Chamber and committees

I will move on to Jim Fairlie, but first I have a quick question regarding the local employability partnerships that have been rolled out in the past 12 months. Is there funding from the Scottish Government to all 32 local authorities, which they can allocate to a team?

Thank you. That is interesting. I will have to see what South Ayrshire is doing.

In the new year, the committee will be doing an inquiry into long Covid specifically, because the issue has been raised during this inquiry. Inclusion Scotland highlighted that long Covid is not necessarily considered a disability. I appreciate and understand that a lot of people with long Covid are self-diagnosed, and that there is a lot of work still to be done and a lot that is unknown. It is not one of the conditions that is listed in the Equality Act 2010. Does the Scottish Government have a view on whether long Covid should be recognised as a disability?

That is helpful.

Yesterday, I saw for the first time the wellbeing economy monitor, which I thought was fantastic. The monitor brings together a range of indicators as a baseline for assessing progress towards a wellbeing economy. One of the many indicators considers the participation rates of young people between the ages of 16 and 19 in education, training and employment. Is the Scottish Government using those indicators to inform its approach to addressing economic inactivity, including sickness and early retirement?

Thank you. That concludes this agenda item and our time with the minister. I thank the minister and his officials for their attendance. The committee’s next meeting will be on 15 December, when we will take evidence on Covid-19 surveillance.

Thank you, minister. I will begin by asking the first question.

You will be aware that the committee has been looking at economic inactivity specifically in relation to long-term illness and early retirement. One of the issues that has come up is the number of people who are off work with long Covid, which the minister touched on briefly. Does the Scottish Government agree with the suggestion from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that many working people may be off on sick leave with long Covid, rather than being economically inactive?

Yes.

That is really interesting.

Absolutely. I know, just going by what has happened in South Ayrshire, that 98 per cent of school leavers are currently going into positive destinations: either university or college or employment. However, we need more joined-up thinking between colleges, schools and businesses. Could the Scottish Government be doing anything better to help with that?

Yes.