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When I met you guys, a key thing that came through in our discussion was the need for a multi-agency approach. I think that you are right to say that the Government needs to lead on that. Jim Crabb mentioned the fact that there is a postcode lottery, but even within the same school, some teachers have a better understanding of the issue than others, and within the health service, some doctors understand it better than others. Therefore, the issue also needs to be looked at from a health board and a local authority perspective.

Workforce planning is important, too. Do we have enough qualified people in this area, given that there has been an explosion in the number of people who are seeking treatment? If we do not, do we need to start planning to address that now? We can clearly see the restrictions that there are with regard to the waiting list, so do we need to look at workforce planning? If we are to deal with the issue properly, we can put guidelines and structures in place, but if we do not have the people in place, that will cause delay. Do you agree that it is important that workforce planning—in local authorities, in GP surgeries and in the services that you provide—is looked at?

We had witnesses from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in before you, and a couple of key things came up. I remember meeting with them previously, and they talked about the cross-agency approach. All the evidence that we have heard this morning shows that there is not one, single solution.

There are a couple of key questions. First, awareness in workplaces is incredibly important, and can be very mixed. Is legislation required on that, or are guidelines enough? We have legislation on various other issues, which employers should be picking up on.

My second question is about the broader issues. You mentioned the health and social care partnership, and we talked about shared care. The health and social care partnership is one example, but education is key as well. We heard that some of you got a diagnosis when you were in your 20s or 30s, but there are kids who are getting diagnosed earlier, so does more need to be done in education?

I do some work with an organisation called Stronger Together for Autism and Neurodivergence—STAND, too—which some of you might know about. It talks about awareness in schools. In schools, the picture can be very mixed. It depends very much on teachers’ awareness. There could be one teacher in a school who is very good, and another teacher in another classroom who does not understand the issues.

I suppose that that is about shared-agency working. Your outcome very much depends on who your employer is, what your school is and who your GP is, so we could pick that up and it could improve the situation for some people, but not others. Does that mean that we need legislation as well as investment into services?

That is an important point.

Last week, we were talking about the public sector equality duty, which is a duty on those in the public sector to make sure that there is equality in all their systems. I do not think that this area has been a focus. We have heard about figures that show that some 10 to 20 per cent of the population are neurodivergent. That is a huge amount of people. We might be able to influence how the things that we are talking about are embedded across those systems, either through legislation or the public sector equality duty. That is certainly a consideration that I will have when we talk about this in more detail.

12:15

Thank you—that is very helpful.

With the previous panel, I raised with the EHRC a question about the mainstreaming strategy. What is the role of local authorities and other public authorities in that? There are a few things, I think —

That is a really important point. There is a part in the report that says that this should not be an add-on for public authorities; it should be integral to what they do, and the inspection regime is an incredibly important part of that. There is a role for the Scottish Government and there is a role for the EHRC, but there is a role for public authorities themselves to almost self-govern and have that self-discipline. We need to focus on that as well, not just on the Government and the EHRC. That is a closing remark on that topic, convener. As John Wilkes said, the inspection regimes are already there.

I have a supplementary question for you, minister, and Nick Bland. The EHRC mentioned the existing inspection regimes for public authorities in areas such as health and education. Do the inspection bodies have a role in making sure that the PSED is part of the inspection regimes?

Another key point is about the role of Government in monitoring. That is not only for Government; it is also the role of Parliament, this committee and its successor committees. How do you see Parliament and Government monitoring the situation? What is the role of the inspection bodies in making sure that public sector bodies continue to follow the PSED?

Thank you.

With the previous panel, I talked about mainstreaming and the role of the EHRC and the Scottish Government in that. What are your thoughts on public authorities’ understanding of the PSED and mainstreaming? For me, the key point is that this should not just be an add-on for public authorities; it should be an integral part of what they do. What is the Government’s role in trying to promote that in public authorities to encourage them to take ownership and, rather than relying on guidance from the Government and the EHRC, take it on and make it an integral part of what they do?

Thank you, convener. I am conscious of time, so I will try to keep my questions as brief as possible. In talking about the proposed reforms, the Government talked about its mainstreaming strategy, and we will be asking the minister about that. The report mentions the role of the Scottish Government. Jennifer Laughland talked about the role of the EHRC and how limited that can be, given your staffing. There is also a major emphasis on the role of public authorities, whether local authorities, police, health or others.

What are your thoughts on the Government’s evolving approach to mainstreaming? There is a strong onus on public authorities to take ownership of this, too, which is really important. They cannot just wait for guidance from the EHRC or the Scottish Government. In my opinion, public authorities have to do that little bit more to move this on.

Maggie Chapman said that we all come at this from different viewpoints on equality. The massive worry that I have is about the increase in racism that we have seen and the discourse around asylum seeking and so on, which is really concerning.

What more can the Scottish Government do? What can public authorities do, other than just waiting for guidance from the EHRC or Scottish Government? What do public authorities need to do to try and move this forward? This is about data collection, but it is also about doing the right thing, to make sure that everybody is treated equally.