Chamber and committees

Transport Scotland and Sustrans have worked with a number of organisations who represent disabled people. These include, the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS), The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB), and Guide Dogs for the Blind. The input from these organisations was valuable in the development of guidance and support to local authorities to deliver their Spaces for People schemes.

Scottish Government’s delivery partner, Inclusion Scotland, published a report in May 2021 after the Parliamentary elections. The report includes an evaluation that Inclusion Scotland held with award holders. Most award recipients said their overall experience of the Access to Elected Office Fund was very good or excellent. Most participants said the fund removed some impairment-related barriers to campaigning and importantly, most recipients said that the funding did help them to campaign and/or pursue party selection on a more level playing field with non-disabled candidates.

Immediately after the Scottish Parliamentary elections were concluded, the Access to Elected Office Fund needed to promote the upcoming local elections for May 2022 in order to ensure sufficient lead time for any applicants, whilst incorporating learning from the impact of COVID-19.

Inclusion Scotland has worked with the Equal Representation Coalition and the Scottish Government to develop an equalities monitoring form with the aim of collecting data on the protected characteristics of candidates for the May 2022 Local Authority elections.

Further improvements include the updating of processes and procedures. For example, for those receiving a Personal Assistant (PA) support award, the option was added to allow them to use a self-employed PA with the aim of tackling the barriers to recruitment.

An evaluation report was written in 2017 which reviewed the pilot Access to Elected Office Fund (Scotland) (AEOFS) programme and made recommendations for the future of such a scheme. Thereafter, operational funding was maintained for the Fund until October 2021, and further funding was provided through the Equality and Human Rights Fund to run the programme for a further 3 years.

Various changes were made to improve the programme in its second iteration, including opening the new fund for applications well in advance of the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections, leaving a longer lead in time to support those running for selection and as a candidate; and committing to funding AEOFS awards with no upper limit, ensuring that as many candidates as possible can apply for selection and be secure in the knowledge that funding will not be a barrier to their success. Further consideration was also given to addressing the particular barriers faced by BSL users, and the fund supported the first BSL user to be elected to a Scottish Local Authority in a by-election in 2019.

In addition, an ‘Access to Politics Charter’ was developed with disabled activists to support political parties to be more inclusive and promote disabled people as potential candidates. The Charter addressed a range of issues raised in the evaluation report. All of the five parliamentary political parties have signed up to the ‘Access to Politics Charter’ and each now has a disabled members’ group following charter principles.

Under the Equality Act 2010, individual public authorities are responsible for ensuring that they make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of people with protected characteristics. Responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 rests with individual authorities/organisations.

In 2017, 44 disabled people were supported by the Fund. 39 became official candidates either as an independent or through their political party.

In 2021, 30 disabled people received Access to Elected Office Fund (Scotland) (AEOFS) awards to run for party selection and as candidates in the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections. 14 AEOFS recipients became regional list candidates or dual constituency/regional list candidates for the Scottish Parliament.

Between 2018-2021, two disabled people received AEOFS awards to run for party selection and as candidates in Scottish local council by-elections. One recipient became a candidate in a local council by-election and was elected as the first BSL-user councillor in Scotland.

In 2022, currently, there are 52 applications for support from the AEOFS.

Under the Equality Act 2010, individual public authorities are responsible for ensuring that they make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of people with protected characteristics including disabled people. Responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 rests with individual authorities/organisations.

The Scottish Government expects all relevant organisations to comply with the requirements of the 2010 Act in relation to all protected characteristics. Responsibility for oversight of compliance with the 2010 Act, including compliance with the 2012 Regulations, rests with the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The Commission is independent and cannot be directed by Scottish Ministers.

The Scottish Government will invest £10 million over this parliamentary term as part of our commitment to increasing opportunities for disabled people. This funding will increase the number of changing places toilets across the country and support mobile changing places to allow people easier access to outdoor venues and events across Scotland.

Funding will commence in the financial year 2022-2023 and will be delivered in phases over the course of the parliamentary term.

We estimate that Child Winter Heating Assistance will provide assistance to over 19,000 children and young people who are in receipt of disability assistance in Scotland in 2021-22 at a cost of around £4 million. This type of assistance is not available anywhere else in the UK.

Through our £290 million Cost of Living support package, we will give 1.85 million (73%) of Scottish households £150 of extra support via the Council Tax. We have also allocated a further £10 million to continue our Fuel Insecurity Fund, which is aimed at those in greatest need.

The Fuel Insecurity Fund is delivered through trusted third sector partner organisations, providing direct support to people, including disabled people, who are at risk of severely self-rationing their energy use, or self-disconnecting entirely, due to the cost of their fuel bills. Assistance can be accessed by households on any tariff type and using any fuel source.

All children in Scotland are offered child health reviews at 13-15 months, 27-30 months and 4-5 years. These reviews are typically carried out by a Health Visitor. They allow monitoring and promotion of a child’s health and collect data on child development. The latest Early Child Development Statistics cover 2019/20 and are available here - https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/early-child-development/early-child-development-scotland-201920/ .

The 2019/20 statistics show that the proportion of review records containing meaningful information for every developmental domain was lower for children from certain minority ethnic groups. However, the differences between ethnic groups, in the proportion of records with meaningful information in 2019/20, are the smallest observed to date (since 2013/14).

We remain committed to improving outcomes for all children and that is why we have commissioned an evaluation into the Universal Health Visiting Pathway. Findings from the evaluation will support Health Visitors in continuing to support all young families across Scotland.

In addition, to address gaps in Scotland’s equality evidence base, we launched the Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP) in April 2021. The EDIP is aligned with our wider Mainstreaming Equality and Human Rights Strategy.

I have asked Teresa Medhurst, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Scottish Government and SPS are committed to continuing work on modernising and improving the prison estate which includes the construction of a new Women’s National Facility, 2 Community Custody Units and replacement prisons for HMP Barlinnie and HMP Inverness.

Since the commencement of the SPS Estates Development Programme, 75% of the prison estate has either been replaced or modernised. in line with relevant guidance and standards for building accessibility. The completion of these further major infrastructure investment projects will represent another significant step in improving accessibility across the prison estate.

SPS establishments also continue to work collaboratively with local NHS Health Boards to put in place care plans which may include utilising services and aids to improve accessibility, for individuals who require additional support.

The Scottish Government has made a commitment to reduce the disability employment gap – the difference between the employment rates of disabled people and non-disabled people - by at least half, by 2038. We set out this ambition as part of our wider disability employment strategy, “ A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan ”. To halve the disability employment gap by 2038 will require around a 1 percentage point reduction in the gap every year.

Table 1 shows the disability employment gap for January 2016 – December 2016 to January 2021 – December 2021, sourced from the Annual Population Survey.

In 2016, our baseline year, the disability employment gap was estimated to be 37.4 percentage points. It is estimated to have reduced by 6.3 percentage points over the five years between 2016 and 2021, to 31.0 percentage points in 2021 – which is, on average, more than a 1 percentage point reduction each year. Based on performance and the labour market context to date, this suggests that we are on track to achieve our ambition to halve the gap by 2038. The reduction in the disability employment gap over this period was due to a larger rise in the employment rate of disabled people relative to the increase in the employment rate of non-disabled people.

Table 1: Disability Employment Gap, 2016 – 2021, Scotland