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The bill certainly smoothes trade. It makes sense for the same laws to apply in common trading areas. Removing the obligation to use paper is clearly in the interests of trade in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, so it is a sensible option.

I will have to ask Chris Nicholson, with his legal mind, to come in again, but I think that the Law Society was keen to emphasise that some issues involved in this area are devolved, and those references to examples of devolved areas were made simply to explain its recognition that this is an area that crosses between devolved and reserved areas. People might think that trade is reserved, and many aspects clearly are—particularly in relation to maritime industries—but private transactions and other aspects, such as the ones that you have just highlighted, are devolved.

There are two questions there, which I will try to answer.

The first question is about the fair work agenda and conditionality. We are constantly evolving the fair work agenda in Scotland. That is crucial, because employers that sign up to the fair work agenda benefit through being more productive, retaining staff, finding it easier to recruit staff and becoming more profitable. That means that more people can get into work, which benefits individuals in terms of their wellbeing and self-esteem and is very good for the economy.

The current fair work agenda has some broad themes, one of which is flexibility. The fair work criteria for supporting businesses with public grants and contracts now include flexibility. We are urging employers to be much more flexible. That will, in turn, help disabled people to get into work. The more flexible an employer is, the more attractive that makes them, and the easier it will be for disabled people to work for that organisation. That is where the fair work agenda plays a role.

There are many initiatives under way to help employers to adapt and, we hope, change their culture. For instance, a few weeks ago, I visited the Salvesen Mindroom Centre in Edinburgh, which is working on neurodivergence issues. I urge the committee to find out more about it, or to visit the centre. I met various big employers from the Edinburgh area that have effectively been changing their recruitment policies and taking on board how they can adapt to get people with various neurological conditions working for them. That was an interface between the organisation and employers; a lot of employers in the Edinburgh and Lothians area are engaged in that. It would be great to see that going national.

We also have the workplace equality fund, which funds very different projects across the country. The Salvesen Mindroom Centre is one of the projects that it funds—or rather, part funds, because a lot of the centre’s funding comes from the Salvesen family. The workplace equality fund is about working with employers and helping them to adapt and learn about how they can be more accessible to disabled employees.

I know that that has been an on-going debate for many years; many organisations in my constituency regularly make the same point to me.

I can only point to the enormous pressures on the Scottish budget. Our budget, unfortunately, does not vary as much as we would like it to, but the demands on it vary all the time. We see that there are huge demands on the Scottish budget just now, but there are, without the cake growing, only so many ways that we can cut the cake over and over. The demands on the Scottish Government’s budget are in the news every day of the week, for anyone to see. We would like to be in a position to give much more long-term certainty to organisations, but we are unable to do that until the Scottish budget has the same long-term certainty. We take the point on board—we know that the situation is not ideal, but it is a symptom of where we are, and the pressure on public finances.

It is worth mentioning—perhaps I should have mentioned this in response to Graham Simpson’s point—that some trials are under way. We are working on an initiative with the Association for Real Change. Ten local authorities are currently being worked with, and some of the things that I spoke about with Graham Simpson are being trialled. As I said, we are committed to introducing a national strategy in this parliamentary session. The trial is designing and testing changes that would improve planning and delivery of support for young people who need additional support as they make the transition into young adult life. I would be happy to follow up with more information about that for the committee.

I think that that gives reassurance that those issues are on the agenda and that things are now, for the first time, being implemented and trialled. I would be happy to come back to the committee on what my education colleagues are doing.

Your questions sum up the complexity of the issue that we are discussing today; there is no easy answer to some of them. I will address your first question first, then come to the second one.

The first question was about where the best interventions are and what makes the biggest difference. My point earlier about not being able to identify specific reasons why we are making progress was about the combination of practical support for people and changing culture, particularly in workplaces. The latter is quite difficult to measure, but we want it to happen and it is beginning to happen. The extent to which progress is due to practical support or due to culture changing is difficult to measure. That is the point that I am trying to make.

Since you have asked the question, I will say that I think that the biggest obstacle is culture change in workplaces. If we can open the minds of all employers in Scotland to the fact that there are steps that they can take to tap into the massive talent pool that we have in this country, in the disabled population who are not in work, that will clearly help to address these inequalities. We must focus on culture change. There are some positive signs—especially, as we have said before, in some big employers. I think that the convener just said that some of the feedback that the committee has had is that the private sector is now doing much more to be adaptable and flexible. Culture change is the biggest area.

As to how we identify disparity across the country in our interventions, including the “no one left behind” strategy, every partnership at the local level should be looking at the local labour market and coming up with projects and initiatives and funding workstreams to address that. “No one left behind” is a relatively new approach, so we must understand why some areas are performing better than others and we must identify gaps.

Yes. You are absolutely right that the issues affect our rural communities. We have a forum—I am trying to remember its name—for disabled people and people with mobility issues that advises on transport policy and works with transport colleagues. There is an “access to work” theme, as well. I do not have the name of that forum in front of me but, I give members the assurance that it exists. I will happily send details of the forum to the committee. I am sure that it has its own workstreams and issues that it is looking at.

I am not aware that such provision exists at the moment. Lewis Hedge might be able to say something about that.

Our fair work action plan includes an aspiration that Scotland will become a leading fair work nation by 2025 and contains a lot of measures to push that forward. As I said previously, we now have labour shortages in Scotland, but we also have talent pools of people who could be working. Now is the time for employers to be more open minded, adaptable and flexible and for the Government to play as big a role as possible. It is important that we speed things up.

Yes, absolutely. There are some projects under way. I have mentioned the Salvesen Mindroom Centre and other relatively new projects that are looking at the issues.

Of course, the fair work action plan is about the employment gap that faces racial minorities, the disability employment gap, the gender employment gap, the gender pay gap and so on. The disability employment gap is a big part of it, but the plan applies much more widely than just to disabilities.

In 2021, the Scottish Government adopted the “Learning/Intellectual Disability and Autism Towards Transformation” plan. Various recommendations from that have been taken forward. All those things are being joined up and there are specific actions being taken within the employment sphere. I want to assure you that the issues are being addressed. I am happy to include that in my response to the committee.