 The final item of business today is a member's business debate on motion number 9911 in the name of Jackie Baillie on the Scottish Learning Disability Awareness Week 2014. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put and I would be grateful for those members who wish to speak in the debate. I could press the request to speak buttons as soon as possible. I call on Jackie Baillie to open the debate. Seven minutes please. Thank you very much. It gives me great pleasure to move the motion in my name congratulating the 60th anniversary. Many members around the room may be wondering why I am wearing a tartan scarf when the sun is indeed split in the skies, but those among you who have kept up will know that this enables Scotland's 60th anniversary tartan, and I see members wearing scarves and ties in the chamber today. I congratulate them on remembering, because not all of us managed to do so. Of course, the 60 threads are for each of the 60 years that enable have been around, but for those of you who know, the two strands of bright orange that run through the tartan are for every boy and girl who continue to be born every day in Scotland with learning disabilities or indeed develop them in later life. Job is still not done. It is also a significant year for other organisations that work with people with learning disabilities, and I am pleased to give them but a small mention that people first are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. We have come a long way since 1954, when five families came together back then to talk about forming an organisation in Scotland to support parents like themselves who were raising children with learning disabilities. We are indebted to them for their vision that has created Enable Scotland with 44 local branches, employing 1,700 people and with 4,000 members across Scotland, many of them sitting in the chamber today. Enable Scotland celebrates that 60 years of campaigning for and with people with learning disabilities so that they can play a part in their communities, have an education, have a job, develop friendships, and of course it is not just about campaigning, it is about doing too, providing services for some 2,000 people across the country. I want to reflect briefly on just what it must have been like all those years ago so that we can truly understand the journey that we have been on together and that Enable Scotland has played such a critical role in leading and shaping. 60 years ago, a parent of a child with a learning disability would have been made to feel ashamed. Learning disability was a real stigma and some parents hid themselves, never mind their child, away. There were very few services and parents were often left to cope on their own. Children who had a learning disability had no entitlement to go to school. There was no option for someone who had a learning disability to live independently. The only choice was institutional care or remaining in the family home. By 1970, there were 22 long-stay hospitals in Scotland, housing over 7,000 children and adults with learning disabilities. Employment was certainly not an option for people who had a learning disability. However, there is much that we have achieved but much more that we have to do. I am very proud that it was a Labour Government in the first Scottish Parliament that developed the same as you and it did enjoy cross-party support. Those of you involved at the time will recall that it started life as a document owned in the main by civil servants. There is nothing wrong with that, but when the minister, as I seem to recall, Ian Gray, who was the deputy minister for communities, threw open the doors and invited people with learning disabilities and their representative organisations in to help shape the document, the dynamics completely changed. That was now about a breathing living document that offered a vision for the future. Yes, of course, it was challenging and rightly so. 27 recommendations covering everything that would help people to get support to live independent lives, to get education and employment opportunities and to end discrimination. The most significant for me is the end of the long-stay institutions like Lenox Castle that I knew of because I happened to live nearby in the local area, where 1,000 people have been moved out of hospitals and into homes. The overwhelming majority of people with learning disabilities now live in their communities with packages of care and support. Yes, we have come a long way, but let me just share with you some statistics that show that we absolutely need to stay focused on this. Nine out of 10 children with a learning disability are bullied. One out of four children with a learning disability are hit or punched. Nine out of 10 people with a learning disability are the victims of hate crime. Only one out of three with a learning disability have at least one close friend and only one in four people with a learning disability have a job or are in training. I very much welcome the current Scottish Government taking the same as you further on and producing their own document for the next 10 years, the keys to life. It does continue a journey that we started with the same as you, and not surprisingly there is still much to do in securing those opportunities for training, opportunities for employment, opportunities for independent living and of course ending discrimination and abuse. I do not want to sound a discordant note, but we do need to be very aware that as money is ever tighter in the public sector, we need to keep an eye out for service cuts. We need to keep an eye out for a return to the past under the guise of service redesign, and we need to keep a very clear eye on care charging, which is still a postcode lottery across the country. Members will know that I consider it a great privilege to be the convener of the cross-party group on learning disability. Something that I have done for the past 12 years that I cannot compete with enables 60 years, you would all shout at me and say that I look too young anyway. Okay, you laughed at me, thank you, but you know that I would never waste an opportunity like this to raise only three issues with the minister. The first is, could you give the chamber an update on progress with the keys to life and an indication of those priority areas for action? We have invited you to the cross-party group on learning disability next week, but you have not replied yet, so I look forward to you saying yes. You like saying yes in the context of this debate. The minister will also be aware that I have written to him on the issue of section 13za about the potential misuse of that power to people who have learning disabilities by moving them into residential care settings. We would be looking for an assurance that he will consider that very carefully indeed. Enable Scotland would be keen to hear your views on concessionary travel and the impact of the loss of the low-rate mobility element of the current disability living allowance on access to a bus pass through the national concessionary travel scheme for people who have learning disabilities. Will he commit to looking at that as well? I do not want to risk your wrath, but let me conclude by congratulating Enable Scotland on its 60th anniversary. It has campaigned and fought for thousands upon thousands of people with learning disabilities, and I wish them every success for the next 60 years. Thank you very much. We now turn to the open speeches, and I call Jim Eadie to be followed by Dr Richard Simpson. I congratulate Jackie Baillie for securing this debate on Scottish learning disability awareness week. I, too, am wearing my Enable Scotland tartan in the form of this attractive tie, and I would also like to pay tribute to those organisations who work with and support people with a learning disability, such as the Learning Disability Alliance Scotland and Enable Scotland, who have an office in Coswayside in my constituency, which I have had the pleasure of visiting on a number of occasions. Both organisations work tirelessly to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities, as well as those who care for them. Because learning disabilities are not always visible, it is all too easy to forget or ignore the issues and challenges that people with a learning disability face on a daily basis. I believe that, as a society, we should make more of an effort to try and understand what it is like to live with a learning disability. We must also acknowledge the rights of people with learning disabilities to contribute to society and to live an independent and fulfilling life. As the motion tabled by Jackie Baillie mentions, Enable Scotland celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and I, too, congratulate them on this important milestone. In the aftermath of the Second World War, attitudes towards human rights and vulnerable members of society started to improve through the establishment of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the European Convention on Human Rights two years later. As Jackie Baillie reminded us, in 1954, five Glaswegian families affected by learning disability came together and established the Scottish Association of Parents of Handicapped Children, now known as Enable Scotland. Enable Scotland now employs almost 1,700 charity and social care staff and delivers support to 2,400 people across Scotland, as well as helping more than 1,000 people into employment every year. That is a record to be proud of. A great strength of Enable Scotland is that it not only offers services but also encourages people with learning disabilities to take charge of their own life, their own situation and be aware of the rights that they have. In 1984, it published the Book of Scots law and the Mentally Handicapped, which sets out the laws relating to learning disability and made it easier for families to understand their rights. The knowledge of being a valued and equal member of society instills a sense of self-worth that enables all of us to face our daily challenges. Why should it be any different for people with a learning disability? Enable Scotland also acknowledged the ability and the right of people with learning disabilities to contribute to society by appointing an employment development officer to support them into work in 1987. Further more, in 1993, it established the advisory committee of enable, ACE, which consists of adults who have learning disabilities who are better, who are more capable or better qualified to advise Enable on what is important to people with learning disabilities than those who live with a learning disability. I have been privileged to engage with my local Edinburgh advisory committee of enable, which has helped to educate and inform me about the issues and challenges that are faced by people with a learning disability. The importance for people with learning disabilities of taking control and responsibility is echoed in the Scottish Government's new learning disability strategy, The Keys to Life, which was launched last June, which of course builds on the previous strategy launched by the then minister Ian Gray, the same as you, which was launched under a previous administration. One of the aims of this 10-year plan is to encourage people with learning disabilities to be involved and take control over received services. Through self-directed support, people with a learning disability have had, often for the first time, the opportunity to have greater ownership of their own care, including employing a personal assistant, which can, in many cases, transform their quality of life. I am glad in my constituency that Sainsbury's, through their new Sainsbury's local stores in Coswayside in Marchment and also in their larger store at Cameron Toll, employing people who previously worked with Remploy. That is a marvellous opportunity for people with a learning disability to gain valuable work experience and to contribute fully to the society and the community of which they are a member. Once again, I congratulate Jackie Baillie for securing this debate. I wish the Learning Disability Alliance Scotland, Enable Scotland and its fellow organisations every success in the future and I will certainly continue to work with them to support people with learning disabilities and their families. Dr Richard Simpson, to be followed by Mary Scanlon. I add my congratulations to Jackie Baillie on obtaining this member's debate about a very important subject in which, in Scotland, there has been such considerable progress over the years, not least because of the work done by Enable, whose 60th anniversary we are celebrating in part with this debate. As a medical student, I was strongly influenced in my desire to go into psychiatry by the work of Irving Goffin, whose work was most celebrated by the film One Flew Over the Cocos Nest. At that time, institutionalisation did not just apply to those with mental health problems but also to those with learning disabilities. When I went to work in Forth Valley in 1970, there was in that area the Scottish National Hospital housing some 1,800 patients with learning disability. It was the transformation in the lives of those with learning disability when that moved into the community and the closure ultimately of that hospital occurred that I think has been one of the most impressive changes in our services in the last 50 years. This was made possible by good transitional funding and that has been quite unique. In most other cases, when one tries to close an institution, one has to close it and then use the money to create community resources. Of course, that has been a major problem in terms of the other institutions in mental health where we have had problems. I can remember many examples of people whose lives were improved by this move, but one particular moving example that I learned about when I was on the health committee here in the Parliament was when a nursing team at Lindbank reported on a programme where they had helped a patient to achieve continence as part of his journey to independence. This one particular aspect of his health had taken thousands of hours of support and help, but its ultimate achievement had so empowered that individual that it transformed his life. Alongside the major change in institutionalisation, the Labour Party, when it came to power, also introduced a general approach that those with learning disability, and indeed with other disabilities, should wherever possible be part of mainstream education. I realise that it has not always been easy, but I believe that it was the correct move and something to be supported. The other thing that has occurred is that many organisations in the community began to engage in a much more positive way with those with learning disability. In my constituency, Central Art Link, who celebrated their work with a very successful presentation from a group with learning disability in the Parliament only recently, then there was the retired and senior volunteer programme where local volunteers in the fourth valley programme support groups with learning disabilities such as the walking group, which is important for improved physical health, because many of those with learning disability, like those with mental health problems, do not have particularly good mental health. My final example is an organisation of which I am very proud to be the current patron called Trellis, which is the overarching national body for therapeutic gardening. 160 different groups across Scotland who help many people with learning disability to endure horticulture. Deputy Presiding Officer, just to conclude, there are, as Jackie has said, many challenges still ahead on this journey, and it is a journey that we are on. One that I would like to draw attention to in concluding to the minister relates to personal history. I grew up with a much-loved aunt who had Down syndrome, and she ultimately required to go into a specialist resource and went into a care home. She was lucky, because she went into a specialist home. Today, there are far too many people with learning disability who perhaps reached that stage because of loss of family or increasing frailty who have to go into a care home but are not able to go into a care home that is specialised. They are in a care home with much more elderly people, which is quite unsuitable. That is a problem that needs to be addressed, and it needs to be addressed soon. I hope that enable through its campaigning will achieve even greater equity and fairness for those who have learning disability and continuing the good work that they have done over the last 60 years. Many thanks. I now call Mary Scanlon to be followed by Ian Gray. Can I also thank Jackie Baillie for securing this debate on enable's 60th year and to enable for their work in Inverness and across the Highlands? Can I also make a special mention to Jackie Baillie for her enormous continued work, energy and commitment to supporting disabled people across Scotland? There are not a week passes, but there is either a motion about disabled people or whatever, but well done. Everyone needs a champion, and Jackie Baillie is undoubtedly the champion here. Last September, this Parliament debated the keys to life, to improve the lives of those with learning disabilities. It was an excellent debate, and I think that it will be a similar debate tonight. The Government's motion that day really sums up where we are and what has been said so far. Scotland can be proud of some of the changes in the quality of life for people with learning disabilities, but accepts that there is still much to do, and I think that we are all there. It is quite right that there has been progress, especially when it comes to independent living, but issues remain, not just in terms of health inequalities, education and some lingering social stigmas. To take just one positive development since the first 10-year strategy, the same as you, has been to move away from institutional care. I have to say that, as the Opposition Health Spokesman from 99 onwards, I often criticised the Labour Party for the various glossy brochures that Michael Matheson did, Nicola Sturgeon did, but the one commitment that no-one ever criticised was the same as you, with its 29 recommendations. I have been on the record many times, and I have gone back to that document many times to see whether the lab Scottish Executive was delivering and the present Government. However, there is also the drive towards individual greater control over their lives, and, as Jackie Baillie said, to be in supported care, more appropriate to their individual needs. In the coming years, I am hopeful that self-directed support will help to push this even further, giving people with learning disabilities choice when it comes to shaping their care. I thought that Jim Eadie made a very good point on human rights, and I think that that is fundamentally about all rights, including some of the softer rights, the right to be heard, the right to be included, and the right to the same opportunities as everyone else. Currently, there are around 16,000 children and young people with learning disabilities, and we owe it not just to this generation but to their parents and the legions of tireless campaigners to get it right. On behalf of us all, I thank all the people in the gallery who have come along tonight, and I know that they have come from Inverness and Beyond. We do like you here in sharing in this debate. For me, there are two areas where more can still be done. One is additional support needs, and my colleague Liz Smith recently held a seminar. What she was asked was—or told—that we are not doing enough to prepare and support young people through the transition between primary and secondary school and secondary school and adult life. It is not the first time that I have heard that, but for future that is probably something that we could focus on. The second is in further education, and we know that in modern apprenticeships, 0.2 per cent of people of the 25,000 modern apprenticeships in Scotland, 0.2 per cent went to people with learning disabilities. That is not good enough, and I think that we can do much better. I note the words of Peter Scott, the chairman of the Scottish consortium for learning disabilities, who quoted that, while the trend towards more independent living is welcome, there is an underlying concern whether, in relation to education, employment or day services, opportunities for people may be diminishing. In closing, we can be justifiably proud of our record, but we still have much more to do. I am sometimes asked what politics I am proudest of. I always say the same as you, not because it was the first policy document that I was involved in, but because that document did something that, even then, many people considered impossible. It did, as Jackie Baillie outlined, articulate the authentic voice of people with learning disabilities, expressed their hopes, their dreams and their aspirations. For once, in a Government document, Mary Scanlon is right, it turned those aspirations into real policies and actions. I had, at the time, some idea just how far those aspirations were from the reality of those times some 15 years ago, because some of my family members and friends and probably not to my credit but not one but two wives all worked and trained in Gogarburn Longstay hospital, so I knew the reality of the life for many people with learning disability. So it was that, at another proud ministerial moment, the last ministerial engagement undertook, in fact, as a health minister, was to formally, finally and permanently close Gogarburn hospital down. To this day, my wife and I sometimes meet people. People she knew when they were patients in Gogarburn and she worked there and they were patients living in wards and these are people who have now, for years, lived their own lives and lived freely and I know too that my own cousin, profoundly disabled, has lived a life not easy but far fuller than we could ever have imagined when he and I were children together. Presiding Officer, be in no doubt, this was a real liberation struggle and a victory for justice yes, for equality yes, but also for freedom. But it was a struggle and it would never have happened without the parents and activists and organisations who fought for it alongside their sons and daughters and friends, not least enable who celebrate their 60th birthday this year or LCAP in my constituency of East Lothian who celebrate their 25th birthday this year. As Jackie Baillie made clear, it is a struggle which is not over as long as people with learning disability still face systematic unemployment, inappropriate placements in care homes or bullying on our streets. The truth is that no revolution is complete until we have changed ourselves and our attitudes and that still has to happen. So I welcome the Scottish Government taking up this baton with the keys to life report and I say to enable in their sister organisations well done but I also say to them you know and we know that this is a struggle which continues. Many thanks and I now call Christine Grahame to be followed by Hans Alam Alec. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I congratulate Jackie Baillie and indeed all contributors in this debate, not just for what they say but the tone of the debate and I always think members' debates show this Parliament at its best. We've had quite a rockus day but we can come together on the issues that really matter and do them proud, I hope. I'm going to refer to two particular pieces of legislation that we've put through this Parliament that have assisted people while keeping their individual rights and that is the Adults Within Capacity Act which made it plain that people with learning disabilities among others have rights that they may express but when they need assistance they get it but their rights are still and their views are still expressed properly. We put that through here in shining it in law and what we've also done, I can see colleagues here who've been here as long as me but we're wearing well Jackie. The drinks are on you tonight. The Vulnerable Witnesses Act is another one that's been put through while I've been convening the Justice Committee and that was very important because what wasn't recognised in the court process that somebody with learning difficulties would be ordinary, there everybody gets bewildered by it but learning difficulties in the court process, bigger witness in a case, in a criminal case or even in a civil case, you require support and that support has now been built into legislation so that everybody has their say of their chance in court. I just wanted to briefly enter the debate because one thing you haven't mentioned amongst all the policies was the legislation. Sometimes we do too much, in fact we do do too much but these are two good pieces of legislation that I hope have enhanced the rights of people with learning disabilities and I congratulate, enable and I congratulate Jackie again, you're doing a grand job. I don't always agree with you but I agree tonight. Finally in the open debate, Hans Alem Alec. Thank you and good evening Presiding Officer. I welcome Scottish learning disability awareness week and thank Jackie Baillie for the opportunity to discuss the issue in parliament and congratulate, enable Scotland on its 60th anniversary. Plus I wish to thank all the volunteers and helpers who have supported the organization through its history. People with learning difficulties have a significant and lifelong condition that starts before adulthood and which affects their development. Although these people are just like you and me and should be treated as such there are more likely to die young, have mental health problems, they are more likely to be exposed to poverty, poor housing, lack of experience and employment, social insulation, bullying and discrimination which is a mouthful but it's true. Lifelong experience results in lack of choice and opportunity as well as experiencing significant barriers to accessing services. That is why it is essential to demonstrate that people with learning difficulties are valued and respected as equal members of society. Generally there is more information available but that means issues about how people access it. Families are unaware of what support they are entitled to and they can go to get information from. As a consequence they don't get all the help they really need. The Scottish Learning Disability Awareness Week is a great idea way to combat this issue of awareness. When considering the issue of learning disabilities I want to especially mention Thomas Fortune work centre in Glasgow. The centre has recently secured a five year contribution of funding from Glasgow learning disability partnership with likelihood of an extension. That said only 5% of people with learning disabilities in Glasgow are in paid employment. This centre specialises in providing a route to employment along with social support needs of people with learning disabilities. It is one of the very few projects in Scotland that can provide a bridge between social care and open employment. Glasgow disability allows GDA an organisation led by disabled people and has a membership of over 100 and 1500. People with learning difficulties from minority communities face double discrimination in accessing public services. I offer this piece of advice, contacting local shops, faith and community leaders and centres and organisations like enabled Scotland can pass this message and information on. Also I promote full and equal access to public service. It is essential to meet the language requirements of those minority individuals who need to use the services as well. Overall like my friend Jameedy I would like to commit my support to the organisations to do this marvellous work 24-7. Thank you very much. I now invite Michael Matheson to respond to the debate minister in around seven minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I like others. I offer my congratulations to Jackie Baillian securing time for this debate and also to acknowledge like others the tremendous amount of work she does in this particular area which has been a long-standing interest for her in raising issues around learning disabilities. I also put on record my thanks for the tremendous amount of work that enable have done over many many years. Enable were one of the first organisations I can recall as a young student when we were looking at different third sector organisations that were very effective in helping to deliver rights and in pushing a rights agenda forward when they were and I can remember visiting their offices at that time in Elmbank Street in Glasgow in order to get information from them. The work that they have undertaken over the last 60 years is a tremendous credit to them. I look forward to joining their reception tonight and I should also offer a word of thanks for what is a lovely tartan thai that all male members have been provided with. Learning disability awareness week gives us an opportunity to raise issues and raise awareness around learning disability in itself. It also gives us a chance to highlight the issues that people with a learning disability can often experience and where some of those challenges need to be taken forward. Jackie Baillie in her contribution highlighted the sense of pride that we can take from the progress that has taken place over several decades now and the same as you strategy had an extremely important part to play post 2000 in helping to make sure that there was a significant shift in the balance of care from institutional care into long stay care building on what had been happening since back in the 1990s. That led to the historic closure of over 1,000 long stay beds in Scotland, beds that many individuals called home. I had in my own professional career experience in helping to place individuals from RSNH in the way in which Richard Simpson made reference to into community placements. As a student, I visited Gogerburn hospital on a regular basis, but I am bringing together the new strategy around learning disability. I am sure that all members will recognise that the dangers and the strategy is that you try to simply put too much into it and you do not achieve what you are trying to get out of that process. One of the things that I was very clear about that I wanted to see in the new strategy was that the human rights of people with learning disabilities had to be at the very heart of the keys to life. I believe that everyone with a learning disability should have the same rights and freedoms as everyone else within our society. That means that all of our statutory agencies have to take on their responsibility to make sure that people with a learning disability get the right information about their rights in the right way and that they are allowed to exercise those rights for themselves. All of our public bodies in Scotland need to ensure that those aspirations within the keys to life translate into positive outcomes for individuals with a learning disability. Alongside that, I recognise that the way in which care has been delivered for individuals with learning disabilities over the last few decades has changed and the use of self-directed support allows individuals to have much greater control and choice over how their support is provided and how they receive that support. Being truly, though, accepted in any society means also being treated equally and fairly in other ways. As a Government, we believe that there are no excuses for any form of hate crime. That is why we are working with our colleagues in the criminal justice service to influence change and to provide support for people with learning disabilities when they find themselves in this situation. However, if your health needs are not addressed in your society, it is very difficult to feel included in that society. This Government has made it very clear that we see as a national priority the need to address the very stark health inequalities that are faced by people with learning disabilities. That is why there is so much of an emphasis on that issue in the new strategy, the keys to life. I want to see all people with a learning disability to be able to lead a healthier life generally, and for that to happen, we need to make sure that their health needs are being appropriately met and that they are being given the right support. Jackie Baillie asked a number of things about the keys to life and the action that is being taken forward. We are taking forward work with our public health directors, our national health service boards and the learning disability observatory to develop a process to capture data so that people with a learning disability are much more visible within our healthcare system. We do not have that information at this present point. That will help us to make sure that we can drive forward improvements within our individual health boards to improve outcomes for people with learning disabilities and to bridge that gap in health inequalities. I cannot underestimate the importance of capturing that data in helping to drive that agenda forward. We are also working in the area of health and wellbeing with a number of organisations. Part of that is to help to provide some support to carers of individuals with a learning disability. As part of the keys to life that we have invested in additional £250,000 in the last year in a short break scheme for children and adults with a learning disability and their carer. We are also working with enable on emergency and future planning so that carers have plans put in place to support them and people with a learning disability that they care for. Many young people with a learning disability also have additional support needs that members have made reference to. It is important that we provide those with a learning disability with the right support when they are in our education system in order to take its best advantage from education and, hopefully, on to future employment. In order to address what I believe are some of the gaps in this particular pathway, keys to life is taking forward specific work with local authorities for their education, skills development Scotland and the transition forum in order to look at how we can make sure that the process of GERFIC and the framework of GERFIC is being better prepared for young people with a learning disability on leaving schools. Getting people into employment has to be a priority for us and for people with a learning disability equally a priority for them. I note the point that was made by Mary Scanlon on this particular issue around the national apprenticeship scheme. We know that people with a learning disability want to be able to work in paid employment and we need to make sure that we unpick some of the barriers that cause a limitation to be able to access employment. One of the issues that I often had when I was still in practice was a matter of frustration. A young person who had moved from a long-stay institution into a community environment was restricted on how many hours work they could undertake because of therapeutic earnings restrictions. If they worked too many hours, their benefit would have been cut. It was a completely crazy way of trying to incentivise individuals who could be into employment from being able to do so. We need to make sure that the system is much more systematically joined up to help to achieve that. Some of the work that we are taking forward with the Scottish consortium for learning disability and work with our colleges and skill development Scotland will help to make some of that happen. Our implementation group around the strategy is doing so. In drawing my remarks to a close, I believe that the implementation of the keys to life will go a long way to improving the lives of people with a learning disability and their carers. You can be assured of my commitment to do everything that I can to make sure that that is driven forward and that it is delivered. I believe that the progress that has been made over the past 10 years can be built on and we can give our people with a learning disability greater freedom and opportunity within our communities in Scotland. I am determined to do that and I believe that we have a strategy in place that can ensure that that happens in years to come.