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The analysis of responses to the Disability Assistance consultation will be used to inform our approach to assessing mobility for Disability Assistance for Working Age People. Any modelling required will be carried out at the appropriate time in order to assist in the policy development process. The Scottish Government is committed to co-designing our Disability Assistance provision with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations.

As employment law is currently reserved, the Scottish Government cannot oblige employers in the third and private sector to report their disability pay gaps. However, the Scottish Government is committed to working with stakeholders to deliver improvements in equality. In December last year, we published ‘A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan’ , which, among other things, sets out our ambition to work with employers to support them in recruiting and retaining disabled people. The plan was developed in close collaboration with disabled people’s organisations, and the third sector.

The plan also commits the Scottish Government to showing leadership in this issue, that is why this year we will publish a Recruitment and Retention plan, setting out the actions we will take as an employer to support disabled people in the workplace. Upon publication, we will share learning from this experience to encourage other organisations to follow our example.

The Scottish Government measures the disability pay gap of its own workforce and that of the agencies for which it holds relevant information, by analysing payroll data. Analysis of the disability pay gap is dependent on the voluntary declaration of disability, or non-disability by employees. Employees that do check ‘Prefer not to say’ are excluded from the pay gap calculation, as are those who have not made any declaration.

The Scottish Government does not directly measure the disability pay gap of the third and private sector. However, we can estimate the median disability pay gap using Annual Population Survey data. The disability pay gap represents the difference between disabled and non-disabled full-time hourly earnings, expressed as a percentage of non-disabled full-time hourly earnings.

Table 1 shows the mean and median disability pay gap for a) Scottish Government core and b) the agencies for which it holds pay data. Data for the Scottish Housing Regulator, the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and Revenue Scotland has been withheld, due to the small number of staff within these organisations that have self-declared a disability, and the challenges that this would represent in preserving anonymity for those who have self-declared a disability.

For the purposes of this table, pay includes both salary and on-going allowances such as pay supplements, but does not include overtime. Part-time staff are reckoned at their full-time equivalent salary.

Table 1

The review of the social security finance functions is part of our ongoing business and continuous improvement approach. The review is being carried out by a Scottish Government official and no additional costs have been incurred.

Scottish Government staffing hours on updating the Social Security Programme business case are not tracked and are part of the overall programme effort. The financial resources committed to update the Social Security programme business case is circa £125,000 (excluding VAT).

A review of the Social Security Programme planning arrangements began on 28 January 2019, and is expected to conclude this summer. It forms part of ongoing Programme continuous improvement activities.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-23453 on 5 June 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

A review of the Social Security Programme governance arrangements began on 28 January 2019, and is expected to conclude this summer. It forms part of ongoing Programme continuous improvement activities.

I have not yet received a response from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.