Chamber and committees

Thanks for that, minister.

Culture has been talked about a lot. You have talked about it this morning, and a lot of comments about culture have been made in evidence. We heard from the young people whom we spoke to that people often had no expectations of having a working life or contributing to society. There were limited expectations. How do we move forward on that? How can we really make a difference?

Thank you for your helpful answers. It is good to hear that Scotland is taking steps to reduce the disability employment gap. However, we heard in evidence from employers and various stakeholders that employers are worried and scared about recruitment and the long-term employment prospects of the people who they are taking on. What is the Scottish Government doing to support employers so that they feel able to recruit disabled people and to ensure that those people have a good journey?

Thanks for that. What are you looking for from employers? What are your asks of them? What are you expecting them to do?

Thanks for that. In taking evidence, we spoke a lot about HR, which is the often the first port of call on employment issues. Is anything being done specifically on HR as something that we must target?

Good morning to the panel, and thanks for your answers so far. From what you have said, you all agree with the premise of the bill and that it is required, but I am picking up that you are anxious that it is potentially underresourced. Stephanie Griffin mentioned that the funding that is to be used for the bill could be used in a better way to fund existing organisations. The Scottish Government is saying that it will probably have to set aside at least a million pounds in the first year but, as I said, you have said that there is an underresourcing issue. How could your organisations use that funding to achieve the aims of the bill? I ask Stephanie Griffin to answer first.

You are all doing jobs as part of the bigger picture, and you have all agreed with the premise of the bill and what it is trying to achieve. What I am trying to get at is an answer to the question of whether, even though we are talking about only £1 million in the first instance, those resources could be used more effectively to meet the aims through the existing organisations. Does anyone else want to comment on that?

Thanks, Anne-Marie. Generally, what more can employers do to make recruitment processes and workplaces more inclusive? What more should employers be doing?

The other thing that I have picked up is about getting parents involved and thinking about aspirations. We have heard from young people that they have felt that they should not really even be thinking about having a life journey into work. School is the key to a whole good journey.

Good morning, panel. Thanks for all your answers so far. Tracey, you said that employers are sometimes afraid to take on young people—there are issues with how they feel, they do not want to do a bad job and they do not want to get it wrong. What support do you think we could put in place to help with that?