Committee
Equal Opportunities Committee, 20 Mar 2007
20 Mar 2007 · S2 · Equal Opportunities Committee
Item of business
Disability Inquiry
You have virtually answered my next question, which relates to recommendation 83. The committee seeks assurances from you that funding for the active schools programme will be reviewed to allow all young disabled people in Scotland—not just those who live in the council areas that have benefited from current funding—to benefit from it.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Agenda item 2 is the Scottish Executive's response to the committee's report on its disability inquiry. I am pleased to welcome Rhona Brankin MSP, who is the...
The Minister for Communities (Rhona Brankin):
Lab
I thank the committee for inviting me to give evidence. I share the committee's interest in, concerns about and commitment to the issue.The disability inquir...
Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab):
Lab
I think that we have shared values and a shared vision on the agenda, and I am glad to hear you talk about the increasing pace of change. However, can I push...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
First, we have not said that we will not establish a task force; it is a matter of timing. This is clearly a priority area for the Executive and for the Unit...
The Convener:
Lab
Yes.
Yvonne Strachan:
(Scottish Executive Development Department): As the minister has indicated, we have an on-going dialogue with the UK Government through, in particular, the O...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
One of the issues that we need to discuss with the UK Government is the fact that we have a system for direct payments in Scotland that is slightly different...
Marlyn Glen:
Lab
Thank you. You are not saying that there will not be a task force and you might come back to the committee on the matter.
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
That is right. The final decision has not yet been taken.
The Convener:
Lab
Issues to do with access to work were a major part of our inquiry. A high number of disabled people who are not in work would like to have the opportunity to...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
I want to say a little about "Workforce Plus: an Employability Framework for Scotland", which is a Scotland-wide system of developing employability. In addit...
The Convener:
Lab
In a sense, you have answered my next question. You spoke about monitoring workforce plus, which—from the evidence that we took—appeared not to be working pa...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
We acknowledge that there is a need to ensure that we have a system in which common approaches are adopted throughout the country.
The Convener:
Lab
We note that recommendation 19 of our report, which was that the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning should co-ordinate the work-related act...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
The Executive's disability equality scheme, which has now been published, sets out that we have a key role to play in ensuring that the frameworks that we cr...
The Convener:
Lab
I am confident that your department understands the issues that disabled people in Scotland face and that it is committed to the work that we are discussing,...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
I would be happy to do that. The fact that we will have in place a better system, involving regular reporting and the adoption across departments of an outco...
The Convener:
Lab
We hope that that will be the case. I am sure that our successor committee will return to the issue, regardless of which members are on it.The report notes t...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
We welcome the detailed work that the committee has done on employment support for disabled people and agree that further work on developing and promoting su...
The Convener:
Lab
The committee welcomes the Executive's response to recommendation 26, which called for a pilot scheme on employment support to be undertaken. Will you tell u...
Yvonne Strachan:
There have been initial discussions with the supported employment organisations. The consensus is that more work must be done before we consider a new pilot,...
The Convener:
Lab
That is a welcome response. As you will have read in our report, we heard in evidence that a lot of work is happening. Mike Evans from Dundee said that, alth...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
We would welcome that.
Marilyn Livingstone (Kirkcaldy) (Lab):
Lab
Good morning, minister. I have questions for you about access to further and higher education. Recommendation 45 asks that the Scottish Executive rectify the...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
We will speak later about transition as one of the key times for any disabled young person. The work that was done as part of the Education (Additional Suppo...
Marilyn Livingstone:
Lab
Thank you for that answer, but we have heard from young people, particularly those with impairments, that when they are making career choices, emphasis has t...
Rhona Brankin:
Lab
I agree absolutely that it is an important issue. It would probably be better if I were to get a detailed response from the relevant department because, as y...
Marilyn Livingstone:
Lab
At the moment, Careers Scotland is under the remit of Scottish Enterprise, but that will change. We are concerned about the transition period because we hear...
The Convener:
Lab
The problem is also that teachers and people who are involved in guidance are not confident—I hesitate to say "not skilled"—that they have the training and s...
Marilyn Livingstone:
Lab
As I said before, some young people said that there was just no careers advice available to them.