Hansard

I, too, thank Alexander Burnett for bringing to the attention of Parliament the campaign of Enable Scotland, the National Autistic Society Scotland and Scottish Autism for an autism and learning disability commissioner. I also thank members for their speeches and contributions in what has been a useful debate for raising awareness of autism and learning disabilities. I recently met those organisations, and it was good to hear more about their campaign, what they foresee the role of the commissioner being and, more important, how that will improve the lives of autistic people and people with learning disabilities.

I am aware that the recommendation for the establishment of a commissioner was in the report of the cross-party group on autism, “The Accountability Gap”, which was published in October 2020. I had the pleasure of speaking to the cross-party group in October, to update it on autism and learning disability policy.

As has been mentioned, the Scottish strategy for autism comes to an end this year. Along with the keys to life strategy, it has set out the key priorities for Government and public services in how improvements can be made to ensure that autistic people and people with learning disabilities can live independent and healthy lives. Those strategies have been informed by people with lived experience. The Scottish strategy for autism is currently being independently evaluated, and I look forward to seeing the results of that evaluation in the spring.

Going forward, and learning from the experiences of the Covid pandemic, the Scottish Government has been working with autistic people and people with learning disabilities, autism and learning disability representative bodies and care providers on a towards transformation plan. The plan, which we are developing in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, will take a human rights-based approach and will look at the particular needs of Scotland’s autistic people and people with learning disabilities.

We see the plan as the beginning of the conversation about how we change Scotland for the better for autistic people and people with learning disabilities. I am pleased that wide stakeholder engagement has taken place, with People First (Scotland) and the autistic people’s organisations inputting into how the plan is led and governed. It is essential that autistic people and people with learning disabilities are at the centre of how their human rights are protected.

The debate has demonstrated the wide understanding among members that autistic people and people with learning disabilities face inequalities and prejudice in many aspects of their day-to-day lives. The towards transformation plan will set out a number of priorities that we want to deliver on in order to ensure that rights are protected and inequalities addressed.

There have been many positive developments in education policy in the past year—an issue that Jamie Greene raised. In December 2020, we published the autism action plan, which sets out actions to improve the support that is provided to autistic children in Scotland’s schools. An implementation group will drive forward that important work and will report to the Deputy First Minister.

Angela Morgan’s review of additional support for learning, which was published in 2020, suggested several areas for improvement in how we support children and young people to flourish. Her report sets out a clear direction, and the Scottish Government and COSLA have developed a joint action plan to implement its recommendations. We are determined to improve the educational experiences of children and young people with additional support needs and to make Scotland the best place in the world for them to grow up in.

Members will be aware that we debated the independent review of adult social care in February. That review gives us the opportunity to improve people’s lives—particularly the lives of people with autism and learning disabilities. Although it will be for the next Parliament and Government to move forward on the review, we have taken immediate action to secure improvements for people with autism and learning disabilities, including through a new community living change fund of £20 million, which was announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport on 16 February. The fund will deliver a redesign of services for people with complex needs, including autism and learning disabilities, and for those with enduring mental health problems.