Seòmar agus comataidhean

As no other member of the committee has indicated that they wish to ask questions or make any comments, we move straight to item 2, which is formal consideration of motion S6M-12219.

Motion moved,

That the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee recommends that the Legal Aid (Miscellaneous Amendment) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 [draft] be approved.—[Siobhian Brown]

Motion agreed to.

That completes our consideration of the affirmative instrument. I thank the minister and her officials for attending. We will have a brief suspension for a changeover of witnesses.

Our next item is to conclude our evidence taking on the HIV anti-stigma campaign. I welcome Jenni Minto, the Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, and Rebekah Carton, a blood-borne viruses and respiratory surveillance team leader from the Scottish Government. I refer members to papers 2 and 3, and I invite the minister to make a short opening statement.

I invite the committee to agree to delegate to me the publication of a short factual report on our deliberations on the affirmative Scottish statutory instrument that we have considered.

Members indicated agreement.

It seems that no other member has further questions for the minister.

I thank the minister and her official for joining us today. That concludes the committee’s formal business for this meeting. We will move into private session to consider the remaining agenda items.

As noted at the end of our stage 1 report, the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee is satisfied that the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill is a single-issue bill that provides a technical fix to tidy up the statute book following the rulings of the Court of Session on 18 February and 22 March 2022. As such, we are content to recommend that the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the bill.

Although the Scottish Government did not consult on the bill due to its single-issue nature, the committee agreed that it would be helpful to issue a short call for views to allow interested parties to share their views. The call for views ran from 8 to 29 January and received 56 responses, all of which were published. A breakdown of the responses is set out in paragraph 20 of our stage 1 report, and we are grateful to all those who have provided their views.

Twenty-five respondents supported and understood the bill, recognising that it is in line with the court ruling, but added extra commentary. For example, For Women Scotland questioned what discussion there could be on the minister’s legal obligation to comply with the court order, while others, including Close the Gap and the Young Women’s Movement, noted that the court ruling was based on legislative competence, rather than whether the definition was wrong. Others agreed with the bill but were disappointed with the court ruling.

It is worth noting that 21 of the responses misunderstood the purpose of the bill. It might be worth considering the level of messaging around what, on the face of it, is a fix to update the statute book, focusing on the fact that it is technical and on helping people to better understand its purpose.

In oral evidence, we explored with the cabinet secretary why it had taken the best part of two years from the court judgment to introduce the bill. She explained, in line with the policy memorandum, that that time had been taken to explore whether there was another legislative vehicle through which to make the change. That included, for example, considering whether it could be incorporated in another bill, but that was not possible.

In a written submission, the Scottish Trans Alliance and the Equality Network queried whether an update to the statute book could have been made using subordinate legislation, but that, too, was not viable, as the only regulation-making powers in the 2018 act are in sections 8 and 9, whereas the court ruling related to the definition of women as set out in section 2 of the act. The Scottish Parliament information centre advised us that it was not aware of a provision under any other act that would allow for the 2018 act to be amended.

There was general acknowledgement that the process for exploring options and then drafting and introducing a bill, plus subsequent scrutiny of a technical fix to update the statute book, can be time consuming. A couple of areas of learning for the Government and the Parliament are to consider the level of messaging to help people to understand the purpose of bills, particularly technical ones, and to explore whether there are, or could be, less time-consuming processes by which such technical fixes could be addressed.

I am delighted by the member’s answer. I am particularly proud that the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, which I convene, will be the first committee in the history of the Scottish Parliament to trial the use of WhatsApp to allow BSL users to respond to our call for views on Jeremy Balfour’s Disability Commissioner (Scotland) Bill. We also ensured that easy-read and other accessible versions of our call for views were ready at the time of launch in order to ensure parity. Will the SPCB join me in encouraging other committees and the Scottish Parliament more widely to promote equality and inclusion by adopting those practices?

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will look into rolling out accessibility options, such as British Sign Language and easy-read, as standard across all forms of public participation. (S6O-03254)

Yes, I absolutely agree with my colleague John Swinney on that point. I will discuss education later in my speech. The education system needs to make allowances and provision for, and provide extra support for, young carers.

Many young carers feel that they are missing out on large parts of their childhood. Caring can also have a serious impact on a young person’s health and wellbeing, their ability to learn—as my colleague pointed out—and their long-term future. According to Carers Trust Scotland, more than half of young carers in Scotland say that they feel worried about their future, and 43 per cent of young carers and young adult carers in Scotland say that caring “always” or “usually” affects how much time they can spend with friends. That is not surprising, but it is something that we must help with, and I will dedicate a portion of my speech to the point about the ability of young carers to learn—their education.

Learning environments play a crucial role in supporting and developing young people who have caring responsibilities. Schools, colleges and universities must be understanding and supportive of young carers, too many of whom feel that that is not currently the case. One in three young carers say that they struggle to balance their caring responsibilities with their education, and young adult carers are 38 per cent less likely to achieve a university degree—sadly, those who care for 35 or more hours a week are 86 per cent less likely to do so, and are 46 per cent less likely to enter employment than their peers.

We need to do our utmost to ensure that young carers have access to learning and training opportunities and that they succeed in their education and employment. They must also have time to themselves, which is so important for their mental health. Above all, young carers must feel that they have a choice in their lives.

I am glad to see that the Scottish Government provides a young carer grant. However, a leading carers charity says that many young people who look after others

“do not recognise themselves to be carers.”

As I said, they see the support that they give as just a regular part of family life. As a result, they do not know that they are entitled to that benefit. I therefore hope that we can promote it as much as possible today.

The motion that we are debating is a call to action, not just a call for recognition. The care that so many of the young people in the public gallery and beyond provide to their families, and the contribution that they make to our society more broadly, are invaluable. [Applause.]

Bringing this debate to the Scottish Parliament is such a moving moment for me, particularly because we welcome dozens of young carers to the public gallery. Among our visitors are two very special young women who, due to their initiative, have made the debate happen. I thank their teacher for supporting them—she is obviously doing a fantastic job. I am so glad that they can all be with us today.

I dedicate my words to those young carers who are unable to be with us, perhaps because of their caring responsibilities, and to those who, without realising its importance or truly understanding what their role means, see their caregiving as simply what needs to be done in their family.

As a young girl, I seldom called myself a carer, but, as a CODA—a child of a deaf adult—acting as an interpreter and advocating for my deaf father as he navigated life in a hearing world became second nature to me, as it did for many of my CODA friends who were supporting their deaf family members.

As we go about our daily routines, whether that involves driving to work, dropping the kids off at school or just nipping to the shop, around us, working quietly throughout the day, are young carers—children and young people whose mornings might have begun much earlier than many of ours. In the quiet of their homes, they might have assisted a parent with a physical disability, which might have involved preparing breakfast for them and, perhaps, their siblings; helping a parent to wash; offering strength and comfort to a parent who is grappling with mental health challenges; and buffering and mitigating many of the effects that come with disability or illness.

Many of the young people who are watching us from the gallery and countless others across Scotland find themselves in a world where roles are reversed—a world in which those young people, who are so full of love and devotion, are shouldering burdens that would weigh heavily on many adults.

Imagine the young lad who, before he thinks of schoolwork or socialising with his peers, ensures his sibling’s medical needs are met, or the young girl who, instead of scrolling through social media in the way that her peers do, checks in on her mother’s wellbeing and provides comfort and encouragement, showing a maturity well beyond her years. Those are not just acts of duty; they are profound expressions of love and commitment, which are performed against the backdrop of youth.

The two pupils who contacted my office to discuss the lack of resources for young carers in our area showed sheer determination from the outset, and their advocacy for young carers was nothing short of inspiring. We chatted in my office for about an hour, putting plans into action. When I was their age, I doubt that I would have had the initiative to approach my elected representative, let alone advocate so eloquently for the needs of others. Such conversations stand out in our careers as parliamentarians, so it is truly a privilege to bring this subject to the chamber for debate and to pay tribute to them.

Yesterday, we marked young carers action day. I do not want us simply to celebrate the remarkable young individuals in question, although we should do that, and often. I want us to provide young carers with the support that they so rightfully deserve.

The theme of this year’s young carers action day is “fair futures for young carers”. That theme has been chosen because young carers are fighting a battle on two fronts: managing their caregiving responsibilities; and navigating the trials and tribulations of growing up. It is imperative that caring responsibilities do not become barriers to learning, earning or simply being able to move forward in life.