Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thanks very much, both of you, for that. We are coming to the end of this session, but I want to give Ramiza and Zainab the opportunity to make us aware of anything that you have remembered from previous questions and want to make sure that we are aware of. Also, is there anything that you would like us to consider about how our committee works with your committee or, more generally, any way in which we can support the Scottish Parliament to work with the Scottish Youth Parliament?

Thanks very much for that, Zainab.

We will draw the session to a close now but, before you go, Ramiza and Zainab, I thank you very much for joining us and for your contributions. You have given us a lot to think about. You have raised quite a few points, and we, as a committee, can discuss how to take forward those issues. We are interested; please keep us up to date. Let us know how things go with your action plan and how you are getting on with the work that you are doing. If there are specific things that you would like us to do to support you or to share on social media and elsewhere, please contact our committee clerks, and we will do what we can to support you.

We will keep in touch. Later this morning, we will have a conversation about the requests that you have made of us and the comments that you have made and about how we can continue to work together over the coming months. Ramiza and Zainab, thank you very much.

I suspend the meeting briefly while we change our panels.

Ali Hosie might want to come back on that point. We have time.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the fifth meeting in 2023 of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. The convener, Joe FitzPatrick, is unable to attend today, so I will convene in his absence. Kaukab Stewart is attending as a committee substitute, and I welcome her to the meeting.

The first item on the agenda is a declaration of interests. I ask Kaukab whether she has any relevant interests to declare.

The second agenda item is to agree to take item 5, which is consideration of today’s evidence sessions, in private. Are we agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

I suppose that that links to the point about progress on the action plan and the targets. You have identified very clearly that we are on course, at the moment. Do you sense that we will continue with that linear progress, or is there a possibility that it will either speed up or hit a plateau? What is the assessment of the rate of progress over the next 15 years?

You have talked about the importance of culture change. I think that there is a balance to be struck between supporting people at different stages of their lives and supporting and encouraging culture change among employers. Do you see a challenge in respect of the person-centred support that the policies and plans are based on and broader structural and systemic matters? This might relate to the joined-upness that we need in the data, and to how we think about enhanced inclusion for everyone. Where do you see the balance being between focusing on support for the individual and making structural changes, whether in making sure that there is inclusive transport in rural areas, or whatever? How do we get that balance right and how do we get joined-upness across the Government? That is not only your responsibility; it connects to so many other areas.

Good morning. Thank you for being here and for what you have already told us. I want to focus on two areas: I will drill down into progress on participation rates in the labour market, and the action plan and targets.

On participation rates, we have heard already this morning that there has been progress, but we cannot necessarily pinpoint what has been successful, or why it has been successful in certain places. I will pick up on a couple of things.

First, what do you need to know in order to identify what is and is not working, and are you confident that we have a plan to get that information? There are the raw numbers, but Michelle Thomson talked about the culture; there is something other than just the numbers.

I have a couple of other questions that might relate to Colin Smyth’s and Jamie Halcro Johnston’s points about there being a postcode lottery. The participation figure is a nationwide figure. Are you sure that it is not masking further inequality, either in geographic areas or in sectors? Since the call for views, we have had a response from NHS Tayside’s disability employment network that says that the gap seems to be widening again after initial progress. Can you drill down into that a bit more so that we understand the sectoral and geographical variations, and the intersectional issues, such as whether older disabled people are more disadvantaged than younger disabled people, for instance? Can you say a bit more about those matters?

That is okay. Obviously, there is a barrier. There is a gap between the recommendations and what we know is wrong, and overcoming that barrier or hurdle. What are we—the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and politicians—doing wrong, and how can we overcome—

It is about the systemic and ingrained racism in Scottish society.