Chamber and committees

Thank you. That is a fair comment on our remit.

Alan, I will ask you a similar question to the one that I posed to Charlie. What are the key barriers? Do you think that the Government’s levers and policy measures are doing enough? The Government has a target of halving the disability employment gap by 2030—sorry: by 2038. Do you think that we are on track to achieve that with the policies that are currently in place?

Carmel, do you share that view about the 2038 target? After the refresh, it is now the 2022 disability action plan. Is there enough in that to get us on the right path for the target?

Can we make some progress, Ms Tweed? We are getting a bit short of time.

Thank you. I am sure that we could have talked for longer. Indeed, we have not talked much about the bill that we are anticipating and what that will mean for this agenda.

Thank you very much for your attendance this morning. We will now move into private session.

If Murdo Fraser does not mind, I will bring in Colin Smyth first, as the funding issue has been raised.

Before Alan comes in, I should say that two other members wish to ask questions. We have had our witnesses here for an hour and a half. You are welcome to give evidence for a bit longer, but we do have to make progress. If your answers could be brief, that would be helpful.

I have a final question. When she mentioned adult programmes, Carmel McKeogh opened up a whole other area of discussion that, unfortunately, we do not have time to cover this morning. However, the committee has a scrutiny role, and that scrutiny relates to whether the Government can meet the 2038 target.

Turning first to Charlie McMillan, I just remind him of the question that I asked at the beginning of the evidence session. Will we meet the 2038 target? In that respect, I understand that the disability action plan was published in 2018. Is the plan fit for purpose or do we need to look at it afresh?

I call Evelyn Tweed, to be followed by Murdo Fraser.

Our next item is the third evidence session of the committee’s inquiry into the disability employment gap in Scotland. This morning, we will focus on the barriers that are faced by people with learning disabilities and neurodivergent people in accessing the labour market.

I welcome Carmel McKeogh, who is the operations director at DFN Project Search; Charlie McMillan, who is the chief executive of the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities; Joanna Panese, who is practice and community development lead at Scottish Autism; and Alan Thornburrow, who is the chief executive officer at the Salvesen Mindroom Centre. As always, it would be helpful if members and witnesses could keep their questions and answers as concise as possible. Thank you all for attending.

I will start with an opening question, which I will put first to Carmel McKeogh. Will you outline what you see as being the key barriers to employment for people with learning disabilities and neurodivergent people? There will be an opportunity for you to expand on the subject later but, initially, it would be helpful to get the headlines on what the key barriers are.

Alan, do you share that view?