Meeting of the Parliament 11 December 2024
I would like to finish my points, because we are a little short of time.
More generally, the Scottish Government has done a great deal to support disabled people and to mitigate the impacts of decisions that were made by the previous UK Government. This year, we committed a record £6.1 billion for expenditure on benefits—which is £1.1 billion more than the UK Government gives us for social security—including £300 million of additional investment in adult disability payments. We reopened the independent living fund, helping up to 1,000 more disabled people to access the support that they need to live more independently, and our budget for 2025-26 will continue expanding that fund. We introduced the pension-age disability payment, which is worth between £290 and £434 a month to people of state pension age who are disabled. In response to Alexander Stewart’s point, we are investing an additional £2 million to enhance the disability equality plan, in recognition of the work that is needed to improve people’s lives.
All that demonstrates that this Government retains a strong commitment to accessibility, inclusion and human rights, in spite of the very challenging times we find ourselves in. Given what we have seen in the past few years, particularly from the previous UK Government, I am not sure that that is something that all my Conservative colleagues could say with hand on heart.
In developing and delivering the changing places toilet fund, I am keen to work in partnership with members from all parties, including with the cross-party group on changing places toilets. This is one issue where we absolutely have cross-parliamentary support, as is demonstrated by today’s motion, so let us get on with it.