Meeting of the Parliament 23 November 2023
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on the Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill at stage 1. Again, I make no apologies—and I do this every time—for using my short time in Parliament to consistently stand up for the rights of all children, whether they are care experienced, struggling with their mental health or transitioning into adulthood. The aims of the bill relating to disabled children and young people are undoubtedly admirable, and I applaud Pam Duncan-Glancy for driving it forward.
I note Scottish Autism’s support for the principle of the bill in its submission to the Education, Children and Young People Committee. As it said,
“The aims of the Bill are laudable, and we welcome any moves to smooth transitions for disabled children and young people into adulthood, thus removing the ‘cliff edge’ which exists for too many as they leave full-time education.”
I agree. That cliff edge is indeed felt by many. We know that care-experienced children, when they transition out of their care support network into a non-structured one, are in the same situation when it comes to accessing on-going support, which has a negative impact on their lives. We recognise that, and we have the Promise as a road map for young people to actively achieve their prospects, but where is the road map for children with disabilities?
When it comes to the impact of a disability on the life chances of a child or young person, the facts are clear and well understood. We know that young people with a declared disability are less likely than those without disability to enter work after leaving school and twice as likely to be unemployed after leaving school, and that the acceptance rate into university for Scottish students with a declared disability is lower than that for students with a declared disability in the rest of the United Kingdom.
I agree with the committee’s stage 1 report, which concludes that more work must be done to support those transitioning into adulthood. The report says:
“those with responsibility for transitions must do more to ensure that there is a focus and urgency around improving the experiences of disabled children and young people transitioning into adulthood. This includes, but is not limited to, the Scottish Government, Local Authorities, education, health and social care services, and the NHS.”
We know what the problems are, but is the bill the right vehicle to deliver meaningful change for children and young people with a disability? Would the stated intention of the bill, which is
“to introduce, and to implement, a ... National Transitions Strategy to improve outcomes for disabled children and young people in the transition to adulthood”,
actually deliver clarity to agencies that would be tasked with delivering those plans? Again, I highlight the submission from Scottish Autism, which states:
“Whether the Bill can meet these aims, however, will depend upon how legislation is implemented once enacted, and how the agencies responsible for delivering the legislation are held to account for those responsibilities.”
I would like to be in a position to support the bill today but, unfortunately, in its current form, it lacks detail on costings and raises many issues regarding who is responsible for the transition plans, the additional strain on local authority resources and how the intentions could be implemented in practice.
I have deep concerns about the financial memorandum associated with the bill, which has been mentioned. Those concerns were raised in the Education, Children and Young People Committee’s stage 1 report. I want to pull out one part of that. Without clarity on exactly who would be entitled to a transition plan under the bill, it is not possible to estimate accurately the cost and resource implications associated with implementing the bill.
Those concerns about costings matter, especially on delivery. If the bill is not properly costed, we cannot deliver for disabled children and young people and improve their life chances by providing a smoother transition into adulthood. In fact, we would be doing the opposite—we would be failing them. Processes would ultimately be put under immense strain, and the laudable goal of the bill to actively change the lives of many disabled young children and young people would simply not be achieved.
I so wanted to support the principles of the bill. I certainly agree with the concept of supporting disabled children through difficult and challenging times in their lives, and I would challenge anyone to disagree with it. Why, then, has Pam Duncan-Glancy, as a disabled member of Scottish society, had to introduce a member’s bill in order to highlight the transition from childhood to adulthood? We know that members’ bills do not have the full force of the structures that are behind other bills. Civil service support and financial will are in the Scottish Government’s hands, and it is shameful that the Government has been in power for 16 years and yet disabled children are not further up the priority list for this SNP-Green Administration.
Although the bill’s concept is commendable and its aims admirable, in its current form, it has too many flaws to make it workable. I dearly wanted to support it in principle at stage 1 and lodge amendments at stages 2 and 3 but, sadly, that is not possible.
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