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Good morning, and thank you for the information that you have provided so far. In your report, you recommend the establishment of an equally safe BSL advisory group and describe that as “critical”. Will you explain why it is critical? Is it necessary for that group to be established for the other recommendations to be taken forward?

:You are absolutely right that there is a big gap in the data. That was one aspect that we looked at when I was working on my Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill. Right now, when anyone goes to a police station or to the police to report domestic abuse, whether they have a disability or not would not be recorded. That question is not being asked and the information is not being recorded, so the police cannot produce the data. I will carry on pursuing that, because it is a big gap. If we do not know whether people who are coming through the door to report domestic abuse have a disability, how can we provide services and how do we know what their needs are? I absolutely agree with Professor Napier on that.

You have already answered some of what will be my last question, but I would just like to give you an understanding of other evidence that the committee has taken on neurodivergence and barriers that are faced by people with learning difficulties. Like deaf women, women with learning disabilities are more likely to have experienced domestic abuse. However, they are two distinct categories, so I wonder whether you can elaborate on how the needs of deaf women differ from those of other disabled women. You have touched on that already, but I just want you to understand that we have taken evidence on learning disabilities, and it would be good to find out what the differences are.

10:30

:Thank you very much for that response.

:Statistics that were released last week show that sexual crimes—rape and attempted rape—as well as domestic abuse have been on the rise. At the same time, Women’s Aid and Rape Crisis centres across the country have reached breaking point due to an influx of cases coupled with inadequate funding from the Scottish Government. As you have said today, and as the committee has heard in previous evidence sessions, deaf women face barriers that hearing women do not necessarily face. Do you believe that the Scottish Government is failing deaf women?

Professor Napier, I would like you to answer that question first, because you said earlier that all services should be upskilled and they should all be providing these expert services. It is obviously worrying that the services are under so much pressure and do not have adequate funding.

:I have a couple more questions. What do you consider to be the most pressing gaps that must be addressed in the data to properly understand the domestic abuse that is experienced by deaf women, particularly given that you have previously said that they are often grouped in wider disability categories? I open that up to anyone to respond.

Employment is the best solution to poverty, but only 29 per cent of autistic people are employed. That compares with a figure of more than 80 per cent for the general population. Unfortunately, many employers do not have sufficient understanding of what it means to be neurodivergent, which leads to poor workplace experiences and, sometimes, discrimination against neurodivergent staff. How are you working with employers to combat that stigma?

There is often a postcode lottery when it comes to providing support for neurodivergent people in education, employment and the criminal justice system, which we heard about from witnesses earlier. There is a big divide between urban and rural areas, but where else do you see regional differences in support for neurodivergent people, and what do you think creates those differences?

Rob Holland, you mentioned criminal justice. I do not know whether you were listening earlier when I asked about the importance of data collection, whether in education, employment or criminal justice. My question was about the domestic abuse data that Police Scotland collects. A few areas are missing, but the one that I spoke about was disability data. After speaking to many organisations and victims, my belief is that, if you are not collecting the right data, you cannot provide the support to people who have a disability or a support need. We should not have another postcode lottery where people fall between the gaps, things are passed on and nobody knows that a person needs support. How important is data collection from the beginning?

I thank Superintendent Gallie for that information.

I have one more question, for Laura Buchan. As you mentioned earlier, information is passed to COPFS from the police. What does that information look like? Is it quantitative or qualitative information? How do you find out whether a person needs that extra bit of help?

In response to one of my questions last week, the committee was told that a change in culture is necessary to better understand the needs of neurodivergent people. What are your thoughts on that, especially when it comes to the criminal justice system?