Hansard

Absolutely. I would point out that Social Security Scotland has taken urgent action around decision making to speed it up. In the past quarter, we processed the highest number of applications since the benefit launched, which was almost 55 per cent more applications than in the previous three months. From April to July, the median processing time was reduced by eight working days. We know that some people are still waiting too long, and speeding up processing remains an urgent priority. I reassure Paul O’Kane and anybody who has applied that eligible people will have their payments backdated, because we know that disability costs money.

From funding care to paying what is often named the disability tax that is applied to simple adaptations and household items for disabled people, disability benefits are vital to keeping people safe and well. Our funding to support people with energy bills recognises the extra energy costs that being disabled often creates and how much more at risk many people are from having to self-ration their energy. For some, it means putting on an extra jumper, putting on the slow cooker or being quite uncomfortable; for others, it can take years off their life. Disabled people can access our winter heating payment, and the fuel insecurity fund is so important for that reason. We need to increase awareness of such difficulties across Government and public bodies so that, when we look at where to focus spending, we do so with disabled people’s needs and priorities at heart.

In my role as the Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees, I work closely with disabled people’s organisations, which play an important role in championing disabled people’s rights across Scotland and in keeping the Government right on disability competence. I am currently working with them to develop and implement an immediate priorities plan, which will deliver actions to help to tear down the barriers that disabled people face, focusing on the things that need to change immediately if any future strategies and plans are to achieve the impact that we need.

It has never been a given that disabled people’s voices are at the core of decisions about disabled people. It still is not. Many people still try to speak for us, so I recognise the importance of continuing to work with DPOs and putting lived experience at the heart of decision making—nothing about us without us.

However, we will always be fighting against the tide if we cannot pull society forward, create a human rights culture and—to steal a line from the LGBT poet laureate—make equality fact. That is why it is so important that, in our forthcoming human rights bill, we will incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into Scots law as far as possible within devolved competence.

Scotland has the potential to be a world leader in human rights, in both the implementation and the realisation of them. We are doing that in an extremely difficult context—a context in which the UK Government is trying to roll back those very same inalienable rights. The Scottish Government strongly opposed proposals to replace the Human Rights Act 1998 with a bill of rights. The Lord Chancellor’s decision in June not to proceed with that regressive bill of rights was widely welcomed across the political spectrum, but there are still serious and legitimate concerns about the UK Government’s current trajectory. Suella Braverman advocates withdrawing from the European convention on human rights. She may have been sacked, but her views are shared by many others in the UK Government.

It is international human rights defenders day on 9 December, and the Scottish Government whole-heartedly supports the work that is being done by human rights defenders. As we see rights breaches across the globe, the day is an important reminder—especially now—to stand up for human rights, to challenge any example of them not being met and never to take for granted that they will always be there. The Scottish human rights defender fellowship is funded by the Scottish Government and delivered by the University of Dundee. The fellowship enables human rights defenders facing difficult conditions in other countries to spend several months in Scotland, where they can rest, continue their work, further develop their skills and expand their networks in a place of safety.

Just as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was not the final step towards the universal realisation of those rights, our bill will not be the end of our journey. It is an important and big step, but it will require the right, effective implementation and work by people from across society and across the public, private and third sectors, and it will require the intangible acceptance of a human rights culture by everyone in Scotland.

The bill will not give disabled people equality overnight—nothing could—but it will give us the chance to educate people about what their rights are and to provide them with routes to justice when those are not being realised. It will force duty bearers to treat us with dignity, fairness and respect, creating a structure that allows the potential for equality, and it will send a message that Scotland is a place where everyone matters. I hope that members from all parties will join us, when the bill is passed, in being part of that movement and part of the campaign to educate people about, and to ensure, rights.

I am really looking forward to today’s debate, because I know that there are people in every party who care deeply about human rights for disabled people, including many disabled people themselves. Just two Saturdays ago, this chamber was full of disabled people and our allies for the first summit to mark the international day of disabled people. That was a wonderful feeling. I hope that today will bring a similar show of solidarity. Although we may disagree on the finer points of implementation, or about who is most to blame for rights not currently being met, I am sure that today will also offer an opportunity for all parties to unite in agreement on the need to uphold and progress human rights for disabled people.

I move,

That the Parliament notes the ambition for Scotland to be a world leader in both the legislation for, and realisation of, human rights; recognises the disproportionate impact that the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis continue to have on disabled people’s human rights and equality; welcomes the action being taken across the Scottish Government, including reopening the Independent Living Fund in Scotland, with an initial investment of £9 million, and a commitment to develop and implement an Immediate Priorities Plan for Disabled People; notes the recent consultation on a Human Rights Bill to incorporate economic, social and cultural rights and rights for disabled people into Scots law, which, if effectively implemented, will help secure a life of dignity for all, including the most marginalised and disadvantaged; reaffirms the values of Scotland’s National Performance Framework outcomes for disabled people, including protecting human rights, allowing people to live free from discrimination, and creating a fairer, more inclusive Scotland, and commits to listening to the lived experience and expertise of disabled people and to sharing policy development and decision-making in a genuinely inclusive and participatory manner.