Committee
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee 17 September 2024
17 Sep 2024 · S6 · Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Item of business
Disability Commissioner (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
That is an important question. A lot more needs to be done on back-office sharing among all commissioners. We do not need human resources or accountancy functions for each commissioner. There is a real argument that commissioners should be sharing those functions. We need to look at office premises. It would be good to have all the commissioners under one roof, where possible, so that they can share best practice. I would definitely agree on all those things. With regard to the overlap, I suppose that I am getting old and cynical but, if it is so easy to do this work, why have we not done it already? The work that the various commissions have done on disability is minimal. Around 20 to 25 per cent of the population in Scotland has a disability. I am absolutely willing to guarantee that that does not represent the percentage of work that any of the commissioners has done on the issue. It is all very well to jump up now and say, “Yes, we’re going to do all this,” but history tells us that that has not happened. In relation to overlap, as I mentioned in my opening statement, that already happens with the children’s commissioner. People are old enough and big enough to say, “Look, I’m thinking of doing this piece of work. Is anyone else doing it?” If not, whatever commissioner it is can carry on and do that work. It has been really interesting to me to speak to the commissioners. There is more than enough work for everyone, and the work on disabilities is simply not happening. I do not think that we will have much of an overlap. We will simply find people working together where appropriate and dividing the work up where appropriate. At the moment, the disabled voice is simply not being heard or being investigated in that way.
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Under our next agenda item, we will continue taking evidence on the Disability Commissioner (Scotland) Bill. I refer members to papers 1 and 2. I welcome to ...
Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) (Con)
Con
Thank you, convener. Good morning, colleagues. I thank the committee for all the work that it has done to date in considering my bill. I have been following ...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you very much for your opening statement. The committee has heard strong support for a disability commissioner, particularly from disabled people. Why ...
Jeremy Balfour
Con
Interestingly, there was an argument for a disability commissioner before Covid, but, as a consequence of Covid, disabled people have been left behind by pub...
The Convener
SNP
You told the Finance and Public Administration Committee that you were concerned about the timing of its inquiry into the commissioner landscape and how it m...
Jeremy Balfour
Con
Clearly, it is not ideal timing for that report to come out, but it raises an important issue that we need to explore. In the past two and a half years, all...
The Convener
SNP
Concern has been expressed that setting up a disability commissioner could divert resources from work in other areas, such as the Scottish Government’s new d...
Jeremy Balfour
Con
It is safe to say that none of the members who are here was in the Parliament when the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill went throug...
The Convener
SNP
Given the financial situation that the Scottish Government has set out, is it feasible to set up a disability commissioner at this time?
Jeremy Balfour
Con
Absolutely. I appreciate that £1 million or £1.5 million sounds like a lot of money, but in a £30 billion budget, it is not so much. When the Scottish Govern...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you.
Evelyn Tweed (Stirling) (SNP)
SNP
Good morning, Mr Balfour. Thank you for your opening remarks. There are concerns about the duplication of work, which you mentioned in your opening statemen...
Jeremy Balfour
Con
That is an important question. A lot more needs to be done on back-office sharing among all commissioners. We do not need human resources or accountancy func...
Evelyn Tweed
SNP
A frequent issue raised by disability organisations in response to the call for views was that, although there are several statutory organisations that promo...
Jeremy Balfour
Con
As I said to the convener, if you look at education, health, social services and even things such as changing places toilets, you see that there is mass disc...
Evelyn Tweed
SNP
Thank you.
Maggie Chapman (North East Scotland) (Green)
Green
Good morning, Mr Balfour. Thank you for your opening comments and for the time that you have previously given me to discuss your bill. It is much appreciated...
Jeremy Balfour
Con
Without labouring the point, the present structures simply are not doing it. I do not see any reason why, if the bill goes away and everyone goes back to nor...
Maggie Chapman
Green
Many of us in this place are pretty scunnered at the lack of a human rights bill and incorporation of UN treaties into Scots law. I get that very clear conne...
Jeremy Balfour
Con
At the moment, it is the only thing on the table. I am not convinced that the model of having each disability covered by a different individual or by a sub-g...
Maggie Chapman
Green
When we heard from the minister, she spoke about mainstreaming. We heard in other evidence—you will have picked this up as well—about some of the tensions ar...
Jeremy Balfour MSP
Obviously, it is one office, but the commissioner would have support staff and having the right team behind them would be important. Clearly, the commission...
Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I want to pick up the issues relating to the interaction of your bill and the proposed bill on learning disabilities, autism and neurodivergence. Were I to b...
Jeremy Balfour MSP
The simple answer to that question is yes, there is an opportunity to do that. Last Thursday, there was a meeting in the Parliament—I think that you attended...
Paul O’Kane
Lab
Would you be concerned that one commissioner would have too much to look at? Say that we had a disability commissioner who covered absolutely everything, inc...
Jeremy Balfour MSP
I actually think that it is really helpful for a disability commissioner not to have a definition of any condition, because that means that they can go where...
Paul O’Kane
Lab
I will push you on that point. People want the commissioner to have investigatory powers, and the bill has covered that aspect. However, many people are seek...
Jeremy Balfour MSP
As big as my ego is, I do not claim that everything in my bill is perfect and that it needs to go through without amendment. We need to look at that. I repea...
Paul O’Kane
Lab
I will play devil’s advocate for a moment. You have listed—quite rightly—some of the challenges that we face: progress on the LDAN bill is being stalled, the...
Jeremy Balfour MSP
Ultimately, this Parliament is sovereign; it has to make the decisions. That is the starting point, but, ultimately, as politicians, we can say yes or no to ...