Chamber and committees

The committee would be interested in that.

I will turn to something a little bit different: the impact of Covid-19, including financial and other support around that. What consultation took place between SPS and GEOAmey prior to agreeing actions to address post-Covid issues, including the courts backlog, court delivery times and the timing of medical appointments?

Why is the contract in Scotland conflated with the contract in England and Wales?

Maybe internally, but surely, if it is dealing with the SPS it should be transparent to the Scottish side.

I come back to sustainability, and whoever is appropriate can answer. The contract was recalibrated. What impact has that had on frontline services across justice partners, and is it sustainable? You are telling me that there have been improvements—

What impact have they had?

There are a couple of areas around employers’ input that I would like to explore a little bit. You have already touched on some of those areas. How can employers’ recruitment processes be improved? You already have a partnership with some employers, but let us look at the generality, because not all employers are in partnership with you. How can the average employer improve the recruitment process for disabled people?

I am asking whether you have had any feedback from disabled people who have experienced—

I want to pick up on one or two of the points that I raised with the previous panel. Last week, we had the opportunity to talk to some of the youngsters who have been through the system of employment. They were not very complimentary about the path that they had to follow. Bear in mind, however, that those were only the people that I spoke to myself. For example, going to jobcentres had a negative impact on them because the jobcentres did not understand them or where they were coming from and they could not cater for their needs. They were just parked to one side and that was it. Is that an experience that you are aware of? Is any data collected on how many people experience that negative situation?

If the system is not working, who is giving feedback to the jobcentres and the schools that it is not working?

Interestingly, we had a round-table session with young people last week, which was really informative, but none of them referenced employers coming in and having any meaningful discussion with them. Overall, just from the ones whom I spoke to, they had had a fairly negative experience. Philip Ritchie, do you have a comment?