Seòmar agus comataidhean

:Colleagues will know that I have voted against the orders in the past, when the increase was 20 per cent, but the current increases are broadly in line with, or just above, inflation, so I will not vote against them. I just put that on the record.

Good morning, and thank you for being with us today.

I will pick up on a couple of points. Professor Napier, you spoke in your opening remarks about the Deaf Links pilot in Dundee, and your report is clear in identifying the lack of deaf-specific services as a barrier to safety and support. What would a deaf-led domestic abuse service look like? Is the Deaf Links pilot it, or is it the start of what such a service should look like?

:The committee will reflect on your point about what we can do about families, whether it is the mother or the child, not trusting somebody else enough to tell them because they are worried that the child might be taken away or that they might be thought to be a bad parent. We will have to tease out how we deal with that by providing the whole-family support that is required.

:You have talked about a victim/survivor perhaps being reticent about trusting or relying on a service because of past experience, and about the value of having people who understand deaf culture as advocates. The question, I suppose, is how we ensure that there are enough people who have not only BSL skills and language capabilities but the sort of direct experience that Jemina Napier was talking about, of being victims/survivors themselves, or at least an awareness of that. After all, that sort of thing will be very variable in different parts of the country. In your view, how do we ensure that people do not get a lesser service just because they are remote? The Deaf Links pilot is great, but I can see that it might be quite difficult to replicate in very remote areas.

:Thank you. That was really helpful. As somebody who previously worked in the Rape Crisis network, I know that we never talked about BSL or deaf culture. It is therefore important that we take on board the point that you have made.

My next question is for Claire Houghton. Claire, you have talked about children acting as language brokers and about having the right interpreters in the right place. Is that all we need? I know that it is still a big ask, but is that the main thing that we need to ensure that children are never put in that position? After all, it is not fair, it distorts the parent-child relationship and it is traumatising—all of that.

: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 appropriate route—or for other things. Is there a simple, quick fix that we can implement to ensure that a diagnosis, wherever it comes from, can be recognised and become the gateway to further support, whether that is medication or other things?

:No, but thank you, that is helpful. We could go into a lot of areas in quite a lot of detail. You talked about the need for cross-governmental support, and we are talking not just about the Scottish Government but about local government and the whole Scotland picture. The committee has already had a conversation about the concern that has been raised about the other agencies that will be required to be able to act to support, whether that is in housing and homelessness prevention or preventing child poverty wherever we look. I am curious about your thinking around the on-going sustainability of funds such as the equalities and human rights fund that provide crucial support to organisations that work and are embedded in communities across Scotland and that see phenomenal returns on investment, but are seeing the pot dwindle. I suppose that is easiest way of putting it.

: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 support, but people often find that, without the duty to support and to make reasonable adjustments that a diagnosis brings, they cannot access that support. What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that people are able to get a diagnosis wherever they live in Scotland? Some health boards have just stopped that diagnostic pathway completely.

:Good morning, minister. Thank you for joining us and for what you have said so far. I have a couple of questions on how you intend to use the high-level action plan. I recognise that the plan is high level from the get-go. However, some significant and problematic areas of concern, including food security and a housing crisis that is denying people access to safe, affordable and adequate housing, were raised in the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s “State of the Nation” report, which was published last year. Given those areas of concern, how will the high-level action plan help you to deliver the outcomes that you were talking about and make things better for people across Scotland?

There is a concern that, although there are a lot of fine words in the action plan, it is not clear how they will be translated into action on the ground. I am particularly interested in housing and homelessness, but there are issues across the board that relate to poverty and food inequality. I would be interested to hear your comments on that.

:Thanks, minister. I will leave it there, convener.