Seòmar agus comataidhean

I think that we are both in the same boat, convener.

Good morning. My question relates to local government. We have spoken a lot about collaborative working and partnership between various levels of government. That will, of course, be really important in relation to what happens over the next few years, particularly given the difficult financial challenges that all sectors are experiencing as a result of the levels of funding that are available.

I have always been struck by the different funding streams, or the different ways in which local authorities operate, in relation to their leisure facilities and cultural assets. Some councils use arm’s-length external organisations, while others keep things more in house, if I can use that phrase. Is it difficult for the sector to navigate that as a whole, given that councils are doing different things in different places? Do we need a further review of ALEOs and of how councils are operating their leisure and cultural assets to try to protect them as much as possible? After all, another difficulty that local authorities are having just now concerns the use of ring fencing, which, of course, exposes our leisure and cultural assets, as they are not included within the protected brackets as other sectors are.

I do not know who wants to kick off on that.

Thank you, convener, and good morning, minister.

You mentioned pathways and expectations to improve and support the lives of people with disabilities, which we can collectively agree on. However, that is completely different from advocacy, which is important when we look at commissioners. A concern has been brought up in the conversation this morning about what a broad disability commissioner would advocate for with regard to people with various different types of disabilities. Is bolting on disability to the role of the human rights commissioner diluting the voice of disabled people? I think that that is the primary reason that we are discussing a disability commissioner.

I am pleased that we have spoken about the need to avoid a hierarchy of rights, because I think that that is really important. I am glad that the Government is now moving in that direction, but is it not the case that because it encompasses everything, its approach to human rights is far too broad, which is why we face the problems that we face?

I appreciate that. Thank you.

Of course, we have the children’s commissioner. Young people across Scotland have different experiences and different needs and require different levels of support, and I am sure that everyone will agree that the children’s commissioner does sterling work in making sure that young people throughout the country are supported.

Therefore, when it comes to representation and advocacy, do you think that a disability commissioner would not be able to perform the same role as the children’s commissioner performs? Again, it all links to rights—we cannot get away from human rights. There are commissions on human rights, there is a children’s commissioner and we could potentially have a disability commissioner. All the existing bodies play an important role in supporting and advocating for the people whom they are there to help.

How involved has the Scottish Government been over the past year or so with the specialised committees that have been set up to support implementation of the UK-EU trade incorporation agreements?

The reason why I raised the issue is that, in the letter that you sent to the committee before today’s meeting, you stress that those specialised committees represent one of the primary opportunities to influence the implementation of the TCA. Given that that is the case, I question the frequency of the meetings. Seventeen of the 18 specialised committees met only once in 2023, and the fisheries specialised committee met only twice. Could those meetings be more frequent, or should a case-by-case approach be taken?

That is really helpful. I thank you all.

Does Jamie Cooke want to come in on that?

I would like to touch on what you said about the powers of the Scottish Human Rights Commission in response to Paul O’Kane’s question. We heard from the previous panel concerns about the commission not having sufficient powers and about disabled people always feeling as though they are at the back of the queue, given that that overarching commission deals with a lot of various issues and groups. Why do disabled people feel as though they are not being represented? Even if the SHRC’s role was strengthened, would there still be a black hole, with disabled people not fitting in? Is that why it is important to have a disability commissioner?