Hansard

As I have been saying and will go on to say, people with learning disabilities should be involved and consulted on the services that they need. That is crucial. The approach to joined-up services should be done in conjunction with people who have learning disabilities. As Inclusion Scotland said prior to the debate, if people with learning disabilities are to be at the heart of the commissioning process, they must be involved. That makes Stewart Stevenson’s point.

Adults with learning disabilities should have the opportunity to learn at college but unfortunately, that opportunity is being taken away from hundreds of people in Scotland. The Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability published a report in August that estimated that around 9 per cent of people with learning disabilities attended further education colleges in 2012. That is a fall of nearly 300 people compared with the previous year, from 2,696 to 2,407.

It is clear that there are significantly fewer courses for people with learning disabilities than there were just a few years ago. That is just one element of the human cost of the Government’s cuts to colleges. A Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability study from last year showed that there had been a 34 per cent cut in part-time places for students with learning disabilities from 2,155 to 1,413. In addition, 2012 figures from the same organisation showed that the number of adults with learning disabilities who attend college for 2.5 days or less per week is down 20 per cent on 2011. That is no surprise when we consider the drastic reduction in the number of part-time courses.

It is not just the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability that is saying that. A 2012 survey of Scotland’s colleges by Enable Scotland found that the number of courses for people with additional support needs has halved since 2007, with a 46 per cent cut in the past two years and a 42 per cent cut in the past year. The number of staff who are teaching people with additional support needs has been cut by 16 per cent in the past two years.

The Scottish Government’s strategy suggests that people with learning disabilities should be included in mainstream further education classes. The argument is that it will give them greater access to award-bearing courses and improve employment prospects. However, that fails to acknowledge that while some people with additional support needs might be able to cope with mainstream classes and benefit from the opportunity, there are others for whom mainstream classes would be a route to failure, lowering self-esteem and perhaps causing further retreat from mainstream life. Any efforts to encourage people with learning disabilities into mainstream classes must be matched with a commitment to provide them with the additional support that they need; otherwise, the disproportionate impact of college cuts on people with additional support needs will only get worse.

It is clear that people with learning disabilities are suffering as a result of the Scottish Government’s decision to slash college budgets. People with learning disabilities are not getting the opportunity and specialist assistance to learn. As a result of that, the Scottish Government is preventing them from accessing the skills and qualifications that they might need to get and hold down a job. The minister mentioned employment figures and it is concerning that the figures show that there is an increase in the number of adults with learning disabilities who are failing to secure employment. In 2012, 3,393 adults with learning disabilities were recorded as being in employment or in training for employment, which is just 13 per cent of all adults with learning disabilities who are known to local authorities and represents a decrease of 653, or 16 per cent, compared with 2011. Meanwhile, 55 per cent are neither in employment nor in training for employment. Is that any wonder, if we are cutting their college courses? Obviously, we should commend the good work that organisations do to help with supported employment and we should encourage more such initiatives, but we are undermining that with the approach to colleges.

I believe that the high proportion of people with disabilities and learning disabilities who are affected by the bedroom tax and other iniquitous welfare reforms means that it is essential that the Scottish Government uses its powers to act to negate the bedroom tax. Jackie Baillie was right when she said that a UK Labour Government would reverse the bedroom tax and, as we speak, Ed Miliband will be reaffirming that commitment.

The Scottish Government has already found £20 million and it should commit to finding the other £30 million. There is nothing outlined in next year’s budget to support the vulnerable individuals and families affected, as John Swinney keeps people on the hook before next year’s referendum.

The Scottish Government should also support our plans to legislate to prevent evictions as a result of the bedroom tax. The people who are affected—the people whom we are here to represent—need and deserve action from the Scottish Government.

Scottish Labour welcomes the publication of “The keys to life”. We are pleased that it maintains the underlying principles of the previous strategy and of course we support its aim to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities. However, for people with learning disabilities to see a genuine benefit, we need more than a strategy that simply sounds good on paper. We also need action to tackle the disproportionate effect that welfare cuts and cuts to colleges are having on people with disabilities and learning disabilities.

Progress has been made but there is more that we can and should be doing to ensure that people with learning disabilities have the support and the opportunities that they need to live with the quality of life that they deserve.

I move amendment S4M-07787.2, to insert after “were before”:

“; notes the strategy’s focus on promoting and raising awareness of the human rights of people with learning disabilities; considers that the UK Government’s welfare reform agenda and cuts to social care and further education budgets in Scotland are likely to have an impact on translating human rights into reality by way of services and support for people with learning disabilities”.

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