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As part of the British Sign Language (BSL) National Plan 2017 – 2023, the Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) approach is being embedded, with a D/deaf or Deafblind child and their family offered the right information and support at the right time to engage with BSL. The Scottish Government remains committed to providing additional funding to enable local authorities to offer free British Sign Language tuition for deaf children from the age of five, delivery of which will contribute to Action 13 and 14 in the National Plan. Work is underway to scope how best to deliver this commitment.

The Scottish Government published the BSL Progress Report on 27 October 2021, outlining progress made towards implementing the BSL National Plan. All updates relating to the British Sign Language National Plan 2017 – 2023 can be found in this report. For example, the Scottish Book Trust produced and published two BSL stories on their BookBug website and app. This work also generated BSL glossaries, which allows families, carers and children to learn BSL in their own homes.

Scottish Government consultations and supporting documents are published to gov.scot and our consultation hub at consult.gov.scot. We are continuously working to make those websites as accessible and usable as possible for all users.

Past consultations on issues identified as affecting disabled people have been produced in various accessible formats, for example, Easy Read, large print and British Sign Language. Furthermore, accessible consultation events are regularly tailored to meet the different needs of disabled people in partnership with Disabled People’s Organisations. These ensure meaningful engagement with disabled people on issues they identify as being important to them.

In our Equality Outcomes for the 2021-2025 reporting period, we committed to improving and embedding inclusive communication within Government and across the wider public sector. Some of the actions we will take to achieve this include working in partnership with public bodies, equality advocacy groups and people with lived experience to create national standards and best practice examples of inclusive communication. Through this programme of work we want to improve the accessibility of published documents, including consultations, so that everyone can engage with them.

Staff are also provided with a range of training and guidance to help them meet these commitments, and the Scottish Government has established a network of accessibility champions to promote best practice across the organisation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.