Committee
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee 24 February 2026 [Draft]
24 Feb 2026 · S6 · Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Item of business
Neurodivergence
:That is a really good question. I think that there is something to be said, so I will offer some thoughts and ask Robby Steel to come in with his perspective.We touched earlier on the unprecedented and unforeseen growth in demand. The significant increase in awareness and the rapidity of the pace of change have led to a situation where we are having to, in effect, recalibrate how our systems approach something for which they were not necessarily designed. The nature and definitions of neurodevelopmental conditions, and the approaches to diagnosis, have evolved significantly in the past couple of decades, too. The landscape that we are inhabiting has changed significantly, which may perhaps help us understand and account for some of the variation that has been taking place. What that speaks to, however, is a need to improve consistency. As I touched on earlier, we have the national specification, but there is a question around its implementation. That speaks to the work that we are doing with the task force. Then there is some of the work that Georgia touched on, around information and provision for parents and teachers.A lot has changed in terms of how the nature of diagnosis and public understanding have developed over the past, say 20 years; I am thinking of the 22 years since the Education (Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2004 was put in place.12:00
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Welcome back. Our next agenda item is our final evidence session in our inquiry into neurodivergence in Scotland. I welcome to the meeting Tom Arthur, who is...
The Minister for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing (Tom Arthur)
SNP
Good morning, convener, and thank you to you and to the committee for the opportunity to contribute to this important inquiry. I welcome the committee’s focu...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you. We now move to members’ questions, and I will kick us off. What concrete actions does the Scottish Government intend to take to ensure that a func...
Tom Arthur
SNP
:I appreciate that that area is of significant interest to the committee, particularly given the evidence that I know you have taken over recent weeks. Simil...
Georgia de Courcy Wheeler (Scottish Government)
As the minister said, we have had the neurodevelopmental specification for children and young people for a number of years and we carried out an implementati...
The Convener
SNP
How will the new £7.5 million of funding for neurodevelopmental assessments reduce waiting times and when will you see measurable improvements?
Tom Arthur
SNP
:I highlight at the outset that I very much recognise the importance of assessment and diagnosis to identity and validation and particularly with reference t...
Georgia de Courcy Wheeler
The committee will be aware that £7.6 million in the draft budget for the next financial year is earmarked for young people I can give a little bit of flavou...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you very much for that really helpful feedback.
Maggie Chapman
Green
:Good morning, minister, and thank you for joining us this morning. In my first question, I want to build on your previous answer and Georgia de Courcy Wheel...
Tom Arthur
SNP
:I thank Ms Chapman for her important question, which highlights that providing services and investing in ensuring that they are available are one thing, but...
Georgia de Courcy Wheeler
As the minister said, a two-track approach is required. On the one hand, we need to ensure that resources, information and services for parents and families ...
Maggie Chapman
Green
:I will go back to the questions on diagnostic assessments and the different pathways. We understand the point that diagnosis should not be necessary to get ...
Tom Arthur
SNP
:I go back to my earlier points about our work with NAIT and what we are doing to take forward its recommendations across health boards. It might be useful i...
Robby Steel (Scottish Government)
Diagnosis in the whole of medicine is a bit more complicated than is often portrayed. For example, your general practitioner might tell you that you have hyp...
Maggie Chapman
Green
:That was helpful. Some people get a diagnosis privately but then find that that diagnosis is not recognised by the NHS, either for medication—if that is the...
Robby Steel
That was raised at the cross-party summit. As a psychiatrist, I would say that it is a political judgment, because it is about equity of access to NHS servic...
Tom Arthur
SNP
:I am happy to come back on that, given that I am the politician sitting at the end of the table.Committee members will be familiar with the issue of assuran...
Maggie Chapman
Green
:I agree with Robby’s last point about getting to a point where we have a capacity in the NHS to deal with the issue.I go back to something that you said ear...
Tom Arthur
SNP
:In terms of principle and policy, the challenge is around implementation. Considering the new developmental specification for children and young people goes...
Maggie Chapman
Green
:Thanks, minister. I will leave it there, convener.
The Convener
SNP
We move on to questions from Marie McNair, who will be followed by Paul McLennan.
Marie McNair
SNP
:Good morning. I will go back to Maggie Chapman’s point about not needing a diagnosis to access support. Unfortunately, we have heard during the evidence ses...
Tom Arthur
SNP
:Those are very important points. I will ask Robby to come in, but first I reiterate the point about situations in which assessment and diagnosis are underta...
Robby Steel
On the issue of quality assuring private assessments—and you have given the example of an undeniably high-quality private assessment, Ms McNair—the problem w...
Marie McNair
SNP
:I am reassured, for myself and my constituents, that the issue is being considered. I will wait and see where we go with that.What actions is the Scottish G...
Tom Arthur
SNP
:I have always sought to make it clear that Government ministers hugely value the contribution of lived experience, and I recognise that the committee does a...
Georgia de Courcy Wheeler
I would love to share a specific example with the committee. A lived experience organisation that the committee has taken evidence from and that we regularly...
Marie McNair
SNP
:I could flag other examples of barriers to neurodivergent people obtaining blue badges and will quite happily come back to you on that, and I totally agree ...
Paul McLennan
SNP
:I have a few key questions, which come back to the shared protocol. During various sessions, we have heard about equity of access across private healthcare ...