intranets.
Accessible information
Outcome: Disabled people can access publicly available government information on the same basis as non-disabled people. Disabled people know about, access and use government information and services.
Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008.
Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.
1. Online information (internet and intranets)
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Meet Web Guidelines version 2.1 |
MAF conducted a number of formal e-government audits across all of its primary external websites. A sampling approach was undertaken with the results also reflecting the status of compliance against accessibility components. The findings are indicative only; however the results show MAF is currently in a satisfactory position with an estimated 70-80% compliance against ‘must’ guidelines and 80-90% compliance against ‘should’ guidelines. A number of ad-hoc and priority incremental usability improvement initiatives were undertaken during the period. |
MAF Internet site review, refresh and rebuild that will encapsulate e-Government compliance and usability guidelines/best practice. There are a number of further initiatives currently being considered with regards to improving web-site usability and information architecture across all of MAF’s websites. A review of downloadable .PDF documents is also being conducted to ensure that they consider usability issues and receive the appropriate treatment. Determine and implement alternative (or supplement) to Excel for data delivery and presentation. |
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| 2. Tested accessibility for disabled people | |||
| 3. Adapted to increase accessibility | |||
| 4. Download files accessed as HTML, and not only PDF | |||
| 5. Plain English used | A planned site and content refresh will necessitate some content rework and rewriting. Plain English/web writing training is considered. | ||
| 6. New Zealand Sign Language used |
2. Hard copy information
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Plain English used | |||
| 2. Available in alternate formats, on request | |||
| a. New Zealand Sign Language | At present there is nothing available in alternative formats. In some parts of MAF the focus has been on publishing some written material in a variety of other languages only. | ||
| b. Braille | |||
| c. Audio | |||
3. Audio/visual resources
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. TV adverts have captions and/or NZSL | Not applicable | Not applicable | |
| 2. DVD/video products have captions and/or NZSL | Not applicable | Not applicable |
4. Other information
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Multiple contact points are advertised as well as telephone | Yes | Phone numbers, fax numbers, email addresses and website addresses are all readily available | |
| a. Fax | Yes | ||
| b. Email | Yes | ||
| 2. Please tell us if there are other things that your agency does/or is planning to make its information accessible | |||
Accessible buildings
Outcome: Disabled people can visit, work, and move about independently in all government buildings and carry on ordinary activities there, on the same basis as others.
Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008. Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.
1. Structural elements
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. All buildings and sites meet regulatory access requirements (eg NZS 4121) | tick | This is achieved in most buildings. There is a variation in the standard of MAF buildings. Initially MAF will focus on recently completed buildings and buildings that are still under construction. | |
| 2. Buildings and sites have Building Code compliance | tick | ||
| 3. Buildings and sites are audited for accessibility and passed (eg Barrier Free Trust, other accredited accessibility advisor) | Nil | ||
| 4. Clear walk paths through floors (for staff and visitors) | |||
| 5. Assistive listening devices are in meeting rooms, and functioning checked regularly | This is achieved in some buildings. Initially MAF will focus on buildings that are still under construction and buildings that have recently been completed / renovated (where applicable). | ||
| 6. Elevators announce floors and direction of movement | |||
| 7. Elevator buttons have Braille labels |
2. Contact with the public
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Reception areas are accessible | tick | It has been identified that this does vary from building to building. | Initially MAF will focus on buildings that are still under construction and buildings that have recently been completed / renovated (where applicable). |
| 2. Counters used by public are lowered (eg for wheelchair users, people who have a problem standing) | tick | This is the case for some office buildings but not in others. | |
| 3. Frontline staff are trained in disability responsiveness | tick | It is recognised that there is a need for disability responsiveness training be included into staff the training program | To develop a training module on disability responsiveness for staff. |
| 4. Staff are familiar with NZ Relay service | MAF’s contact centre staff are familiar with the NZ Relay service | To familiarise more staff of the NZ Relay service | |
| 5. Clear and accessible pathways to enter buildings and sites |
This is achieved in some buildings / locations already. Initially MAF will focus on buildings that are still under construction and buildings that have recently been completed / renovated (where applicable).
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| 6. Obvious and visible signage to locate entrances and exits | |||
| 7. Accessible car parking available near entrances |
3. Workplace management
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Contracts for IT applications require accessibility (for staff and/or public users) (eg EDRMS) | tick | tick | |
| 2. Fire safety and evacuation procedures specify the needs of disabled people (staff and visitors) | These are in place in some buildings already. MAF will initially focus on new buildings and buildings currently under construction, that don’t have them. | ||
| 3. Fire alarms have flashing lights to alert hearing impaired/deaf people | Initially MAF will focus on buildings that are still under construction and or have recently been completed / renovated (where applicable). |
Accessible services
Outcome: Disabled people can access government services on the same basis as non-disabled people.
Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008. Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.
1. Policy and practice
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Data on service users can be disaggregated by disabled people | No, data not collected. | ||
| 2. Services are responsive to the needs of disabled people | tick | tick | |
| 3. There is a written policy on use and provision of New Zealand Sign Language interpreters for client meetings | |||
| 4. Staff dealing with service users are trained to understand and be responsive to disabled people’s needs | tick | Not formally | |
| 5. Staff have knowledge of the NZ Relay service, and how to place and receive calls. | No, not directly. |
Being a good employer
Outcome: Government agencies provide equal opportunities in employment for disabled people to be recruited, retained, and promoted on the same basis as non-disabled people.
Please describe against the suggested action outputs what your agency planned to do in the year ending June 2007, what your actual achievements were, and what you plan to work on for the year ending June 2008. Grey highlighted action outputs are new this year.
1. Employment practice
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Human resource EEO policies / procedures specifically recognise disabled people and do not discriminate against them | tick | Policies and procedures are under review | |
| 2. Recruitment processes are accessible and responsive (eg vacancies advertised with alternative modes of contact, website accessible, supports provided for interviews where necessary) | Achieved | tick | tick |
| 3. Human resource staff are familiar with EEO issues for disabled people | tick | tick Informally | To develop a formalised process around staff updates |
| 4. Induction training includes awareness of disabled people, as part of a diverse workforce | The development of a training module for staff induction that focuses on ‘people with a disability as part of a diverse workforce.’ | ||
| 5. Internal agency communications promote the visibility of disabled staff, as part of a diverse workforce | n/a | n/a | |
| 6. Data: the number of disabled people employed (using SSC EEO definition of disability) | Three (3) There is an opportunity for this data to be collected; however people do not always disclose it. | ||
| 7. Data: the number of disabled people currently employed under Mainstream programme | Nil | ||
| 8. Data: the number of staff employed who were previously under the Mainstream programme | Nil |
2. Supports for disabled staff
| Action outputs | Planned 2006-2007 | Actual achieved 2006-2007 | Planned for 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Assessments of workplace accommodations and/or supports are provided (eg adaptive computer applications, flexible working conditions) | Yes, available when required | ||
| 2. Accommodations in the workplace are provided, if needed (eg desk changes, NZSL interpreters, adaptive computer software) | Yes, available when required | ||
| 3. Data: the number and type of accommodations provided to staff | |||
| 4. Network of disabled staff supported, if requested | n/a | ||
| 5. Disabled staff provided with opportunities for career advancement | Yes, this is available to all staff | ||
| 6. Disabled staff feel included in their workplace and have the same opportunities as non-disabled staff | |||
| 7. Please describe any other supports available to disabled staff | |||