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Yes, I will bring in Susan Ferguson in a second. As for the big picture, as I said in my opening remarks, some of the evidence about the impact of Covid on people with disabilities is still emerging. Our view at the moment is that there is no evidence that there has been a disproportionate impact of Covid on disabled people. There are various bits of evidence that show that there has been an impact, but we cannot say that it has been disproportionate; there is no overall evidence that the impact is greater on disabled people than it is on any other parts of the population, such as people with long-term sicknesses.

Scotland has an older population than the rest of the UK and, therefore, the percentage of disabled people in the working population is slightly higher. Those factors all influence where you are coming from with your question. I will bring in Susan Ferguson to speak about the impact of Covid, mental health issues and so on.

It is worth noting that all businesses are subject to fair work criteria, but that is proportionate. We know that it is more challenging for a small business than it is for a big business to get through some of the hoops, so there is a proportionate approach. The enterprise companies and others who apply the criteria will take that into account.

Just now, we are trying to raise awareness among all employers—small, medium and large—in Scotland, and to break down some of the cultural barriers. We know—I am sure that the committee has come across this—that many employers think, “This will be costly.” A small business owner might think, “I can’t afford to adapt my workplace to take on a disabled employee.” There is a lot of awareness raising going on. Some of the projects that we fund are about raising awareness and working with all kinds of employers. There is a lot of work to be done.

Thank you for raising that issue with me—I will certainly investigate it. I cannot pretend that I have had such feedback so far; other ministers might have had such feedback in dealing with organisations within their own portfolios.

However, I am sure that the member is aware, as are others, of the volatile economic environment and the pressure on public finances that the Government has been experiencing over the past few months. The draft budget is before Parliament just now. It has not been as easy as we would have liked it to be to give many organisations across Scotland, in many sectors, the assurances that they want, because of the financial situation that the Scottish Government faces in relation to the budget. We all know the reasons behind that. We will do our best to give people as much notice as we can, so I am happy to investigate the organisations that the member has—

There is work under way. It would probably take me a while to dig out the information now, but I am happy to follow up with the committee on the exact timetables. We are reviewing some of our plans—2024 comes to mind as a target date. However, we rely on people self-reporting disabilities—

In addition, I note that the Scottish Government does not collect all the data; a lot of the labour-market data is collected at United Kingdom level. We have given a commitment to look at what we can do in Scotland to improve the data. I know that Lewis Hedge will want to say something, because he is much closer than I am to that particular aspect.

We carried out a review of supported employment, which reported last year. We are working through the recommendations. I would want to double-check which recommendations might link to your question, because a lot of issues along those lines, which we have given a commitment to take forward, were identified.

On the “no one left behind” approach, I take your point about needing a single standard across the country and there being a postcode lottery. Obviously, if the committee has more to say about that in its inquiry, I will certainly want to hear it.

The “no one left behind” approach is about person-centred support so that, locally, people can have help that is bespoke for their needs. The case worker who helps them will deal with transport and other issues. We are trying to take a person-centred approach so that, if a person has transport challenges in a rural area or elsewhere, they will get advice and help with that as part of their support package.

We are trying to address the issue through taking a person-centred approach to help people. That could be about help with childcare or transport. The approach has been developed over the past couple of years, and we are hoping to build on it.

Yes. It is fair to say that we agree with the sentiment of what you have said. That issue is getting a lot more recognition in Government and in general debates, particularly on issues that relate to young people and disabilities.

As members may know, the Government is now committed to the first national transitions to adulthood strategy. The strategy will address that very issue. My colleagues across Government are working together on that because, as Graham Simpson has said, it is about education and young people coming through school and into the workplace. Ms Haughey and Ms McKelvie, who are two of the ministers involved, will give evidence on that to the Education, Children and Young People Committee later this month. The Economy and Fair Work Committee might wish to liaise with them, as they will be giving evidence on the Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) Bill. Members will be aware of that member’s bill that is before Parliament.

The issue is on the Government’s agenda. We are happy to work with committees and members who introduce members’ bills, but we are committed to the first strategy.

Yes. I will certainly do that.

I do not have exactly such information. As I have said, we have moved towards the “no one left behind” approach over the past two or three years at a decentralised local level in order to allow local employment partnerships to come up with bespoke solutions for their areas. Many of the projects that are funded locally are for disabled people and other people who are far from the labour market. The approach is very localised.

There is, of course, a platform that brings all the “no one left behind” partnerships together to discuss common issues. I hope that, discrepancies and postcode lotteries are identified at the national level. However, I do not have any direct data that compare different areas that I can give to the committee.

There is currently just under £70 million for employability support in the draft budget that is before Parliament. The £53.06 million that was initially budgeted for and then removed was not a cut to existing services; the money was to fund additional work that we wanted to undertake. However, that work will not happen now, because the money has been removed due to budget pressures facing the Government and the cost of living crisis.

The budget will go through Parliament, so the funding will be there for the employability schemes. There were plans for additional work on tackling child poverty and on other ways in which we could play a role in employability schemes and so on, but those things will not happen to the same extent due to budget having been removed.