Official Report 1057KB pdf
The next item of business is a statement by Natalie Don-Innes on improving transitions for young disabled people. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.
14:42
Thank you for the opportunity to make this statement. I extend my thanks to members from across the chamber for raising the important topic of transitions to adulthood for young disabled people. It remains clear that there is cross-party consensus that we should do everything that we can to improve the experience of transition to adulthood for young disabled people, and we will do so. I am heartened that so many members in the chamber share the Government’s ambition to improve their experiences and outcomes during an important period of their lives.
Based on our work to develop the national transitions to adulthood strategy and the evidence that the Education, Children and Young People Committee heard on Pam Duncan-Glancy’s member’s bill, I know that there are excellent examples of local authorities, education, health and social care services and others working to improve the experiences of disabled children and young people across Scotland who are transitioning to adulthood.
Earlier today, I had the pleasure of meeting some of the young people and families who benefit from NHS Lothian and Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland’s transition clinic, which the Scottish Government helped to support. I heard at first hand about the positive impact of multi-agency collaboration and co-operation that places young people and their families at the heart of the transition process.
Improving transitions for young disabled people remains of critical importance to the Scottish Government. The Minister for Equalities and I continue to work across Government to ensure continued focus and urgency on that agenda. The debate provides an opportunity to update the Parliament on our continued efforts to improve young disabled people’s experiences of transitions. I will also provide further details regarding our commitment to introducing Scotland’s first national transitions to adulthood strategy.
I give the Parliament a commitment that I will engage constructively with Opposition parties on those matters, and I confirm that the Government remains open to strengthening the framework that is required to improve the experiences of young disabled people at points of transition, which is the goal that we all seek to achieve.
First, I want to be clear that the Government is taking action now to improve young disabled people’s experiences of transitions; we are not waiting until we publish the strategy. Given what was said during the stage 1 debate on the Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill, I know that members from across the chamber want to ensure that we are driving urgent action, so I want to reassure them, disabled children and young people and those who support them that we are doing so.
As members will remember, there was agreement across the parties that, although the ambitions of Ms Duncan-Glancy’s bill to improve the experiences and outcomes for young disabled people were wholly welcome, it remained unclear how the bill would work in practice to resolve the issues being experienced.
As we heard in the chamber last year, the Education, Children and Young People Committee was thorough in its evidence gathering and its discussions with stakeholders, including young disabled people and organisations such as the Association for Real Change Scotland. Many stakeholders expressed doubt that the bill could deliver on its laudable aim of resolving the issues that are experienced by young disabled people as they transition to young adult life. However, I am fully aware that those stakeholders rightly expect the Scottish Government to uphold the commitment that it has made to support young disabled people, and they also expect all of us in the chamber to look beyond party politics and focus on the people at the heart of the issue, who have asked us to work together with them to get this right.
Today, I will set out some of the actions that the Scottish Government is already taking and our next steps as we prepare the strategy.
As well as the work by NHS Lothian and Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland, there are other examples of excellent practice across Scotland. For example, there is the work of ARC Scotland. Between 2020 and 2023, the Scottish Government funded ARC’s principles into practice trials in 10 local authority areas to improve the lived experiences of young people who need additional support to make the transition to young adult life. Building on the success of those trials, we continue to provide grant funding to ARC Scotland through the children, young people, families and adult learning third sector fund. The funding will enable ARC to continue to run the Scottish Transitions Forum and to support the wider implementation of the principles into practice and compass programmes across Scotland.
We have invested more than £20 million in the Independent Living Fund Scotland’s transition fund, since it opened at the end of 2017, to support young disabled people to make a smoother transition from childhood to adulthood by promoting independence, community participation, social inclusion and confidence.
In 2024-25, we have continued to provide funding to support Enable Scotland’s stepping up transitions programme, which connects young disabled people to fair work, education and productive activities that are designed to support a successful transition into adult life and work.
We are ensuring that all young people in Scotland, including young disabled people, have access to quality careers advice through the national careers service, which is led by Skills Development Scotland. Developing the Young Workforce school co-ordinators also continue to link young people with employers.
We have recently incorporated the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law, ensuring that we are a country that respects, protects and fulfils the rights of all children, including disabled children. As part of our work to implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024, the Scottish Government has funded NHS Education for Scotland to support health boards and the Improvement Service in implementing a children’s human rights approach in their practice.
We are supporting other public bodies, such as the Independent Living Fund and others that have a role in supporting young people with their transition to adult life, to ensure that they take a children’s human rights approach. Our work with NES includes supporting health boards to consider children’s rights during transitions to adulthood.
In 2023, we published the getting it right for every child child’s plan practice statement, which includes new guidance for transitions and makes it clear that particular consideration should be given to disabled children and young people. The guidance complements the existing suite of GIRFEC policy and practice guidance that we published in September 2022.
Building on GIRFEC best practice, the Scottish Government is co-designing getting it right for everyone with place-based pathfinders in areas such as Fife, North Lanarkshire and the city of Aberdeen, with those pathfinders considering young people transitioning from children’s services to adult services.
We are developing the GIRFE team around the person toolkit and testing it with pathfinders and partners. The toolkit will help to support positive, early conversations about transitions for young people, with a focus on early planning, accessible information and the co-ordination of professionals around the person. The toolkit is due to be published soon.
Those are just some of the examples of the actions that are being taken across the Scottish Government to improve young disabled people’s experiences of transitions to adulthood. Despite those fantastic efforts, however, I understand that experiences differ and that some young disabled people are not getting the support that they need at the right time. I am clear that all those who have responsibility for transitions must do more to improve the experiences of disabled children and young people, and that doing nothing is not an option.
That is why, in addition to the range of work that I have already set out and more, the Scottish Government remains committed to introducing the national transitions to adulthood strategy. That will help to ensure that there is a joined-up approach, so that all young disabled people in Scotland can experience a supported and positive transition to young adult life.
I would like to take the opportunity that is before the Parliament today to state that the Scottish Government’s recent decision to extend the planned timeline for publishing the strategy has not been taken lightly. However, it was considered necessary if we were to give the fullest consideration to the extensive and invaluable contributions that were made by stakeholders who attended our recent engagement sessions between May and August 2024. The revision was also necessary to ensure that appropriate actions and priorities are considered and discussed across the Government, and we are working on that now. There must also be sufficient time to ensure that the strategy can be published in a range of accessible formats so that it meets the needs of those whom it aims to support.
The decision to extend the timeline was made in collaboration with the external strategic working group, which was set up to support the development of the strategy and which includes key stakeholder representatives of young disabled people, their parent carers, disabled people’s organisations and others who support them.
I hope that members from across the chamber are reassured that the Scottish Government continues to take urgent action and maintain focus on work that supports improved experiences of transitions to adulthood for young disabled people in Scotland. The Government remains committed to delivering progress towards that goal, and we will continue to work collaboratively with young disabled people and their families, with those who provide the high-quality support and planned transitions that we know every young disabled person should have, and with colleagues from across the chamber to ensure that all young disabled people who are making the transition to adulthood in Scotland are empowered to achieve their full potential.
I take the opportunity to again extend an invitation to all parties to work with us to ensure that we get this right. As a Parliament, we owe it to the young people of Scotland to put aside political differences and work together to deliver a strategy that supports young disabled people as they navigate one of the most important periods of their life. I made it clear to Ms Duncan-Glancy during the consideration of her bill that I would be willing to work closely on the transition strategy, and my position is the same today. I urge any member who has feedback on the development of the draft strategy to get in touch with me so that we can ensure that it is delivered as soon as possible. We all have a duty to work together to get this right.
The minister will now take questions on the issues that were raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for that, after which we will move on to the next item of business, and I invite members who wish to ask a question to press their request-to-speak buttons.
I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement.
The Scottish Conservatives still believe that improving outcomes for disabled people in their transition into adulthood is the right thing to do, especially given the poor experiences of transitions that many disabled young people continue to have. However, the fact that we are one year on since the Scottish Government reiterated its commitment to publishing a transition to adulthood strategy by the end of this year, and we are no further forward, is disappointing to say the least. Despite warm words such as “commitment”, “reassure”, “developing” and “soon”, and talk of a further statement of intent, we are here today with a ministerial statement that contains no concrete timeline for delivery.
Can the minister therefore guarantee that the strategy will be completed before the end of this parliamentary session? Will the statement of intent list actions by the Scottish Government that it is taking forward in the absence of that strategy? When will those actions start to make a tangible difference to the lives of young people as they transition to adulthood? Given the reliance on the third sector to deliver those tangible differences, can the minister confirm continued funding for those projects?
As I said in my statement, I appreciate that it is disappointing that the strategy has been delayed, but it is for a very good reason. We have always been clear that we would seek to develop a strategy that both recognised the urgency of the improvements that we have heard are required and allowed sufficient time to support the engagement and participation of those that it would affect.
The online survey seeking feedback on the statement of intent received 151 responses. We conducted a further period of engagement between May and August 2024, during which we engaged with more than 500 people. I am now committed to ensuring that each and every one of those responses is given the consideration that it deserves. With that in mind, and in collaboration with the external strategic working group that has been set up to support the strategy’s development, we are allowing that additional time. I aim to publish the strategy in spring 2025, but I will absolutely publish it sooner if I feel that that is a possibility.
I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement and for agreeing to our request to give the statement. However, I am really disappointed with where we are and what has been said today.
I introduced my bill in 2022 because I believed—and I still do—that disabled children and young people need extra support at transition to give them a fighting chance in future. However, my bill was rejected and this Government promised to introduce a national transitions to adulthood strategy. The minister at the time, Clare Haughey, said on behalf of the Government that
“we are not resting on our laurels.”—[Official Report, Education, Children and Young People Committee, 22 February 2023; c 51.]
That the strategy is now delayed, a year since my bill was rejected—and, indeed, eight years since the Government promised a strategy in its 2016 manifesto—makes it hard to see how the Government is not resting on its laurels when it comes that commitment. Also, to use as a reason for that delay engagement with a group of people who have been consistently engaged and who have been telling the Government about this issue is really unfortunate.
In 2023, 2,202 young disabled people finished school. They could have had support, had the Government published the promised strategy. The fact that this Government is delaying the strategy again is a betrayal, and the Government needs to answer to the thousands of disabled children who have missed out. After all, what is the point in a Government if it takes more than eight years to commit to something that it said that it would do in its manifesto? Does the minister agree with Martin Luther King that a right delayed is a right denied?
I am sorry to hear of any instance of any child or young person not getting the support that they need. In relation to Ms Duncan-Glancy’s bill, it is quite clear that the Parliament agreed last year that the bill would not resolve the challenges facing disabled young people in the transition to adult life.
Ms Duncan-Glancy talks about progress. I am absolutely not resting on my laurels—and this Government is not resting on its laurels—when it comes to making improvements for young disabled people. I have already laid out in my statement a number of actions that we are making progress on. Work is continuing to progress and develop the strategy and, as I have said, I have committed to publishing it in spring 2025.
I will continue to engage with Ms Duncan-Glancy on where she feels that those improvements could be made, but I emphasise that I hold as much urgency in relation to this as I believe the member does.
It is vital that disabled young people have informed choice and control about the support provided to them. Can the minister say a bit more about how the Scottish Government will ensure that the rights and preferences of disabled children and young people are at the heart of decision-making processes in their individual transitions to young adult life?
Absolutely. I assure Ms Adam that, as with almost everything in my role, I believe that children and young people should be at the heart of decision making. Early transitions planning should be available to young disabled people and a holistic, person-centred approach should be adopted to empower young people to dream big and to identify and pursue their goals and aspirations.
That priority has already been set out in the statement of intent, and it is underpinned by the UNCRC, which, as Parliament knows and as I have mentioned in my statement, we have recently incorporated. In particular, article 23 states that
“States Parties recognize that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child’s active participation in the community”,
and article 13 states that
“The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers”.
I believe that, in line with a lot of Scottish Government priorities and with legislation, those are, and will be, key considerations in the strategy’s development.
I, too, welcome the minister’s comments about the need to bring disabled young people along on this journey with us. Following the Government’s statement of intent on transitions and the establishment of the working group, extensive consultation with stakeholders, including disabled young people and their families, has taken place. Can the minister say more about that engagement and outline how it will continue?
Absolutely. When we engaged more widely on the strategy between May and August 2024, we took a solution-focused approach to understanding what is working well and what could be even better in relation to each of the strategy’s priorities, as set out in the statement of intent. During that period, as I have said, we engaged with more than 500 people across Scotland, including parents, carers and professionals from a range of sectors who are supporting young disabled people and, most crucially, young disabled people themselves. I extend my sincerest thanks to everyone involved in that process.
Throughout the strategy’s development, we have worked directly with some groups of young disabled people, including ARC Scotland’s divergent influencers, Children in Scotland’s inclusion ambassadors and Independent Living Fund Scotland’s young ambassadors. The views of those groups continue to be sought via representation on that external strategic working group.
Post publication, the greatest measure of the strategy’s success will be direct feedback from young disabled people. We will continue to engage with young disabled people, their families and others who support them to ensure that the strategy is having its intended impact.
The Scottish Government recently published its guidance on the use of seclusion and restraint. Transitions have just one mention in that guidance, in paragraph 29, which is a single sentence. Is that area—or, indeed, are other areas of the guidance—for future revision? Would the Government be willing to discuss how transitions could be included in my bill? Does she agree that the best prevention of the use of seclusion and restraint is, after all, adequate support plans being in place at every point of transition?
I would certainly be happy to discuss that with the member. I know that the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills is leading on that work, and we would be happy to discuss the issues that Mr Johnson has raised.
Although a lot of disabled young people will transition to college or to the world of work, many of them will go to university. What support is the Scottish Government able to provide for disabled students in that particular space?
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all students with a disability, a long-term medical condition or additional support needs are supported as they study in further and higher education. As an initial step, we have opened up living costs support to disabled students who are studying in full-time, distance-learning courses and who are unable to study in campus-based courses because of their disability.
Universities operate independently of the Scottish Government, but each college or university has a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that students with disabilities, including those with long-term medical conditions, are not placed at a disadvantage. Scottish universities are covered by the public sector equality duty, which requires them to, among other things,
“report ... on mainstreaming the equality duty ... publish equality outcomes and report progress”
and
“assess and review policies and practices.”
The regulatory body for the Equality Act 2010 is the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and more detail of its work in Scotland can be found on its website.
A successful transition to adulthood is made far more likely if a disabled young person has had a successful experience in education. However, if every action in the Government’s additional support for learning action plan were implemented and delivered in full, it would still make next to no difference to the appalling situation that is faced in our schools by many children and young people with additional needs. As much as I welcome the commitment to work with other parties, does the minister agree that, as a minimum, the transition strategy must be far more ambitious and substantial than the additional support for learning strategy is?
If people feel that across the board, it will—absolutely—come back to us through our engagement. I have told members about the groups that we are engaging with, and we are engaging fully. I am standing here, talking about the delay to the strategy, because I want to ensure that each of those responses is considered fully. If that issue comes up, I will be happy to give it the consideration that it deserves in order to ensure that all young disabled people have the support that they require when they are making that transition to adulthood.
Each week at our surgeries, we all meet constituents who are being failed because they are unable to properly access the support that they need when they are transitioning to adulthood. Last year, when we debated Pam Duncan-Glancy’s bill, the Scottish Government persuaded the majority of MSPs in the chamber that support was otherwise accessible and that there was too much duplication and overlap with key aspects of existing legislation, but the strategy that has been promised to resolve that is still delayed. Is the minister persuaded that the duplication of which her Government spoke will be swept up in a strategy that is still to come? Is she confident that that is achievable without further legislation?
I am confident that it is achievable. I highlight to the member that, although the Government opposed the bill, the committee that scrutinised the bill agreed that it would not have the intended outcomes. That was clear to members across the chamber. I have been clear, and I have highlighted when the strategy will come out. I believe that it is possible to make improvements without further legislative change.
As I highlighted in the statement, we are looking to improve things in a number of ways. As I said, there are new responsibilities under the UNCRC and in relation to implementing GIRFEC and GIRFE. I believe that things are improving every day, although, of course, I am sorry to hear of any instances of Mr Cole-Hamilton’s constituents not receiving the support that they need.
The Scottish Government has made substantial progress in reducing the disability employment gap, but we know that that depends very much on third sector and social enterprise support. Given the reaction to the national insurance increases for employers and the concerns that have been raised by the third sector, will the minister outline how she is engaging with the third sector in developing the strategy?
I have already laid out how we have engaged with the third sector, and I will be very clear: I engage with the third sector on a daily basis. I understand the concerns that third sector organisations have around the national insurance contributions, and I understand the huge impact that they have on the ground. We will continue discussions with those organisations about how best we can support them.
A number of things seem to be missing from the minister’s statement and answers today, not least any meaningful metrics by which we can judge the success of the Government’s actions. How does the minister plan to measure whether her policies are successful? How will she collect that data so that Parliament can scrutinise it more carefully?
Progress on the statement will be monitored and reviewed. The best judgement of whether the actions that we are taking are successful will come from scrutiny in the Parliament by Opposition members and scrutiny by children and young people. I want to hear those voices, because they will continue to tell us where we are getting it right, where we are getting it wrong and where we need to go further.
The actions that are laid out in the strategy will be monitored to ensure that they have the effect that we want them to have in providing that support.
It is important that children and young people receive all the support that they need to flourish and thrive, including children and young people with a disability or additional needs who are in rural areas such as my South Scotland region. Will the minister set out what the Scottish Government is doing on additional support for learning for children and families in more remote and rural areas?
Absolutely. Scotland’s approach to supporting children and young people in their learning has inclusion at its heart. That is why, last week, we published the third progress report on the additional support for learning action plan, which sets out the progress that was made between November 2022 and June 2024 towards the delivery of the actions that are set out in the ASL action plan. The plan was developed in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and ASL project board members. To complement the progress report, an updated ASL action plan was also published, which outlines the steps that we are taking to meet the recommendations that were set out in the review.
A range of actions have been carried out to date. We have established the success looks different awards to co-create and collaborate with children, young people and their families. Work has begun to establish parent groups in local authorities, and professional learning opportunities for our teaching and support staff continue to be a priority.
I highlight that the responsibility for the delivery of education is devolved at a range of levels across education authorities and schools and through the actions of individual members of staff, including in rural locations. Partner organisations, including health boards, social work services, further and higher education and the third sector, all have a role to play in delivering additional support for learning as part of delivering educational outcomes for children and young people.
I apologise again for arriving late in the chamber.
I ask the minister to be honest with the chamber. A year on, we do not seem to have seen any progress whatsoever. All the progress that the minister outlined in her statement has been made by the third sector. Although we welcome that, we have not seen progress from the Government, eight years on from when it said that we would. I ask the minister a simple question: how will she measure progress over the next year? Will it be the number of people who are going to more positive destinations? Or will there be no measurement of what the Government intends to take forward over the next 12 months?
On the member’s comments about what has happened in the past year, I have set out a range of areas in which I feel that we are seeing progress. I am happy to commit to providing a full progress update on the actions that I set out last year, if the member and the Parliament would find that helpful.
On the progress that we are making, we are focusing on the getting it right for every child approach and on strengthening implementation by working in partnership with a range of services and stakeholders to ensure that that approach is embedded across all sectors. For adult services, work is on-going to develop GIRFE, which, as I have said, builds on existing adult practice and best practice learning from GIRFEC.
Although, as I have said, progress will be analysed—I am happy to provide progress reports when that is required—the best tell of whether we are getting it right is what we are hearing from the children and young people who are experiencing the services. If we are hearing that we are not going far enough or fast enough, the Government will have to consider that.
Roz McCall asked about funding. The children, young people and families early intervention fund, which is the vehicle through which the third sector is funded, is due to end in March 2025. Can the minister confirm that funding will continue beyond that date?
I am not able to confirm that prior to the announcement of the budget on 4 December, as the member will know. However, I assure him that I engage with third sector organisations practically daily—I did so during my visit this morning, which I have mentioned—and I hear how important the funding is to them. I absolutely understand and hear the calls from the third sector about the uncertainty around funding.
That concludes the statement on improving transitions for young disabled people. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business, to allow front-bench teams to change position should they wish to do so.
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