Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning. I am a Scottish Conservative member of the Scottish Parliament for the West Scotland region.

Employment is the best solution to poverty, yet only 29 per cent of autistic people are employed, compared to more than 80 per cent of the general public. Unfortunately, many employers do not have sufficient understanding of what it means to be neurodivergent, leading to poor workplace experiences for and discrimination against neurodivergent staff. What should employers be doing to encourage autistic people to join and remain in the workforce?

I thank everyone for the information that they have provided so far.

Education is key to helping children to develop the skills that they will need later in life to become responsible adults. Obviously, autistic children face additional barriers, many of which we have heard about today, including social difficulties, sensory overload and academic struggles and obstacles. In addition, such children are often bullied and excluded by their peers. What can we do to ensure that autistic and other neurodivergent children are given an equal opportunity in life? A lot has been said about the difficulties, but I want to focus more on the bullying side and the exclusion of such children by their peers.

Can I come back on that, convener?

I cannot say if that is policy, so I do not know why you are asking me.

I do not think that it is me that you should be speaking to about that.

Good morning. I have a question following on from what my colleague Tess White has been asking about, but I wish to make an observation and to highlight something that I have highlighted with you before, minister, about LGBT Youth Scotland. I heard you saying that you have spoken to parents. I would like to you come to East Dunbartonshire, if you can, to listen to the concerns of parents there. Watch this space: they will be taken further. You are not paying attention to what is being reported in newspapers, and you and the cabinet secretary are talking about what we dislike. This is nothing to do with what we dislike in relation to an organisation; it is about facts. If you are visiting parents, it would be really good if you could visit East Dunbartonshire. I am quite happy to pass on the details. If you could speak to members of the parents groups who are very concerned with that organisation, it would be much appreciated. You could then hear at first hand where the concerns are—if that okay with you, minister.

Convener, I know that I have been allocated questions later on, but I think that they would fit best under what I have started. Is it possible for me to ask my two questions now, because they fit into what we are talking about?

First, I welcome multiyear funding; it is a good idea so that organisations can plan better.

The total number of women and children who are experiencing domestic abuse in my area of West Dunbartonshire and who asked for help rose by 7.59 per cent to 1,729 in just one year. West Dunbartonshire local authority has the second most instances of domestic abuse per 10,000 people. Once again, there has been a lack of sustainable funding for services that address violence against women and girls, meaning that many vulnerable lives are being put at risk.

The First Minister and his colleagues keep banging on about the supposed great work that the SNP Government is doing, and you have done that in the meeting, but the figures show a different picture. I have heard that you are funding the equally safe programme, but the cabinet secretary and the minister cannot possibly sit there and say that it is a good thing that figures are rising. I have talked about the overall figures for domestic abuse rising year after year and I have noted that the figures are rising in my area. It would be good to hear whether you think that you are failing my constituents and the whole of Scotland with the rise of domestic abuse incidents that are being reported.

You are talking about providing certain funds for certain areas, but there are organisations that are not being funded, and even local authorities that are not getting the money to give out. As you probably know, that is the case in West Dunbartonshire, where Clydebank Women’s Aid has ceased operating. There is an issue in that these organisations are not being funded, and that is why the system is failing. We know the incidents are going up year after year, whether it is in my local area or nationally.

I will give you an example of another such organisation; I hope that you can shed some light on how you are working with it. Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis is Scotland’s largest rape crisis centre, serving six local authority areas and making contact with at least 40,000 rape and sexual violence victims each year. However, it received only an eighth of the funding that was allocated to Rape Crisis Scotland. Inadequate funding puts the service at risk of closure, putting thousands of women at risk.

Cabinet secretary and minister, those are some of the vulnerable women in our society, who are scarred for life by these horrendous crimes. If Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis were to cease operating, would the Scottish Government accept the blame?

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