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Thank you.

I have a couple of final questions. Written submissions from Enable Scotland and Social Enterprise Scotland have said that the focus has been on providing support to get disabled people into work but that that maybe does not recognise the importance of in-work support and the need to ensure that it is sufficiently funded to enable people to retain employment.

Enable Scotland has pretty good figures on retention, but that has been achieved through one-to-one support from workers who are not overloaded by their case load and who can provide the level of support that people need. Is it recognised as an important part of the strategy to increase employability and decrease the gap that the issue is about not just getting people into jobs—although that will have an impact on the gap—but is also abut retention and keeping people in employment?

We heard yesterday about career progression. It is not just about getting people into employment; it is also about the ambition and aspirations that can be achieved through that. Is that recognised as an important part of what we need to do?

We have heard about the access to work programme which, as you say, is quite well funded. We have heard about difficulties with delays and with the application process, so we will follow that up.

However, my question was not just about that type of support; it was also about the support that we give in Scotland to the third sector and other organisations. Those organisations have talked about the importance of continuity of services. An organisation that has helped someone to gain confidence to apply for a job and has got them through that is often the organisation that is best placed to provide in-work support.

Funds will sometimes be drawn down from the access to work scheme, but at other times that is funded by the Scottish Government or by local authorities. We heard positive feedback about Dundee and Edinburgh councils, which have decided to give some security of funding to organisations to continue that work. That goes back to the postcode lottery question, because it is not happening everywhere.

The access to work programme is important, and people should have more information about it and be able to access it; it should have a higher profile. However, that aside, does the Scottish Government recognise that there is a job to do to support people once they are in employment to secure their employment, and to ensure that organisations are funded to provide that? Do you see that being part of the strategy?

Good morning, and welcome to the third meeting in 2023 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. Our first item of business is to decide whether to take item 3 in private. Are members content to do so?

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you both for your insights and contributions. As I said, we will have the minister here in a couple of weeks, so we will put some of these questions to him. As Ashley highlighted, on Monday we are visiting the Enable project in Dundee. We will also go to a National Autistic Society Scotland project in the next couple of weeks. That is a short piece of work that might lead to more in-depth work later in the year. Thank you very much.

The report also made recommendations around data, which you mentioned. You described the difficulties that exist in calculating the employability gap because of the number of adults who identify as having a disability. The report also talked about

“an audit of the current employability support schemes”.

The report was published in 2021. Has there been any Government response to it, or have you had any discussions with Government about some of the recommendations on data and audit?

Our next item of business is an evidence session on the disability employment gap. The committee has agreed to undertake some initial work to identify and address the barriers that limit the ability of disabled people to get and keep employment. We have launched a call for views, which will remain open until 16 February. At our next meeting in a fortnight, the committee will hear from the Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work. We plan to return to this work later in the year.

I welcome Emma Congreve, deputy director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, and Ashley Ryan, director of Enable Works at Enable Scotland. I ask members to keep their questions and answers as concise as possible so that we get through as much as possible.

I come to Ashley Ryan first. In general, participation rates for disabled people in the labour market have improved in the past 10 years. How has that been achieved? In your view, what is the employment outlook for the disabled population?

Enable Scotland—I think—recently worked with the Fraser of Allander Institute to produce a report. We know that the number of disabled people in employment has increased, but are some disabled people now further away from the labour market? The report focuses on those with learning disabilities, and the Government has a target in that regard. Do you have any insight into where greater focus might be needed?

Thank you for that, Ashley.

I turn to Emma Congreve. My initial question was partly about the outlook for continued progress. We recognise that there has been progress and that disabled people are getting into employment, but what does the picture for continued progress look like? The Government has a target to increase the employment rate for people with disabilities to 50 per cent. Do you think that it is on track to meet that target?

Thank you. Those were really helpful final answers. We will have the minister here in two weeks. I am sure that those are issues that members will want to raise with him.

I have a final question about “A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan”. There have been a couple of progress reports; I think that we are lacking the most recent one. How important are progress reports? The plan includes a commitment on halving the gap by 2038, but there is also a commitment to have 50 per cent of disabled people in employment by 2023. How important is it that we get progress reports, and what are the key indicators that the Government should give us? The recent report focused on particular areas in Social Security Scotland and other public bodies, but that seems quite narrow for the scale of the challenge that we are trying to address.