 Mae'r prif Hayllostic ar colliwhoa o Dan, 25årdybu y Nutxford Oddyf, fakfr 분 yn chi'n maen nhw i lim syllha Astridon grandson ddiGlasion a mwyaf mwyaf hyn yn gy쁙yr gymorth y taith, a i'r cymorth. Nid yn fawr integrate ond iawn a uwch â crises a famu tyn sydd ar gyfer mwyaf ar hyn ocarlyder sy'n Designer Shoulders. I'm very glad to be here speaking to this motion because it is an important time of year for us to mark for many reasons. Firstly, we are just five days away from the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which set out for the first time fundamental human rights to be universally protected. We have just marked the international day of disabled people, the theme of which was united in action to rescue and achieve the sustainable development goals for, with and by persons with disabilities. As many people of faith and none celebrate various holidays and events this time of year, it is a good opportunity to reflect on where we are as a society as humans across the world and how we are delivering on our principles and supporting people who have less than we do. Creating that fairer and more equal society is a priority for this Government. We know that a fairer Scotland can only be realised when we secure equal rights for everyone, when your age, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and family and socio-economic status do not decide the course of your life for you or present you with barriers and prejudice. Despite great steps forward, we know that disabled people in many areas of life are often furthest from having their rights realised. The core principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights include that human rights are universal and inaliable. They belong to everyone equally. We are all free and equal in dignity and rights. Dignity is a familiar word to disabled people from that perception that requiring support is undignified to suggestions that showing any kind of vulnerability, be it social or medical, means that you are not living with dignity. So much pressure is placed on people to present a certain way, mask feelings and pain and suffer in silence. As a disabled person, I know how strong we often are because we have had to be. I know how often we have been ignored because we are often easy to be ignored. I know how much work is needed across the board not just to improve the visible practical issues that we face but to undo the systemic inequality that stacks everything up against us. Not only do we face discrimination and prejudice in the workplace, we have to listen as Conservatives down south suggest that disabled people only have value as human beings if they are able to work. That relying on social security, which keeps many disabled people alive, is somehow a failure of character. The changes to work capacity assessments proposed by the Tories concerns us greatly because we know that that would lead to people with long-term health conditions or people who are disabled being at risk of benefit sanction. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice wrote to her counterpart in the UK Government on 2 October to seek assurance that any changes would be evidence-based and in the interests of those who are there to support. Research from the DWP itself has found that the move from legacy benefits to universal credit has resulted in more and more disabled people being subject to sanctions, including those who are waiting for work capability assessments. We are opposed to this widespread use of sanctions. It is clear that they do not work. However, the vilification of disabled people and the message that is being sent that there are less worth than others and that harm done to our community by welfare cuts is some kind of necessary evil continues to show up again and again. It betrays a view of disabled people that is inaccurate and degrading. Tressa Burke, certainly. I'm very grateful indeed for the Minister for Giving Way. I don't disagree with anything she said thus far in an excellent speech. Does she agree with me that the best gold standard we have for protecting the rights of people with disabilities is actually enthrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities? Given that this is the week that we reconsider our attempts to incorporate the UNCRC into law, what steps will her Government take to do something similar with the UNCRPD? It's an excellent point. The member will be aware that the UNCRPD is one of the four treaties that we're seeking to incorporate into Scots law as part of our forthcoming human rights bill, which I will get on to talk about shortly. Tressa Burke at the Disability Summit held a week and a half ago from the Glasgow Disability Alliance. She noted the recent comments by the UK Government on disabled people working from home and very rightly pointed out that currently there are many work-at-home opportunities available to disabled people. We see things differently in Scotland. We reject the notion that everyone is able to work and that those who can't or haven't received the support that they need in order to don't deserve help from the Government. We also accept that many disabled people can work, want to work, but changes are needed to open up the job market to them. While employment law remains reserved to the UK Government, we use our fair work policies to promote fairer work practices across the labour market in Scotland. This includes our fair work action plan, which takes an intersectional approach to minimise structural barriers that disabled people racialise minorities and women in particular face. The action plan also reinforces the Scottish Government's ambition to at least have the disability employment gap by 2038 from the 2016 baseline of 37.4%. We work closely with disabled people and their representative organisations to ensure that their voices and experiences help to shape our policy and the actions that we take to meet our ambitions. Through a combination of locally designed services like No One Left Behind and our National Employment Service, Fair Start Scotland, we are delivering all-age, person-centred, tailored employability services, including in-work support to those furthest from the labour market. This includes disabled people, certainly. Oliver Mundell. I thank the minister for taking the intervention. That's not the feedback I often get from young people in my constituency. Those living in rural areas find these programmes very hard to access and good services that are there that have cross-party support, like the usual place in Dumfries, don't meet the criteria to get funded. Is that something that she'd look at again? Minister. Certainly, and I know that the members asked me very recently about the service in particular. I'm more than happy to reach out and speak again about what is happening. Obviously our qualities in human rights fund and indeed the whole budget is under review at the moment, so we will always work and see what more can be done to achieve the shared ambitions that we have. The services that we do have are entirely voluntary and, of course, have no threat of benefit sanction. The cost of living crisis, Covid inflation, these things impact on everyone and every government in the country. Where equality comes into play is that the impact is not the same or felt the same by everyone due to systemic issues. Both last year and this, we've allocated almost £3 billion to support policies which tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible from the cost of living. That includes our £30 million insecurity fund, tripled this year, and our new winter heating payment which is targeted to low-income households, including those with a disabled adult or with responsibility for supporting a disabled child. We have invested almost £2.7 billion into our adult disability payment, which replaces PIP in Scotland, and from the beginning we were committed to delivering a benefit which was centred on treating people with dignity, fairness and respect. From keeping assessments in-house and compassionate to not using brown envelopes to write to people in receipt of ADP, disabled people co-designed the system with us. In the Scottish system, nobody is subject to the DWP-style assessments or degrading examinations and we never use the private sector to carry out health assessments. Social security, yes. I'm very grateful to the Minister for taking the dimension. Would she recognise the significant challenges in delays to administering ADP at wait times and challenges to get through to Social Security Scotland to get the right support and advice that people need? Minister. Absolutely. I would point out that Social Security Scotland has taken urgent action around decision making to speed it up. In the last quarter we processed the highest number of applications since the benefit launched. It's 55 per cent more than the previous three months. From April to July the median average processing time reduced by eight working days. We know that some people are still waiting too long and speeding up those processing times remains an urgent priority. I will reassure the member and anybody out there who has applied that eligible people will have their payments backdated because we know disability costs money. From care to the often named disability tax that is applied on simple adaptions and household items for disabled people disability benefits are vital to keeping people safe and well. Our funding to support people with energy bills recognises the extra energy costs that being disabled often creates and how much more at risk many people are from having to self ration their energy. For some it means putting on an extra jumper putting on the slow cooker being quite uncomfortable and for others it can take years off your life. That disabled people can access our winter heating payment and the fuel and security fund is so important for that reason. That's why we need to increase awareness of these difficulties across Government, across public bodies so that when we look at where to focus spending we do so with disabled people's needs and priorities at heart. In my role as Minister for Equalities I of course work very closely with disabled people's organisations to play such an important role in championing disabled people's rights across Scotland and keep the Government right on disability competence. I'm currently working with them to develop and implement an immediate priorities plan which will deliver actions to help tear down those barriers faced by disabled people focusing on the things that need to change immediately if any future strategies and plans are going to have the impact that we need. It has never been a given that disabled people's voices are at the core of decisions about disabled people. It still is not. Many people still try to speak for us and so I recognise that importance of continuing to work with DPOs and putting lived experience at the heart of decision making. Nothing about us without us. But we will always be fighting against the tide if we can't pull society forward create that human rights culture and to steal a line from the LGBT poet laureate make equality fact. That is why it is so important that within our forthcoming human rights bill we will be incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into Scots law as far as possible within devolved competence. Scotland has the potential to be a world leader in human rights both in the implementation and realisation of them. We're doing that in an extremely difficult context a context where the UK Government is trying to roll back on those very same inalienable rights. The Scottish Government strongly opposed proposals to replace the Human Rights Act with a Bill of Rights. The Lord Chancellor's decision in June not to proceed with that regressive Bill of Rights Bill was widely welcomed across the political spectrum but there are still serious and legitimate concerns about the UK Government's current trajectory. Swella Brafman advocates withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights and she has been sacked, yes but her views are shared by many others across the UK Government. Of course it is also International Human Rights Defenders Day on 9 December. As a Scottish Government we wholeheartedly support the work being done by human rights defenders. As we see breaches across the globe it is always important and serves as a great reminder certainly now to stand up for human rights and challenge when they are not being met and not take for granted that they will always be there. The Scottish Human Rights Defender Fellowship is a Scottish Government and delivered by the University of Dundee. The Fellowship enables human rights defenders in difficult conditions from other countries to spend several months in Scotland where they can rest but also continue their work, further develop their skills and expand their networks in a place of safety. Just as the universal declaration of human rights was not the final step towards universal realisation of those rights, our bill will not be the end of our journey. It is an important and big step which will then require the right effective implementation and work on behalf of people across society across public, private, third sectors and the intangible acceptance of a human rights culture from everyone in Scotland. It will not give disabled people equality overnight. Nothing could. But it will give us the chance to educate people about what their rights are provide them with routes to justice and it will force duty bearers to treat us with dignity, fairness and respect, creating that structure that allows potential for equality and it will send a message that Scotland is a place where everyone matters. I hope that MSPs from all parties will join us when that bill is passed in being part of that movement and part of the campaign to educate on and ensure rights. I am really looking forward Presiding Officer to this debate because I know there are people in every party here who care deeply about human rights for disabled people including many disabled people themselves. It was only two Saturdays ago that this chamber was full of disabled people and our allies for the first summit to mark the international day of disabled people and that was a wonderful feeling. Presiding Officer, I hope that today is a similar show of solidarity and while we may disagree on the finer points of implementation and perhaps who is most to blame for our rights not currently being met, I am sure that today will also offer a chance for all parties to be united in agreement on the need to uphold and progress human rights for disabled people. Thank you. Thank you minister. Can I just check that the minister has moved her motion? I move the motion, my name. Thank you. I now call on Miles Briggs to speak to and to move amendment 11537.1. Mr Briggs. Thank you, Presiding Officer. My apologies for delay attending the chamber but I wanted to open today's debate with the words of Natasha Hamilton and Duke's daughter who gave evidence to the Scottish Covid inquiry last month. Natasha told the inquiry how she did not have a chance to say a final goodbye to her mother as she was and I quote waiting her turn while her father and sister were in Ann's room. Even though the family knew Ann was hours away from passing, Natasha wasn't able to enter the care home until a certain point. Natasha told the inquiry, I had to take a CPR Covid test, I got to my mum's room, I opened the door and my dad was frantic and I looked at my sister and my sister just nodded at me. I'd missed being with my mum by seconds because we had to stagger who was coming into the care home. Presiding Officer, as campaigners have said, arguably the practices which were put in place during the pandemic were far worse than the virus itself in denying many elderly and vulnerable Scots the comfort of their loved ones in their final hours of their lives. Throughout the pandemic and since, I've worked and supported families who want to tell their own stories and I want to take the opportunity to pay tribute to Ann's husband, Campbell Duke and daughter, Natasha Hamilton for the campaign which they have led to see Ann's door put in place. To ensure that people living in care homes have the legal right to visits from loved ones to care decision making if, in any case, we see further restrictions having to be put in place. It has become common for ministers and officials to use lines about taking a human rights-based approach. We across this chamber agree with that in responding to questions and also discussing future policy development. But we really need to see at the heart of policy what that means. I wanted to look at some of the evidence which the Covid inquiry has been told and where that wasn't the case. Care home residents were neglected and were left in many cases to starve because of restrictions imposed during the Covid pandemic. Today's debate is not about the Scottish Government's handling of the pandemic but the lessons around human rights which we should make sure we learn because this hasn't been mentioned but six in ten people who died with Covid-19 in Scotland were disabled people. I want to open the debate this afternoon by returning to the decisions taken during the pandemic because three years on from the restrictions being put in place many of the people in care homes are not alive today those who lived through the pandemic and the stories and experiences which their families and friends want to make sure is never forgotten is something we should always be bringing our discussions around human rights policy back to. Like the case of my constituent Mr Rudger Lane who against the wishes of his family had his power of attorney overruled he was transferred from Midlothian community hospital to a care home Mr Lane developed coronavirus and died from it and his daughter Gail has said that she'll never be able to forgive them for her dad someone needs to be held accountable. As part of SNP ministers Covid-19 response 1090 additional care home places were purchased and patients were in many cases moved without the decision shared decision making of their families Mr Brickslaw could you resume your seat for just a second I find your speech very interesting I'm looking at the amendment that was selected although not yet moved and I do note that there are the references in the amendment pertaining to the title of the Government's debate on particularly disability people and I was wondering if the member was intending to address those points in his speech. I absolutely am these cases are individuals who have had complex needs and care needs during the pandemic and the first line indeed of my amendment makes this very point around investigations during failings of the pandemic around human rights and that's something I think that's important that we do consider another constituent of mine who also has raised their concerns and specifically around human rights breaches was my constituent Heather Goodair who had a do not attempt cardio resuscitation notice placed on her while during her stay in hospital she did not discover this until she'd left hospital and found it buried within her notes her daughter Roseanne had refused to sign a do not resuscitate order when she was first asked to when her mother was admitted to hospital now campaigners are raising these concerns because they want our human rights legislation in parliament to make sure that these vulnerable patients across Scotland do not face these practices in the future and I have raised these with former First Minister's current First Minister's because I don't think we have seen the full investigation by government into these practices taking place during the pandemic and there are many examples of where ministers need to look at these arguably breaches of human rights in Scotland during the pandemic. People and having their care packages suspended are also in an area we need to look at. Young people with disabilities have in their independent support packages removed or cut and having to remove home with their elderly parents. The government motion for today's debate states that parliament notes the ambition for Scotland to be a world leader in both legislation and the realisation of human rights and I agree but we need to take this opportunity to consider the consequences of a pandemic and human rights violations. Deputy Presiding Officer, last Sunday marked United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the day aims to promote the rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life across the world. The disability employment gap in Scotland remains too high and I think we all recognise that. In 2022 it was 31.9 percentage points with 82.5% of non-disabled people in employment compared to 50.7% of disabled people. The government motion today notes that there will be a significant consultation on the human rights bill to incorporate economic, social and cultural rights into Scotland. I think there is cross-party welcome of that opportunity. Many colleagues across the chamber have looked to undertake where they can bring forward their own bills in this area. I would note particularly Pam Duncan-Glancy and Jeremy Balfour to do just that and to advocate and advance rights for disabled people in Scotland. Ministers do not seem to want to engage necessarily with opposition parties' bills on this. I hope today we will present an opportunity for ministers to think again on that because I know that members outside of the Government, SNP and Green Benches do want to see progress and are doing this themselves with private members' bills in Parliament but have not had the engagement from Government yet. I think there are ideas from across this chamber which Government are missing. As the Scottish human rights commissioner director, Jan Savage, stated that the Scottish Government have not done enough to ensure disabled people's human rights are fully realised and we are pushing for protection of disabled people's rights to employment, independent living and adequate standard of living as well. I hope that the minister in relatively new role will take on board the opportunity with other members of Parliament's bills. I want to close with a bill that I brought to Parliament in the last session. That was the extension of free personal care for those under 65. Parliament united in helping to deliver that but we still need to see many councils follow through to deliver that policy in full. I hope that the Scottish Government can choose to work with Parliament to make progress on all these issues of human rights in this session and that we will also see Government work to fully deliver Anne's law, as I learned earlier and also Callum's law to look specifically at young people in disabled services and some of the work which Daniel Johnson is doing on a private member's bill. To conclude, evidence and experience shows that when barriers to inclusion are removed for people with disabilities they are empowered to fully participate in our society and our entire community's benefit. Barriers faced by persons with disabilities are therefore a detriment to society as a whole and accessibility is necessary to achieve progress and development for all. I hope today's debate gives us an opportunity to look at many of the things which still need to change in Scotland and I move the amendment in my name. Thank you. I now call on Paulo Cain to speak to and to move amendment 11537.2 Mr Cain. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer and I'm pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this debate and speak about the experience of disabled people in Scotland so soon after the international day of persons with disabilities and I think it is important that we take time in this chamber to continue to highlight, engage and support everyone who has a disability in Scotland ensuring that we continue to move towards a future where we continue to tear down the barriers faced by disabled people and I want to add my voice to thanking parliamentary staff and all MSPs involved with the events in Parliament to mark that international day particularly the organisation of the summit on 25 November bringing more disabled people into their Parliament keeps that spotlight very firmly on the issues and compels all of us to refocus our efforts on the ambition for Scotland to be a world leader in human rights and disability equality. The first line of the Government motion calling for ambition is where I think there is a clear consensus today but I do struggle a little in the rest of the motion to see the scale of action that is required to hear what disabled people are telling us and to act accordingly and at this point I will refer colleagues to my register of interest as a member of Enable Scotland and a former member of staff. In September prior to the programme for government disabled people's organisations wrote to the First Minister calling for clear action to support disabled people to lift them out of poverty and to ensure that disabled people are involved in the development of policy that has a huge impact on their everyday life. The letter said and I quote a lack of focus and attention combined with no accountability or political leadership and a genuine gap in disability competence politically and in your Government everything to the First Minister has resulted in disabled people and our DPOs feeling dehumanised and de-prioritised. The Scottish Human Rights Commission has starkly highlighted the scale of the challenges in saying that there is an implementation gap between intentions and good law and policy. The Scottish Independent Living Coalition have concluded that the situation for disabled people overall in Scotland has not got any better since their 2016 inquiry. Those are very serious comments indeed and I think that they are hardly ringing endorsements of action in this area. I do think that we have to very clearly reflect on those and think about how we will act accordingly. I recognise from the Government's motion that they have reopened the independent living fund although in a phased way and I don't think that that action alone is enough and I think that organisations have been quite clear that they want to see a full reopening and a full resourcing of that intervention in order to make the progress that they would hope to see. I have heard referred to already this afternoon less than two weeks ago the Government voted against the members bill brought by my colleague Pam Duncan-Glansay to support disabled young people into adulthood and that bill was supported by many disability advocacy groups and indeed I think that we had quite a strong debate in the chamber about the landscape and what needs to change more broadly in Scotland. Indeed the minister for children and young people in keeping the promise in her opening said we absolutely recognise that at the moment too many disabled young people are not getting the support that they need and she went on to reaffirm that in her closing saying that it is clear that the current situation in respect was disabled young people's experiences of their transitions need to improve. As I said previously we spoke about a cluttered landscape in that debate and a lack of policy interventions to improve access to support particularly that non-residential care support. Given what Ms Donne has said, we do have to ask ourselves who has had the power to change these things over 16 years and the responsibility for that has been at the door of this Government. The Government has had that opportunity to deal with that cluttered landscape and to make those policy interventions that would have the most impact. Indeed I reflect Deputy Presiding Officer on the Feely Review published two years ago brought forward with a strong suite of recommendations yet to be implemented. A manifesto commitment from the Government not implemented. They have promised an immediate priorities plan they said that that would be published in June it wasn't and we have been repeatedly promised a national transition strategy since it was included again in a 2016 manifesto and that has now been pushed back to the end of next year. Deputy Presiding Officer, these repeated delays on promises to disabled people are hardly a strong demonstration of the progress on the aspirations that are laid out in the Government's motion. We on this side of the chamber are very clear about our desire to see bolder action and quicker action from the Government to deal with the issues that disabled people and the organisations who support them advocate for their rights raised with us with us all. We were pleased in the Conservative amendment to see those references to Frank's law, Callum's law and Ann's law. I think they are, as we've heard already pieces of legislation or proposals for legislation which do draw support from across the chamber. The challenge very often I think is about the implementation and delivery of many of these things and ensuring that progress is made that will have that impact on people's life that we would all want to see. I was reflecting about all those pieces of legislation or proposals and very often they come to this Parliament by way of disabled people themselves campaigning or their relatives and friends campaigning with them to make that change and just a few months ago I was outside of this place with people from across the chamber with a group of disabled people calling for action on non-residential care charges and part of that feeling recommendation that I'd referred to and they were very clear that they cannot wait for that action and they are frustrated by the lack of action from the Government in order to move that agenda forward because crucially those are the sorts of things that give people who have a disability independence and the freedom to choose what they want to do in their own life and when they want to do it. I do think it is a real shame that we are missing from the Government's motion and that we are still waiting for a large range of support and intervention on all of those proposals. Enjoying to a conclusion ultimately we want to see ambition on human rights we want to see ambition on disability equality on this side of the chamber we will always work for the furthering of both wherever we can but unfortunately after 16 years I think that there has been a failure to show tangible action towards either of those ambitions I hope that we will hear more detail on the debate in terms of people's own experiences and I hope that the minister will be able to respond to much of what I have said in her summing up and this debate will continue but I will move the amendment in my name thank you. Thank you very much indeed Presiding Officer I'm very grateful to the Government for their participation today when I think back to my time as convener of the organisation known as for Scotland's disabled children we have travelled a great distance and I do recognise the goodwill both in the minister's remarks and the Government's intent but our legislation is only good as good as the implementation behind it and that is often where legislation falls down I'll come on to that as I said in my intervention to the minister this is a timely debate on the legislative reconsideration of our attempts to incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scotland's law I know that those disabled people watching our proceedings this afternoon will also have watched on as we take steps to incorporate that convention into law with a hunger and as a desire for us to follow it with the incorporation of the UN convention on the rights of people with disabilities and I am gratified by the minister's restated commitment to that and her timeline for doing so disabled people matter their rights matter so it matters a great deal that we do all that we can to include them in our society in every possible way that we take steps in this place to see people with disabilities prosper to achieve their potential and not by act of either a mission or by commission make their lives harder than they already are but sadly so far in many ways the Scottish government's equality evidence finder reported that in 2018 the employment rate for disabled people was 45% compared with 81% for those without a disability that represents a huge disparity in employment it comes as no surprise then that rates of poverty are far higher for households in which somebody is living with a disability compared to those where no one is disabled and those in poverty live in a household with at least one disabled family member and let's bear in mind that people with disabilities of course sometimes have additional strains on their budget for example due to reliance on assistive technologies higher fuel bills, higher electricity cost and other essential expenses that poverty that they face too can often mean that people are not able to meet their but most basic needs due to having a disability I will certainly give way to Martin McLeod I'm very grateful to Alex Cole-Hamilton to give way on that point isn't one of the stark statistics about this relates to the trust food banks where three out of four users have a household that contains a disabled adult or child Alex Cole-Hamilton I think something is fundamentally wrong in our provision, in our safety net that we would seek in this place to provide families affected by disability if such a disproportionate number of them have to rely on food banks and in August this year the Scottish Human Rights Commission said that the Scottish Government hasn't done enough to support the human rights of people with disabilities in a report to the UN the commission also raised concern about what it calls a crisis their word, a crisis for disabled people's rights their executive director Jan Savage said and I quote that the Scottish Government has not done enough to ensure that disabled people's human rights are fully realised and that the situation for disabled people overall in Scotland has not got better that is a damning indictment now I recognise that there is progress to come with the forthcoming incorporation bill on UNCRPD but we must go further because those remarks speak to a Scotland where a mental welfare commission is all too ready to appoint a curator to act to speak for a person who is deemed not to have the capacity to communicate when they actually do when a small amount of effort could have put their voice at the centre of a process that could determine the rest of their lives it speaks to a Scotland where our built environment and even new developments that are coming on stream present unnecessary ill-thought-out physical barriers to our constituents with mobility difficulties and it speaks to a Scotland where children who during an episode of behavioural flare-up as a result of a neurodiverse condition are still being restrained and subdued in ways that leave lasting trauma The Government has real work to do in protecting disabled people's rights in our efforts to include them in employment and wider society they are in part still failing the test set to all of us and it is a test that we understand full well because of debates that we have like these with regularity I welcome the reopening of the independent living fund I welcome that we are having this debate but we are still miles away from where we need to be for example when it comes to social security Minister reference a lot of this in her remarks we know that those applying for adult disability payments are facing longer weights than they should be in fact they are facing longer weights than people who are still under the DWP system for personal independence payments When somebody who is in receipt of PIP and living in Scotland reports a change in circumstances they are currently forced to wait three months to be moved over and only then social security Scotland start to work on that change in circumstances if during that time their condition worsens and they are entitled to a higher rate they are currently missing out I welcome the minister's clarification on that but there is still a massive cash flow issue for those families right now something that should happen at the touch of a button is simply taking months and denying disabled people the support they need it when they need it and removing the dedicated social security minister to properly oversee this transition at its most critical juncture this government promise fairness respect and dignity under the new arrangement we all signed up to it instead people are still being left to wait in uncertainty for months while a decision is being made that's just not good enough for families across Scotland the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks once wrote that views disability mental or physical not as a hindrance but as unique attributes that can be seen as powerful assets if given the right opportunity that is something we should all wish for it is something that we as a society should strive for and the realisation of the rights of people with disabilities is the only way to go about it thank you we will now move to the open debate I would remind all those members who wish to speak in the debate to please ensure that they have in fact pressed their request to speak button and I call Kate Forbes be followed by Annie Wells the aim captured in the government's motion for all disabled people is that they have freedom, dignity, choice and control over their lives and I certainly would hope that all of us can unite in agreeing that those are extremely laudable aims and objectives and actually essential and yet we can also use those objectives to test their reality for many disabled people in Scotland today and I wanted to start by making a key point which I think is the source of everything else that we might debate today and it is that human rights are based on the concept that everybody is equal but true equality is rooted in the inherent dignity and worth of every human being irrespective of who they are how they contribute, where they live or whether they conform to some sort of nonsensical invented societal norm and quite obviously nobody can speak fully for others in this chamber that's why it's so important that we hear directly from those who live with disabilities themselves, they should be at the very heart of policy making and also of critiquing and feeding back on where we're falling short and where we're getting it right but I am also delighted to speak for those who cannot speak and that includes fellow citizens like my uncle born in the 1960s with Down syndrome he wasn't expected to live for very long despite that he'll be celebrating his 58th birthday in February next year his MSP is John Swinney and the first time I ever met the conservative MSP Alexander Stewart was at my uncle's 50th birthday party it was probably one of the most exciting birthday parties I had ever been at my grandmother had to fight tooth and nail over decades to give him the very objectives that this debate calls for she wanted him to have freedom and to have freedom required education facilities to invest in teaching him giving him skills educational experience was the same standard and offered him the same dignity as for those who did not have a disability and in equipping him with those skills he would then go on to have greater freedom throughout life she also cared about him having control over his life to work in any job to pursue hobbies he must be one of the biggest St. Johnston fans I have ever met which was unfortunate when all of his family were required to join him for dinner at the St. Johnston stadium and we would meet various team members and not really knowing terribly much about St. Johnston at the time I obviously have improved on my knowledge meant you had to hide your ignorance you also wanted him to have dignity not just in how he saw himself but also in how other people treated him that he would be treated as an equal not patronised and so often some of our discussions and debates about disabled people are full of that patronising language as though we must ensure that they are protected and so on not realising that they have far more respect and to equip us with than the other way round and lastly choice to give, yeah Alex Cole-Hamilton I'm very grateful to Kate Forbes giving away I've very much enjoyed listening to the story of Kate's uncle before she told us that story she talked about giving people with disabilities a voice and then went on to describe the assumptions that society make and the patronising assumptions that society makes about people with disabilities to recognise that one of the criticisms levelled at Scotland by the UN committee on the rights of people with disabilities is that all too readily mental welfare commissions rush to appoint a curator when it seems just too difficult to hear the voice of the person at the heart of that even when that is not impossible and with a bit more effort we could hear their voice rather than giving that judgment over to somebody else Kate Forbes That's absolutely fair and right and it's not just about listening to disabled people but it's also having the courage to introduce policies that reflect the diversity of people's experience and not treat disabled people as a homogenous whole and the last point was around choice over where to live and he has lived in various places sheltered living in Perth as well as residential care and when I look back on the narrative of his life it is very clear that the level of fighting and battling for these basic rights in this particular example did get easier over time as Governments worked to ensure that policies reflected disabled people's human rights. We have made progress but a few weeks ago I was meeting with some visually impaired pupils in the Highlands who are being held back at school through a total lack of British Sign Language teachers and that reminded me just how essential it is that at the youngest of ages we do provide that choice, that freedom by focusing on young people's education and so as I close my point in this speech is that of course to reach those objectives requires more than sentiment and rhetoric once a year it's about embedding that human rights approach in all of our work and I think success will be reached when nobody feels the need to fight against the system to get what we believe should be rightfully theirs. Thank you Ms Forbes I would advise members that we do have quite a bit of time in hand and therefore interventions can easily be taken without any reduction in speaking time and with that I call Annie Wells to be followed by Kevin Stewart. Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer I welcome the chance today to talk about the challenges that disabled people face in Scotland there is much in the motion today that we can welcome we agree that Scotland can and should be a world leader on protecting human rights we recognise the incredible difficulty that many disabled people have faced during the pandemic and we believe that disabled people must be at the centre of decisions that affect them we think there must be more attention on the disability employment gap and disability payment gap there should be no discrimination in our economy or society and we must work harder to root that out but many key human rights issues and important issues for disabled people have been left out of the motion entirely it paints an overly positive picture of this Government's actions and it glossies over many crucial aspects of this administration's policies it neglects to mention terrible failings of this Government it wants to focus only on the limited amount of positive work with no attention to the negatives it ignores many issues that ought to receive much more focus of Scottish ministers and that is what my party's amendment seeks to address in the motion itself it says secure a life of dignity for all including the most marginalised and disadvantaged now I failed to see how this Government cannot mention Scotland's drug death crisis when that is part of the motion this is an issue that is close to home for me literally in springburn and communities like it across Glasgow, Dundee and Scotland drug deaths have caused devastation on this Government's watch drug deaths spiral to the worst level in Europe several times worse than anywhere else in the UK and we lose more than a thousand people each year to drugs in Scotland and alcohol deaths too have hit record highs we also lose more than a thousand people each year to alcohol in Scotland and those upon statistics are not just for a year but they have been at our close to record levels for many years and for all that time the Government has failed to act with enough urgency and enough resources by Nicola Sturgeon's own admission the SNP took their eye off the ball they neglected people's human rights including the rights of some of the most vulnerable the lack of action from the Government has left whole families and communities in grief today even now years after the crisis begun the SNP are not doing anywhere near enough they have played politics with drug and alcohol deaths instead of trying to save lives they focus on creating division within the UK and any discussion on human rights must include the SNP's horrendous failure to tackle the shameful number of lives lost to drug and alcohol addiction but the motion overlooks and ignores some of our most vulnerable communities but the drug and alcohol deaths are not the only glaring emissions the motion it cites the impact of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis on disabled people the motion is right to do so disabled people have suffered far more than most from Covid and the global cost of living crisis but where is the mention of human rights failings of the Government during the pandemic I appreciate the member's contribution I'm not sure that drug and alcohol deaths is specific to the disabled discussion that we're having right now but in all seriousness if we're going to improve the live services for disabled people it takes all parties to come to the table and make suggestions what have the Tories done for disabled people in the last few years Annie Wells Pauline Balfour is putting forward has lodged the disability commissioner bill we support the current adult disability payment motability descriptor to 50 metres and we believe that all people with disabilities should be entitled to the Scottish Government's winter heating payment we are coming to the table with things but I think this is important when we're having a debate as well about human rights today this is something that's very close to my heart as well we're talking about the most marginalised and disadvantaged peoples and I think people with drug and alcohol addiction are part of that and we need to support them and show them human rights where is the mention of people who had life-saving treatment stopped and where is the mention of the many vulnerable disabled people who were moved out of hospitals without proper respect to their wishes or their family's wishes where is the mention of the impact on the transfer of Covid positive patients to care homes as my colleagues have said and as more of them will continue to outline in greater detail the motion today also neglects to mention the huge numbers of disabled people in Scotland's temporary accommodation it doesn't bring up the need to deliver the coming home implementation recommendations for people with complex care needs and it doesn't mention the delays and huge number of issues with social security to Scotland it doesn't focus on the Government's lack of action to tackle homelessness for disabled people these are all glaring emissions of key issues that are well within this Government's power and too often the SNP want to praise for the limited amounts that they have done while deflecting all criticism for all the things they have failed to achieve but in conclusion today's debate is welcome but is a missed opportunity to really address key issues facing disabled people and vital elements of human rights law in Scotland the Government has brought forward a motion that neglects to mention that the many instances of failings that disabled people have felt at the hands of this Government it ignores so many human rights issues in Scotland that deserve to be debated in this Parliament so while we agree on much of the positives in the motion we are disappointed that it merely seeks to congratulate the Government instead of tackling taking a serious look at actions and how it could improve thank you Presiding Officer thank you Ms Wells and I now call Kevin Stewart to be followed by Pam Duncan-Glancy thank you very much Presiding Officer worldwide over a billion people are disabled in Scotland it's well over a million that's a quarter of our population whose day to day activities are limited by disability or a long term health problem that's double the worldwide average but that is actually something to be celebrated that's hundreds of thousands of children born with disabilities who a few generations ago wouldn't have made it but have that's hundreds of thousands of adults who've suffered injury or disease who a few generations ago wouldn't have made it but have and that's hundreds of thousands of older adults who would have died of heart disease stroke or cancer a few generations ago but who are still here and this increase in disability as time goes by is all too clear in the numbers 11% of children are disabled but that doubles to 23% for working age, adults by pension age it doubles again to 46% and by the time you hit 80 it's over 60% many often think about disability as a them and us issue but it's not disability could happen to any of us disability isn't an exclusive club you can join it any day and eventually most of us will and for many of us it's more of a question of how many years that will spend disabled and how many of those years will spend able bodied during your disabled years do you want to make a meaningful and productive contribution to society half of disabled people don't have employment even though many many folk want to work during your disabled years do you want to be treated with dignity and respect the half of disabled people who are employed are twice as likely to face discrimination harassment and bullying in the workplace and during your disabled years do you want to be warm and well fed half of disabled people can't afford their heating and three quarters of households who use a food bank have a disabled family member we all know what we want for ourselves now and in our futures but what we should be doing is looking to improve the lives for today's disabled people and getting it right for all in the future the upcoming human rights bill which will include disability rights and will seek to incorporate the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into Scots law is a good thing this is a vital an urgent step shown by the comments of the UN's special rapporteur who said that the UK is failing its international obligations on fundamental economic and social rights and while we are limited by the failing UK framework we must do all that we can within the limits of devolution social security is a human right it is here for all of us or should be here for all of us should we need it and disabled people should have access to the support that they need to lead full and independent lives and while the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament can't shield disabled people totally from the UK Government's plans to cut benefits by £4 billion things like the adult disability payment the child disability payment and the carer support payment from Social Security Scotland are making a real difference we also need to focus or our efforts on those who need it most 41 per cent of children living in poverty come from a household with a disabled family member the Scottish child payment provides targeted help to these families the independent living fund provides focus support for young adults making the transition from childhood to adulthood this fund since opening has delivered £12 million via six and a half thousand transition fund grants to more than five thousand young disabled people and it's not just about funding we need a joined up system and the Scottish Government will soon publish the first national transitions to adulthood strategy making the transition journey a smoother and more positive one we have heard in this debate about listening to the voices of lived experience and that is something that we must all do as a minister I did so and spent a lot of time listening to disabled people hearing about the difficulties that they faced and what they needed to make their lives better and I'm quite sure that Ms Roddick is doing exactly the same now I want independence for my country but I also want all Scots to be able to lead independent lives including all of our disabled citizens we must make their independence a reality thank you Mr Stewart and I co-pum Duncan Glancy to be followed by Karen Adam for joining us online thank you the Scottish Parliament rightly always recognises international day of disabled people and we should be very proud of that but this year has a marked and significant change for two reasons firstly for the first time this day of recognition is not just celebrated as a member's debate but instead as a full government debate and I want to put on record my thanks to the Government for bringing it forward and ensuring that this Parliament has a full afternoon of issues of key importance not just to disabled people but to Scotland the significance of doing so cannot be understated and secondly because last weekend we held the first ever summit celebrating international day of disabled people here in this chamber it was an absolute privilege to look out to the benches and see them full to the brim with disabled people, their organisations and their allies with many more joining online it was an incredibly special moment and I cannot express my thanks enough to my colleague Jeremy Balfour the presiding officers and their team and the staff of this Parliament for making it happen and ensuring it was a warm welcoming and celebratory event that everyone enjoyed and I've always said that there should be nothing about us without us indeed we've heard it this afternoon and I've fought to make sure that it's the case during my time in this Parliament the event made it clear to the disability movement and that this place belongs to them too our Parliament belongs to them too and I hope that in years to come we'll see more of that colleagues, the international day of disabled people was first declared back in 1992 when I was just 11 just over 30 years later and the world has changed in some ways quite significantly barriers, structural ones have been torn down by legislative change and I want to take a moment to recognise the work of my party in this context and specifically the Labour government of the early 2000s which introduced working tax credits to get back to work the quality act which enshrined our rights to be treated equally in domestic legislation and of course signing us up to the United Nations convention on the rights of disabled people the Scottish government too has made progress including in the self-directed support act which gave us a right to direct their own care in 2013 reopening of the ILF although it has taken too long to do so and signing up to the definition of independent living that recognises living independently is not about living on your own or fending for yourself it's about having the rights to practical assistance and so forth to lead an ordinary or indeed extraordinary life those changes have been life changing for disabled people and I say that from my own lived experience as well as from what I've heard from the movement but the job is not yet done too many barriers still exist and there is much more work to do there is never time to be complacent or self congratulatory there are still disproportionately more likely to be in poverty have lower incomes but higher living costs and the consequences of not being able to make ends meet can be life limited not just threatening our right to survive but to thrive but to survive and it's becoming increasingly harder for disabled people to pay for care that they rely on too in April this year the Glasgow city health and social care partnership hiked up charges for people requiring non-residential social care with government law centre estimating that it would face a 65% increase one woman from Glasgow sent to researchers that I always feel like damically sword is above my head as my care plan has not been reassessed since July 22 and I've had many care changes my care contribution has been increased by 42 pounds a week that my increase with working-tiles credit and PIP is only £18.93 a week I already cut my budget in half because of utility bills that are very stressed this should not be happening least of all in a Scotland that the government said years ago would end non-residential charges and presiding off said inaccessible transport means we can't move freely around either inaccessible transport means we often have to rely on cars or taxis instead putting ourselves significantly out of pocket and even where we can afford it taxis and cars are becoming more of a struggle members will have heard me talk about concerns from Glasgow where disabled people feel left behind to net deal the subway is not accessible for wheelchair users buses can only take one wheelchair or per annat of time and train travel requires a lot of forward planning now is the result of a hastily implemented emissions zone in the city black cabs that we turn to instead are now slowly disappearing from the streets and it's not just a freedom of movement worth travelling that's a problem there's a lack of properly accessible affordable homes too these challenges we face as a group we've been called a human catastrophe by the UN Committee on the UNCRPD and the Scottish Human Rights Commission has warned that the Scottish Government has not done enough to realise disabled people's human rights all of us in this chamber and other chambers should heed that today tomorrow and every day thereafter against this backdrop we and these benches are deeply concerned that disabled people's organisations believe that the gap in political leadership have led to disabled people feeling deep prioritised and dehumanised at a time when they should be a focus of our Government it's why I don't think the Government's motion today goes far enough in recognising the challenges faced and this backdrop is also why I make no apologies for being disappointed that failure hasn't been implemented frustrated at delays to the immediate priorities plan which are no longer immediate they're overdue and angry that the Government has not yet ended non-residential charges it doesn't have to be this way with bold and swift action we can make Scotland the land of opportunity for disabled people I know it can be that starts in school yet of course we're failing large numbers of disabled peoples more than a third of pupils in Scotland identify as having an additional support need yet ASN supports in decline we need to fix that and we need to ensure children have the support they need to thrive and reach their full potential that also means we have to help them properly prepared to leave education and we heard how badly we're failing them during the debate on my transition spell last month now I can't express my disappointment that the Government and others chose not to support that bill and give all young disabled people a right to a transition's plan but I said then and I will reiterate it now I'll not let the issue be forgotten I'll continue to hold the feet to the fire on this and I won't stop fighting for change until we make a difference and it's on that note that I'd like to close despite all of the negative odds over the last 30 years disabled people and our allies have shifted the dial we've pushed open doors and we've changed laws when Governments have been bold enough to do so sometimes the fight can feel endless our achievements come despite the challenges the wins have come because we've refused to give up we will keep pushing forward for our goal of human rights and transformation and we in this place have to have the courage and ambition to stand beside them so I want to end with a message to disabled people right across Scotland be proud, be vocal, you have rights keep fighting it might take time, it will take effort and you can be sure it will take a lot of hard graft but I know that our movement is not scared of that and I promise that for as long as I am in this place I and my party for you your fight will be our fight there will be nothing about us, the rights thank you thank you Ms Duncan-Dancy and we, I now call Karen Adam to be followed by Martin Whitfield, Ms Adam thank you Presiding Officer and it's a privilege to be able to talk on this subject today it's no secret to this chamber that campaigning for human rights is a deep passion of mine mostly because of the experiences that I've had throughout my own life and in the lives of those that I love and I honestly have to pinch myself some days in the knowledge that I have the privilege of being a member of the human rights equalities and civil justice committee a role which I deeply appreciate having I wholeheartedly support this motion and in particular the importance to understand the dire consequences the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis have had and continue to have on human rights for all of us but the impact is exceptionally significant on the lives of those living with disabilities therefore the reopening of the independent living fund along with the commitment to develop and implement an immediate priorities plan for disabled people marks a significant step forward and it's heartening to see the Scottish Government taking concrete actions to address these pressing issues reinforcing our ambition to lead the world in human rights realisation the challenges faced by people with disabilities are not just financial they are societal they affect access to public services general mobility and connectivity community cohesion and consequently the basic human interactions we need for our health and wellbeing it is a challenge which without adequate support can leave a person feeling isolated and abandoned in a world in which they should feel belonging there is one aspect of this motion which resonates with me in particular and it's the acknowledgement of the need for social and cultural rights for people with disabilities as the Parliament knows my father is deaf and this has shaped my understanding of specific aspects needed for a whole person approach to disabilities I was raised alongside deaf children and codas children of deaf adults like myself and I have to agree with my colleague Kate Forbes in her comments the dignity and having less patronising attitudes as an interpreter for my father over the years it's been enlightening and not in a great way when faced with ignorance in many aspects of society I was surrounded by a community which was visually vibrant and expressive and to paint a picture of the deaf club in Aberdeen it was a place of drama clubs sports clubs it was held in an incredible building with trophies and pictures of successes adorning the walls there was an integrated church and a large kitchen which was used regularly for events snooker tables, bowling mats, a stage in a hall where signing musical shows and comedy shows were held and performed by deaf people and hearing people alike deaf people from all over the UK would come to visit and participate in these events and I particularly loved meeting deaf Santa my girl this was a haven for deaf people where they weren't just supported they were given the tools to support themselves and they ran with it it was a thriving community with a beautiful language sadly this club had to close its doors over a decade ago and I hope that we can realise the importance of community spaces like this that inclusion in the wider world is important but equally so is ensuring safe spaces where communities can gather and organise the beautiful language I speak of BSL was one my dad would be physically punished for using when he was a wee boy in the 1950s and he was forced to conform to the idealised version of an able bodied person a language which his parents and peers supported him to learn and watched him thrive often being one of the funniest actors in the comedy shows according to me and I often think of what it must have been like for my wee dad back in the 50s and with my interactions with deaf charities and stakeholders the conversation often revolves around the need for early and effective support for deaf children ensuring that these children have access to the necessary language and communication skills is crucial for the development of future success that aligns with the broader goal of disability equality where equal opportunities are provided to all children regardless of their abilities today's motion with its emphasis on equality of opportunity and the inclusion of social and cultural rights is a step towards bridging the gap between the disabled and the able bodied by incorporating international human rights conventions into Scots law particularly those recognised in sign languages and deaf culture we are making our society more inclusive and richer as we move forward it's crucial that we continue to engage with and listen to the disabled community their insights and expertise are invaluable in shaping policies that truly address their needs and aspirations this approach ensures that our efforts are not just top-down but informed by those who are directly impacted by our decision enshrining these rights will not only make our society and culture more accessible but all together richer from the inclusion of deaf people, of people with experiences different to our own from which we can learn and appreciate and I'm sure that all of us in this chamber have a keen desire to be a part of the solutions for improving the lives of disabled folk in Scotland and it's certainly one of my own core aspirations for being here in closing, Presiding Officer I'm proud to support this motion and the principles it stands for by celebrating disability equality we are not just complying with international standards we are working towards a society where every individual is valued, respected and given the opportunity to thrive this motion is a testament to our commitment to creating a Scotland that is inclusive just and equitable for all most important of all realising these rights will help to deliver a dignity for all those living with disabilities in Scotland after all, my childhood wasn't impaired by having a deaf father it was enriched and I hope that that enrichment can be felt across Scotland and beyond thank you I now call Martin Whitfield to be followed by Claire Hawke I'm very grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer and it is a real pleasure to follow Karen Adams' very, very powerful speech and her ability to illustrate her childhood almost sees me transported into that church hall and the noise and the enthusiasm and the boundless energy and fun that shows what can be achieved what should be achieved and indeed I find her comment about bridging the two communities is probably actually better emphasised by filling in that gap between the two communities because both communities both disabled communities, able bodies and indeed all will be the better for being together for witnessing the fun, the noise and the exuberance in the church hall for understanding the passion and in particular seeing how we can actually all benefit by bringing the strengths of all of our small divergent communities together because of course as we've already heard the 3 December was International Disabled People's Day dating back to 1992 where the UN sought to mobilise support for the dignity the rights and the wellbeing of persons with disabilities but more importantly seeking to increase awareness of the gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social economic and cultural life and I think it's to that element that Karen Adams spoke so strongly about the community that she grew up in not a community that sought to pass its challenges on to its young people but a community that wanted to show people what it was and that brings me in slight challenge that I have today with regard to the motion that sits before us because in the wording of the motion it talks about an ambition for it talks about developing and implementing immediate priorities plans for disabled people it talks about if effectively implemented it talks about sharing policy development, decision making in a genuinely inclusive and participatory manner I think that can be complained about in that except the fact that we are still waiting to reach that ambition we're still waiting for the development and implementation of the immediate priorities plan we're still waiting to see it being effectively implemented and we're still waiting to see it being shared, constructed and built with by people that rightly represent that community and we've heard of the challenges disabled people living in Scotland who are missing out, who are living in poverty who are excluded from full and equal participation in our communities and I put that down I have to say because of a certain division and distraction within this government we should have done more we should have done more by now and it's terrible that we are still waiting to see when this will occur when we can bring together the strengths and benefits of these communities we've heard already of the Scottish Human Rights Commission the warning that disabled people in Scotland are experiencing unrelenting attacks on their human rights if the sole achievement is committing to develop an immediate priorities plan that was promised back in June it doesn't even start to address the crisis facing our disabled people today and I am aware that consecutive cuts to the social care budget the lengthy wait for the adult disability payments that we've heard of and the skyrocketing non-residential care charges they point to a dereliction of duty and this was an opportunity to actually plan out announce what could be done and I go to the letter that was sent in September this year to the First Minister by groups of disabled people's organisations across Scotland and I don't think I can put the challenge better than they've done and I hope that the minister is able to address this when they said First Minister it should shock and shame us that the position of disabled people has deteriorated since the UN described our lives as a human catastrophe in 2017 highlighting grave and systematic violations of our human rights as a consequence of welfare reform cuts to public services six years later the fate of disabled people is in great apparel a lack of focus and attention combined with no accountability or political leadership and a genuine gap in a disability competence politically and in your government it's resulted in disabled people in our DPOs feeling dehumanised and deprioritised we speak in this chamber much of what we hope will be we've seen in this motion what the potential is I think we understand from some of the very powerful contributions today from my colleague Pam Duncan-Glancy and again from Karen Adam about what can be achieved if we can bring those communities together so that they don't need to have a haven just in one place but can live in a society that is a haven for their needs that we can make this world a proper and better place the cry has gone out a letter to the First Minister so succinctly describes the challenge the question is after all of these years is the SNP Government going to achieve it because that's the question that's being asked by our disabled communities I'm grateful Deputy Presiding Officer I know called clear holly to be followed by Maggie Chapman up to six minutes Deputy Presiding Officer and I'm pleased to be able to contribute to today's debate The World Health Organization estimates around 1.3 billion people worldwide that's roughly one in six has some form of disability and as we heard earlier from a colleague Kevin Stewart around one in four people in Scotland and for too many disabled people their ambitions, their dreams and achieving their promises is still denied to them in their way the barriers that disabled people face are not caused by disabled people or by their impairment they're very often constructed by prejudice ignorance and thoughtlessness by others and too often unless we face these barriers ourselves we do not notice they're there or understand the impact that they can have the disability movement has had to fight for their human rights over the years and while society has progressed significantly there are many fights that are yet to be won and there is a real risk that progress in some regards can slip into reverse My speech today will focus on the disproportionate impact that the Covid-19 pandemic the cost of living crisis and the UK Government's austerity continue to have on disabled people's human rights and equalities the inequalities that are experienced by disabled people are well documented disabled people are more likely to live in poverty have poorer ratings on personal well-being measures are more susceptible to developing other health conditions and have less access to education and employment With regards to employment as of June the department of work and pensions estimated there were around 55,000 disabled people of working age in South Lanarkshire the local authority from my other constituency of that number more than a third are not in employment and this compares to 12% amongst those without disabilities Scotland-wide 81% of working-age adults without disabilities had jobs in 2021 compared to just under 50% of adults with disabilities Scotland has a goal of reducing the disability employment gap by half between 2016 and 2038 and according to the Minister of Ireland and Institute the 2021 numbers encouragingly show an improvement of 6 percentage points but we can and must cut the gap further Members will be aware that the UK Government's autumn statement last week the chancellor unveiled deeply concerning changes to work capability assessments which could mean people receive less support based on a change of criteria rather than a change in that person's health the plans have been called a cynical attack on disability benefits which will have a devastating impact on those on the lowest incomes by the disability benefits consortium instead of demonising unemployed disabled people the UK Government should instead look at the real barriers that prevent disabled people from working Presiding Officer, like many metrics the disability employment gap widened during the Covid-19 pandemic Covid shone a light on existing inequalities exacerbated these inequalities for people with disabilities and exposed the vulnerability of some population groups to adverse shocks everyone was impacted by Covid lockdowns and the public health restrictions but that impact was not felt equally and many disabled people were at increased clinical risk from Covid many had reduced access to healthcare particularly for those who were shielding many experienced more stark social isolation and loneliness compared to non-disabled people and the services that they may have relied on either stopped or were altered I know from my own case work experiences that many local services which were interrupted during Covid either haven't restarted or aren't operating to the levels that they were pre-pandemic and I do want to put on record my appreciation to the many local groups both formal and informal which supported disabled people throughout Covid from the Blantyre official coronavirus support Facebook page to Healthy and Happy and Leap, our communities came together but of course whilst society has in many ways moved forward and moved onwards from the pandemic with many avenues of support being wound down or withdrawn there's a new challenge facing disabled people and the wider population the cost of living crisis We are in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis for decades and disabled people are amongst those being hit hardest Members may be aware of a report published in August this year between the Glasgow Centre for Population Health and the Glasgow Disability Alliance and the report lays bare how soaring costs for basic commodities has disproportionately affected people with disabilities Focus group participants highlighted the cost of buying essential assistive equipment such as powered wheelchairs or talking microwaves the need to use more electricity for charging or using such equipment and wheelchair users noticed that the increasing taxicosts meant that accessing supermarkets have become much more expensive The report was also highly critical of the UK Government's austerity policies which the authors argued should be viewed alongside the impact of Covid and the cost of living crisis on disabled people As referred to in the report back in 2017 a UN committee reported that disabled people's rights across the UK had regressed to the point of an I quote here a human catastrophe eroded through grave and systematic violations originating from UK austerity policies Presiding Officer in closing is clear that as a society we have much more to do to protect and further the rights of disabled people whilst we do not have all the powers or levers in our hands to address all the unfairness that has been created we must do more with the resources and powers that we do have whether that's with regards to the disability employment gap the pronounced challenges disabled people have experienced due to UK austerity the pandemic and the cost of living crisis or the wider health inequalities they face with the UN's international day of persons with disability taking place at the weekend we should recommit ourselves to breaking down the barriers further championing disability equality and building a fear of Scotland for all I now call Maggie Chapman to be followed by Emma Harper around six minutes Ms Chapman special thanks to the disabled people's organisations who provided briefings for this debate most of these included testimonies that give voice to the lived experience of the easy to ignore for which I'm very grateful Kate Forbes and others have eloquently and powerfully highlighted the importance of giving voice to the beautiful diversity of disabled people who live across Scotland these and many other testimonies such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's recent study on destitution bring home to us starkly and vividly the terrible experience of so many disabled people in the UK through current and recent crises the Covid pandemic the cost or rather the greed crisis and the extreme weather events triggered by climate change through all of these disabled people have been hit the hardest forced to make heartbreaking decisions that threaten their health their wellbeing and very often their lives these extraordinary events are becoming the new normal but the old normal isn't working for disabled people either with practical exclusion from decisions about their own healthcare from grassroots political expression from public transport and pavements from meeting the basic needs of everyday life why are we still here after decades of growing consciousness awareness of disabled people's voices after the brilliant, brave and painstaking work of organisations and activists why is the UK not only neglecting disabled people's interests social security policies actively undermining and attacking them part of the answer I think is in their macho idea of government as being there to protect people like them the rich, the powerful the so-called able bodied in civilian as well as in military spheres the most vulnerable including disabled people are acceptable collateral damage it's time to turn that completely on its head it's time to acknowledge that vulnerability and interdependence are the natural state of the human condition rational economic man independent self-reliant is not the norm but a fictional aberration starting from there from an understanding that we all need help we all need support we all need one another leads us to an ethic of care in place of domination so what does that mean for policy and practice what does it mean for the important initiatives that this motion highlights the independent living fund the immediate priorities plan for disabled people and the human rights bill what does it mean for the way in which we achieve the outcomes of Scotland's national performance framework led by that ethic of care we need, I believe to prioritise four principles human rights equality participation and redistribution human rights are just that the rights of all humans regardless of identity or status the soil upon which our lives can flourish and grow there are two ways in which states commonly act to deny the realisation of our rights one is by paying lip service to them, hiding them in plain sight pretending that human rights are something already achieved something we need not worry about I'm proud and grateful that here in Scotland we have a civil society not least the disabled people's organisations themselves that won't let us do that the second way of denying rights is by trying to eradicate them altogether attacking the very concept and legitimacy of human rights promoting a narrative that they are not for us all that merely a means for the unscrupulous to obtain by legal manipulation what they do not deserve that is a lie a dangerous lie but one increasingly espoused by the right of the Tory party those who want to drag the UK out of its honoured place in the European Convention on Human Rights again I am proud and grateful to be in Scotland where our political as well as our social traditions stand in solidarity and care human rights as a nice luxury to enjoy only when the going is good is not how we want to function here equality is about overcoming those many obstacles to taking part in social, economic, cultural and political life faced by all marginalised groups and especially disabled people we need to consider equality not as a one-off assessment but at all stages of development in relation to all policy areas conscious that as Peter Beresford has pointed out inequality itself can diminish our awareness of power differences those excluded don't realise how much and those with easy access take it for granted so genuine participation is also key again I recognise and honour disabled people's organisations who in so many ways have pioneered work on participation disabled people have been and shamefully often still are shut out of decisions about policy and practice that are central to their own lives undeterred the movement boldly challenged accepted ideology revealed the threadbare nature of medical and individualistic models and developed the social model of disability and the philosophy of independent living neither of these has been fully accepted by mainstream political thinking they are often hastily put on when it's politically convenient and shrugged off again when no one is looking we can do better here and finally an ethic of care requires redistribution policies and plans sensitively and wisely developed can take us a long way but practical change also requires resources we must be brave and honest in speaking and in acting on the scale that is required the social care future movement talks of the place we call home and communities where we look out for one another my vision and hope are for a Scotland where both of these are true for disabled people and all of us when we achieve that our ambitions to have human rights not only enshrined in our laws but realised by all our people will be met thank you Emma Harper is the final speaker in the open debate Ms Harper around six minutes thank you I'm pleased to speak and I've enjoyed hearing many of the members' contributions this afternoon I add my support to the UN's international day of persons with disabilities which is a chance to reflect on how we can ensure that disabled people have freedom, dignity, choice and control over their lives and I'll focus my contribution this afternoon on hidden disabilities and on the progress that Scotland continues to make to support those living with a disability Presiding Officer, the impact of living with a non-visible disability can be very slight or it can have a huge effect on someone's life and I want to note that I have an invisible disability I have type 1 diabetes type 1 is included in the equality act 2010 and I know that there are people with type 1 that don't consider themselves as having a disability but it does mean protection from the discrimination at work or at school due to their diabetes and it's hard and it can be challenging to manage blood glucose wherever your work takes you and it is worth raising this I think Presiding Officer it is estimated that 70 to 80% of disabilities are invisible and there are a wide range of impairments or conditions not visible to others these include mental health conditions, autism and other neurodivergencies cognitive impairments, hearing, vision, speech impairments and energy limiting conditions such as fibromyalgia and now the pandemic long Covid and I want to pick up on what Oliver Mundell mentioned in his intervention to the minister earlier about the usual place in Dumfries which provides people with different abilities including his hidden disabilities, education and training for employment and I just want to again highlight the work of the usual place and re-emphasise calls for the Scottish Government to provide any support it can for the usual place one of my I guess just going back to that because an invisible disability is not outwardly observable people living with them often face disregard or disbelief of their disability one of my councillor colleagues has MS and she told me that a member of the public had a right good go at her and he was harrumping right in her face because he didn't believe her to be disabled in the parking space outside the grocery store just by looking at her and she was having a good day that day with her mobility and she used a disabled space so that she didn't overexert herself and many people with invisible disabilities report unequal opportunities and difficulties accessing the services and support the need Presiding Officer, removing societal barriers for people with invisible disabilities enables them to participate fully in day-to-day life including work and education this, of course Maureen Wyrfield I'm very grateful to Emma Harper to give way on that point and of course with regard to invisible disabilities it was Grace Warnock and indeed in this Scottish Parliament that launched the sign for outside of the all changing rooms and yet we've come so many years and there is still so far to go for people to recognise the importance and the significance of invisible disabilities and just to have a heart with people to be using facilities arranged for others when they feel they might not need it Emma Harper, I'll give you the time back Okay, thank you for that intervention and I know we had a debate recently where there was issues around facilities in our toilets for people like for me to put my insulin pump down when I need to change it or people that have a claustomy or something like that so I think we do need to be very cognisant of what our public services are hospitals and all these places have as far as having facilities for people with hidden disabilities so thank you for that intervention Presiding Officer, we need to improve awareness of understanding of invisible disabilities and reduce stigma and exclusionary practices and support self identification and disclosure of hidden disabilities Disability charities including Inclusion Scotland state that accessibility standards which address barriers in built and online environments may improve access and inclusion These include public awareness raising such as extending the not every disability as visible campaign and persistent work to combat stigma surrounding hidden disability so I would ask the minister for assurances that those with hidden disabilities will be on equal footing as the government progresses legislation to enshrine the human rights agenda into Scots law Presiding Officer, social security is a human right being disabled or having a long-term health condition can come with a wide range of extra costs and others have mentioned that as well already such as paying more for accessible transport equipment or therapies The Scottish government through interventions like the adult disability payment child disability payment and carers support payment wants to make sure that people with a disability and their carers get all the extra financial support that they are entitled to and that every campaign was launched in the spring to raise awareness of available social security but also to help remove stigma around applying for the support that people are entitled to It's welcome that this is the first time that disability benefits have been proactively promoted on TV and social media as part of a national advertising campaign in the UK and as disability stakeholders have suggested I would welcome an update from the minister as to the success of these advertisements Presiding Officer, as the motion indicates if Scotland is to be a modern inclusive nation we all inspire to be we must respect, protect and fulfil all internationally recognised human rights the upcoming human rights bill seeks to do that The Scottish government does have ambitious proposals that will protect and promote these rights in every aspect of life in Scotland and ensure they apply equally across society so I welcome that as we move forward and I support this motion today and I look forward to the minister's response Thank you Thank you, Ms Harper We now move to closing speeches in a call Carl Mocken A generous six minutes, Ms Mocken Thank you Presiding Officer, do my best I am pleased to be closing for Scottish Labour in this debate today and as the minister set out at the beginning of today's debate it is about rights rights for all and it gives us an opportunity to raise the voices of disabled people who, as we have heard, are often ignored marginalised, stigmatised within our communities and I want to just say that I really enjoyed the contributions from Kate Forbes and Karen Adams and it shows how if we can bring these subjects alive and give examples where people have felt those issues then it really can help us to move forward and it helps us to really understand and look at the barriers and push ourselves and forces to look at embedding this approach that we've been talking about today As I begin my contribution though I must make it clear as others have, Claire Hockey and Maggie Chapman that I cannot ignore the actions of the Tory Government and Westminster to talk about this issue Their economic and social security vandalism has led to working families having to make impossible choices due to their finances being so stretched The Tory Government's actions have led to the disproportionate impacts being felt by disabled people in relation to their human rights and the consequences of the cost of living emergency is felt so acutely by disabled people Of course Claire Hockey I thank Karen Mawkin for taking my intervention for acknowledging as I did and Maggie Chapman did the economic damage that the UK Tory Government is doing Can she tell me what a Labour Government would do at Westminster that would repair the damage that the Tories have caused Karen Mawkin, I can give you the time back Thank you very much I thank Claire Hockey for that intervention based on the issue and she will know that great change is coming if we can get a Labour Government in place and we will be making fundamental reform to social security across the UK If members would like to intervene I'm happy for them to do so Can we please give the courtesy to the member who's on their feet to listen to that? I'm going to make progress Thank you We are seeing in the statistics released by key stakeholders that disabled people are being affected every day and Martin Whitefield and Alex Cole-Hamilton raised the issue raised by the Trussel Trust that we have heard that three out of four Trussel Trust food bank users in Scotland come from households containing a disabled person Half, 51% of all people living in poverty live in a household and disabled member and Kevin Stewart rightly raised the situation with heating costs so it spells out that we need to move towards a safety net these figures are devastating and they represent families and individuals across Scotland who are struggling so badly and they can Kevin Stewart These issues are affecting families across Scotland and particularly families and disabled members Ms Hoche asked what change will come if there is a Labour Government Keir Starmer has said this week that there won't be a turning on of the taps when it comes to spending so how are we going to get this right? How will there be change under Labour if there is no increased spending to help these folks? Thank you I'm really pleased that the Benches are really interested in the reform that the Labour Government in the UK will make and I hope that they'll come on board when we're campaigning to make sure that we do get a change of government in Westminster of course I will I'm very grateful to Carol Mocken to give way and I think the evidence that you seek is in what happened with the previous Labour Government and the support and the lifting and the human rights that we're trying to support our disabled people both young, old and into work that shows what can be achieved by a Government that instead of hiding behind headlines actually gets on with the work I'm grateful I'm going to try and make progress if I can because much as I would like to continue discussing what a change will come in Scotland and across the UK in next year and 2024 it is my job in this place to hold this Scottish Government into account and can I say that I do have no doubt about the ambition of the Scottish people to be a world leader in both legislation for and realisation of human rights and I have no doubt about the ambition of the Scottish Government and in fact I want to mention here the minister have a great deal of respect for the minister in this regard I do believe that there is a lot of intention there but where we disagree is in terms of have we stepped up in 16 years to actually achieve the things that we should have achieved and as I have often said in the chamber acknowledging when we have not done something is really important to move that intention into action as my colleagues have mentioned in the motion there's no real acknowledgement of this and that is in part why we have to debate what I want to say I'm running out of time as we've had excellent discussion about what a Labour Government will bring in 2024 have the Government asked themselves what have we actually done has any of the inaction been because we have not done things that we should have done and have we listened to the disabled people that we are keen to represent and change I want to finish with a quote that the Scottish Human Rights Commission said of the Scottish Government we believe that the evidence on the progress assessments demonstrates starkly the implementation gap between intentions and good laws and policy and the implementation that could change lives on the ground and I do believe across the chamber we want to change lives on the ground and I hope to have more time in the future to go through some of the other points thank you Oliver Mundell again a generous seven minutes Mr Mundell it's been a very interesting debate listening to contributions from across the chamber I'll put aside the debate around what a next Labour Government might bring but that was standing I have enjoyed a number of the contributions across party particularly the contribution from Kevin Stewart when he was talking about the fact that we could all face disability at any time and I'm not normally one to talk about philosophy in this chamber but it did kind of remind me of my student days listening to John Rawls' theory on a just society and trying to look behind the kind of veil of ignorance and imagine what life might be like in a different position which kind of brings me to my own experience as a young person growing up I've got dyspraxia and dyslexia and I don't consider them to be major barriers to me I've got relatively modest support at school I was very grateful for and it did make a difference to my educational outcomes to have a family to fight for me to make sure I did get that resource and help but it's also what makes me very sad today as a constituency MSP representing a part of rural Scotland where things are actually worse for young people now than they were when I was at school where it seems for many children at that first point in their life where they're desperately looking for support that could be life changing to them they're told that it's too hard and too difficult to find them the support that they need and I can add the Morgan report to the list we heard from Paul O'Kane another report that points to the gap between the rhetoric and the reality on the ground and it just seems very very frustrating that something that's within the direct control of this Parliament has had control over now for coming on a quarter of a century we're still not able to get it right for every child we have these bold ambitions but for lots of families for lots of young people when they are most at need of help help that could transform their life it's not there and that moves on with them into early adulthood we had a big debate in this Parliament about private or a member's bill it frustrates me deeply that an issue like that is left to a member's bill that did have some challenges around it and is having to try and fit what it's looking to do within tight criteria that the Parliament set and I feel after 16 years of this Government with this issue repeatedly coming up we should have seen more proactive action on that and as I mentioned in my intervention earlier and Emma Harper touched upon in her contribution we see community level organisations in Dumfries and Galloway like the usual place which I would put in the category that Karen Adam was talking about earlier of being a haven it brings people from all different walks of life of all different abilities together and everyone who walks into that door interacts on the same level they're treated with absolute dignity and they're given an opportunity to thrive they're given an opportunity to access skills and to access employment and I know there were some remarks in the minister's opening statement about employment but I'm not ashamed to say that for many disabled people many with disabilities actually their number one ask is support and help to get into work and we should be feeling afraid about championing that I don't think we should be suggesting that that's not good and going back to the previous Labour Government I consider myself to be a Gordon Brown conservative in that I think that work is good for people that work should pay and that work is a source of dignity that helps many people out of poverty I absolutely appreciate the points that are being made around work and as I said in my opening remarks we're really committed to supporting disabled people who are able to work and want to work to be able to do exactly that but does he accept that there is a difference between supporting that principle and sanctioning disabled people who are unable to work? I think sanctioning is one of the very difficult issues around the welfare system I don't hide from that for a second but I think you have to have a system that's fair and that encourages people to interact with that system within the rules that everyone within it has been asked to follow and I know that that does present challenges but one of the things that concerns me is that we're too keen to look to welfare as the first solution for many people facing difficulties getting into work and I think that there are things that can be done right now that would make a real difference to people and that's what I'm talking about in terms of the usual place there is a model operating in Dumfries and Galloway that works that is genuinely life saving there are young people who've accessed it who I don't think would be here today if it hadn't been for that opportunity they're moving into long term sustainable employment they're getting one to one personalised support some of those young people have gone on to set up their own businesses and something really powerful is happening but what we find is we've got the DWP on one side Social Security Scotland on the other side and myriad of Government schemes but we're told that something that's very precious to people in Dumfries and Galloway doesn't fit into the silos that we've created when it comes to funding and support and I suspect it's just one of hundreds of similar organisations across Scotland that could be there doing something about the disability employment gap particularly in rural communities like the Highlands and Islands and Dumfries and Galloway where there are a significantly higher number of disabled people who struggle to find employment so I think we can get too focused on some of the political differences that exist in relation to the welfare system and not to tackle some of the obvious, immediate and solvable challenges in our education system and in that support that comes after and I think we all have to ask ourselves we can have bold ambitions but if it's not meaningful to the people we serve, to the people we represent then can we really be happy can we look at this Scottish Parliament in and think has it lived up to the promises that we've repeatedly made that we make again today are we actually going to start delivering for people on the ground it's not good enough to stagnate it's not good to see things move backwards and you know what I think we all need to fight a bit harder to make sure that life gets better for our constituents thank you I now call on the minister to wind up respond to the debate for again a generous nine minutes minister thank you I just want to say first of all I really have welcomed the tone of this debate overall and I think we've had a really good balance between recognising what has been achieved so far and where we're falling short and what is really needed to realise the rights of disabled people in Scotland I think Kevin Stewart's point the number of disabled people living in Scotland is one to hold on to he pointed out that a greater and greater proportion of disabled people living in Scotland means more disabled people's lives saved and safety insured that is something for us to celebrate and to build on he was also right that disability justice is everyone's business because disability could happen to anyone it's also the case that improvements for disabled people benefit us all and fair working practices to help disabled employees you also become more family friendly more cater positive you help neuro divergent people and others with long term health conditions or energy limiting illnesses who don't consider themselves disabled you open up that workplace to older people and anyone who needs any kind of adjustment and wants to stay on work when you make a place accessible to wheelchairs you also make it accessible to prams and you give people with sensory issues to breathe you make it easier for people like those that Emma Harper spoke of with invisible disabilities who due to that stigma may find it more difficult to justify their asks on their own and I would reassure her that the Scottish Government absolutely aligns itself to the social and not medical model of disability and we don't believe that somebody needs to be visibly disabled or have particular diagnoses over others in order to access basic support and rights diversity in the workplace and society challenges, engages and benefits us all Kevin Stewart also importantly talked about how he when a minister valued and listened to lived experience which is fantastic and I do remember well the importance that he placed on lived experience in the mental health and social care spaces of policy and I can reassure Carol Mocken that disabled people are regularly engaged not just by me in my portfolio but across Government because we're absolutely committed to continuous improvement but that engagement cannot be optional so it is my job in this role to ensure that it doesn't matter if it's Kevin Stewart in a particular role lived experience is always listened to I'll take an intervention Miles Briggs before for the minister for taking this intervention because perhaps one of the greatest changes we're going to see for disabled people and the ability for them to realise their right to independent living is the establishment of the national care service now the inclusion Scotland ahead of this debate today in their briefing outlined a number of concerns specifically saying they do not feel it's in the spirit of co-design which is currently shaping the future governance of the national care service where is that concern being taken into account by ministers so in terms of the national care service I do feel a little bit like we can't do right for doing wrong because on the one hand we're being constantly criticised for not putting the detail created by other people and I personally think that the balance is right at the moment when we consider that what we're creating right now is a framework and I have complete sympathy for those in the stories that Miles Briggs shared earlier and he'll be aware I've got a similar one myself and appreciate that I can't get into the details of the Covid inquiries as they rightly must be able to carry out their work without pressure or prejudice but I think these are prime examples of why the inquiries are important many of us lost loved ones and I'm sure there'll be many lessons to learn particularly around human rights and equality in times where budgets are tight or we're having to react to emergency situations because those are often the times where people forget about the equality's assessments or to consider the impact on disabled people but that's exactly when it's most important and particularly when we're talking about government decisions we're talking here with the human rights bill and strengthening the public sector equality duty supporting disabled people is creating that structure to bake human rights into all of our processes and that will be necessary for learning these lessons and ensuring that human rights considerations are there all the time and every time I want to congratulate Kate Forbes uncle on his many exciting birthdays and I hope that the one coming up is just as exciting as previous I think it's important that both she and Karen Adam describe the enrichment to their lives and to society for their disabled family members being supported and what struck me is Kate Forbes talked about her uncle's life and how her grandmother fought tooth and nail for him to have the life that she knew he deserved that his peers simply expected and that Oliver Mundell credits similar support for being able to get through school and I know there are parents of disabled people out there still fighting tooth and nail for that same goal and conversely I remember emailing a generic NHS inbox as a child when caring for my mother begging for her to get more professional help because we weren't coping there are still young carers across Scotland who are fighting the system for their parents and that is exactly what we want to put an end to people shouldn't have to fight tooth and nail for their disabled family members and indeed there are disabled people out there who have family to fight tooth and nail for them and they equally deserve support so it's our job to do that on their behalf and get the rights there for everyone in Scotland now which is why we remain committed to removing non-residential care charges in this Parliament to incorporating ANS law within our national care service and delivering our immediate priorities plan for disabled people Jan Savage's words telling us that more must be done have been quoted often today and I think that's right I hope that disabled people watching can hear that government and opposition wants to do more and that we are and will and I welcome the scrutiny and the pressure to move faster where we can Kevin Stewart I thank the minister for giving way and I think we all agree that more needs to be done but it's not just government that needs to take action here I was speaking yesterday to the national autistic society about neurodiverse folk getting into employment the minister mentioned carers earlier and we've got a good scheme carer positive scheme carer positive employers should we be rolling out disabled friendly employers disabled aware employers neurodiverse aware employers and making sure that this is not just government action but a whole of society action that we're taking I think it's a fair point and the carer positive scheme to me is a real example of success and making it as easy as possible for employers to do the right thing but overall I would just encourage anyone whether it's people in this room who are employers or businesses or organisations out there to treat people fairly and give them the adaptions and adjustments that they need in order to do their job and that shouldn't take a plan or a strategy but certainly if there are specific pitfalls I'll be meeting with the NAS quite soon as well to discuss the same thing then certainly I'd be more than happy to support action but I think we need to be very clear as well about the limits that are placed upon us as a government members across the chamber have talked about the UNCRPD now the reason that we cannot go as far as we would like to in incorporating these rights which were ratified as the UK government many decades ago is because the UK government will not carry out that same work it could incorporate these now fully into UK law and make our job much easier and this becomes even more challenging as we know that the UK government is increasingly litigious about what it sees as us overstepping even challenging the rights of the child in court to Paul O'Kane's points again I hear him on the call to recognise the scale of the issue here and the scale of the action that's required to tackle it and he's absolutely right and I hope that the action he's seen since is that letter from the First Minister and from ministers across government in our work on human rights the reopening of the independent living fund the constant work that's going on on getting that immediate priorities plan ready to publish has gone some way to reassuring him and DPOs that that work continues Paul O'Kane I'm very grateful to the minister for giving way and she will have heard me in my remark say that I welcome of course the reopening of the independent living fund to see it go further and I think disabled people's organisations are keen to see it go further she also in her closing has mentioned a number of policy priorities that I brought up in my speech particularly the ending of non-residential care charges but this government has a commitment to can she give a clear timescale just now as to when this will happen because people have been waiting for years since the fairly recommendations for this to happen minister as I mentioned earlier we remain committed in that same commitment to end those non-residential care charges within this Parliament which we're now well over halfway through so that's the timescale Martin Whitfield of course also challenged me on the immediate priorities plan I can hopefully reassure him that some actions such as the independent living fund which were communicated to us by DPOs as key priorities we've been moving on those in advance of the plan being published so we're not waiting for the plan in order to start moving on that on disability competence on mainstreaming the real big asks that DPOs are giving us in this work this work is progressing as we speak so absolutely excited for the immediate priorities plan to be published but hopefully I can reassure him that the work continues regardless but we do again have to be very clear about the context that we work in and Carol Mock, Claire Hockey, Maggie Chapman we're all right to raise the actions of the current UK government to contribute to inflation and economic uncertainty it does feel as though we are fighting against the tide and support that could be life changing ends up being a mitigation measure against UK cuts Annie Wells talked about wanting to change the criteria for adult disability payment now she will be aware that a great deal of consideration was given to whether we should implement changes to the eligibility criteria for ADP when it was rolled out and the meter descriptors but it was firmly concluded that deviating from PIP in eligibility would risk that safe and secure transition of individuals moving from one benefit to the other which no responsible government would do and that approach is of course supported by the Scottish Commission on Social Security and our priority if you bear with me there are too many conversations now happening around the chamber can we do the courtesy of listening to the minister as she begins to conclude our priority is always to ensure that people are able to benefit from the significant improvements that we've made but the DWP could of course make that change at source now and remove those concerns so that we could reflect that in ADP now Presiding Officer I agree with those who said we need to do more and I look forward to continued work with DPOs and others including members across the chamber to ensure that the human rights bill the immediate priorities plan and all future work is as impactful during the human rights of disabled people across Scotland Thank you Minister that concludes the debate on championing disability equality and human rights it's now time to move on to the next item of business and at this stage I am minded to take a motion without notice under rule 11.2.4 of standing orders that the decision time be brought forward to now and I invite the minister to move such a motion Thank you Minister the question is the decision time be brought forward to now are we all agreed we are agreed there are three questions to be put as a result of today's business the first question is the amendment double one five three seven point one in the name of Miles Briggs which seeks to amend motion double one five three seven in the name of Emma Roddick on championing disability equality and human rights be agreed are we all agreed Parliament is not agreed there will be a division and there will also be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital system