Hansard

I am pleased to speak in the debate, and I thank Pam Duncan-Glancy for bringing this important issue to the chamber.

The international day of persons with disabilities reminds us of our collective responsibility to uphold the rights, dignity and wellbeing of disabled people across all areas of life and all aspects of society. It is important that Parliament acknowledges this day, and I congratulate Pam Duncan-Glancy and the societies, groups and organisations that all play a part.

I welcome the UN’s chosen theme for this year, which is fostering disability-inclusive societies for advancing social progress. That theme reflects a simple truth, which is that the whole of society benefits when we support disabled people to thrive by removing barriers and widening access for them.

When I engage with organisations in my region, including employment services and third sector groups, it is clear just how much those organisations, and individuals with disabilities in the area, contribute to the communities that they work in every day and ensure that those communities thrive.

Pam Duncan-Glancy’s motion rightly speaks about some of the challenges that disabled people continue to face. Those challenges include barriers to accessing education, securing stable employment and accessing public services, which remains difficult for disabled people.

Of all those challenges, employment remains one of the most significant. From 2013 to 2019, we saw positive change on that issue, and the proportion of disabled people in employment increased from 43 to 54 per cent. Despite some progress, however, we know that the disability employment gap remains stubbornly high. Recent figures have shown that the disability employment rate is 53.1 per cent, which is nearly 30 percentage points lower than the rate for those who are non-disabled. We also know that employment rates for disabled people fell during the pandemic, and that, overall, the proportion of disabled people in employment has not increased since 2019.

While we recognise the progress, there is a lot of work to do. We have to ensure that much more work is done. For example, we need to ensure that workplaces are genuinely inclusive, that disabled people have access to the correct support and that employers are able to make any necessary adjustments to enable them to work.

The previous United Kingdom Government doubled spending on the access to work programme between 2016 and 2024, and that provision helped to deliver employment support for more than 67,000 individuals in 2023-24. As we go forward, it is important that there is a continued commitment to supporting disabled people to seek work where possible, so that further progress can be achieved.

Inclusion should be not just an aspiration but an essential part of a fairer Scotland, which we all want to see. It is therefore important that we ask the Scottish Government to continue to engage constructively with Parliament’s forthcoming disability summit. I look forward to seeing what can be achieved from that.

The United Kingdom Government also has a key role to play in the process, as most aspects of equalities and employment law are still reserved matters. We must ensure that UK-wide disability rights legislation remains robust and effective and that Governments work together to make employment practices more inclusive. Disabled people deserve a system that works for them across all parts of the United Kingdom and at all levels of government.

In conclusion, I hope that members on all sides of the chamber can work together to make that vision a reality, because disabled people want nothing more than for the Parliament to work with them to achieve the goals that they rightfully deserve to reach.