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The First Minister confirmed in the 2017-18 Programme for Government that legislation for a soft opt out system of organ and tissue donation will be introduced during this Parliamentary year.

The Scottish Government is committed to introducing a workable soft opt out system that will add to the improvements already being delivered through A Donation and Transplantation Plan For Scotland 2013-2020. It is important that we take the time to get the system right. It needs to be developed in a way which will do no harm to trust in the NHS or to the safety of donation and we are working with stakeholders to achieve this.

In September 2015 Education Scotland published new quality standards to which underpin how work placements are provided in school. These standards relate specifically to career education, through an improved approach to careers services, the Career Education Standard 3-18 and to work experience, through a new Work Placements Standard. These standards were developed with representatives from equality groups and set out universal entitlements for all young people, including young people with disabilities. (Alongside the standards, the school-employer partnership guidance refers to the importance of incorporating an equality and diversity perspective into partnerships.)

Through our Inspiring Scotland 14-19 Fund we have continued to support ENABLE Scotland's Stepping Up service which delivers a tailored support package to young people with learning disabilities to improve their employability while at school. This includes a workplace skills qualification at Level 3 alongside 150 hours of work experience. Through this over 1,500 young people have been supported with over 1,750 work placements being delivered.

We are currently exploring options with Education Scotland to enhance the promotion of this model as well as considering how this approach could be further developed to include a wider range of disabilities, allowing more young people with disabilities access to good quality work experience across Scotland.

Good progress is being made across Government in delivering key actions in our Plan. For example, on increasing the participation of disabled people in our democratic processes; support provided through our Access to Elected Office Fund saw 15 disabled candidates elected to 12 local authorities.

On the employment front, earlier in the year we launched a new marketing campaign targeting SMEs with positive messages about the benefits of employing disabled people; and we have also seen the launch of a second phase of the extremely successful NHS Professional Careers Programme for disabled graduates.

Our proposals for a new social security system are well advanced and the way in which we are engaging disabled people in this process was one of the issues singled out for positive comment by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability as was our accessible transport framework.

And, as the member will be aware given his specific interest in this topic, our first ever National Action Plan on British Sign Language was published last week.

The Scottish Government is committed to halving the disability employment gap in Scotland. We do not underestimate the very significant challenge this ambition presents - achieving it will require action across a range of partners.

We are already taking steps in a number of areas to support more disabled people into work in line with our commitments in A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People.

This includes:-

• the implementation of transitional employment services in 2017-2018 and the letting of contracts to providers for Fair Start Scotland which will run from April 2018. Disabled people are a priority group for both services;

• the implementation of the highest level of Modern Apprenticeship funding until the age of 30;

• Delivering a successful campaign to business during the summer to highlight the benefits of employing people with disabilities, showcasing case studies and videos and an updated information on the Scottish Government’s Employability in Scotland website detailing support available to employers; and

• meeting our commitment to deliver a disability internship programme in the third and public sector and in politics.

We are working with stakeholders to develop the further actions to be taken to achieve our ambitions for disability employment and will set these out in more detail at the major congress on disability, employment and the workplace planned for early 2018.

The Scottish Government only holds location information for those organisations to which it provides an HR service. Data is available for all Core Directorates, most Agencies and some Non-Ministerial departments. Location information is not collected for other organisations which contribute to the Public Sector Employment statistics.

Scottish Government Core Directorates, Q2 2017

Note:

1. The total headcount for Scottish Government Core Directorates is the same from the Scottish Government HR and Public Sector Employment data sources.

Agencies, Q2 2017

Notes:

1. The total headcount for Agencies in the above table is not the same as the total in the Public Sector Employment publication as the Scottish Government HR data source only includes those agencies for which the Scottish Government provides an HR service.

2. Agencies included: Accountant in Bankruptcy, Disclosure Scotland, Education Scotland, Student Awards Agency for Scotland, Scottish Public Pensions Agency, Transport Scotland.

Non-ministerial Departments, Q2 2017

Notes:

1. The total headcount for non-ministerial departments in the above table is not the same as the total in the Public Sector Employment publication as the Scottish Government HR data source only includes those departments for which the Scottish Government provides an HR service.

2. Non-ministerial departments included: Food Standards Scotland, National Records of Scotland, Revenue Scotland, Scottish Fiscal Commission, Scottish Housing Regulator.

Scottish Government researchers are now working on the next stage of the Experience Panels process, the ‘About Your Benefits and You’ research. This will help us understand in a bit more detail what panel members think works well in the current system, and where there is room for improvement. This research involves a survey of panel members, as well as a series of focus groups around Scotland.

The survey element closed on 1 September 2017 and over 1,000 people have responded. The final respondent count will be made available in due course. Alongside this, in July and August, Scottish Government researchers held a total of 34 focus sessions across Scotland as part of this work, involving over 250 participants. A variety of morning, afternoon and evening sessions were held. The Table in the background notes provides a breakdown of the number of sessions held.

We are determined that there should be as few barriers as possible to participation, and are therefore reimbursing panel members for travel, subsistence and childcare costs incurred as part of their contribution to designing and building a new Social Security system for Scotland.

As part of registering for the event, participants were asked to provide details of how they intended to travel to the focus group. The Experience Panels expenses process covers all receipted travel costs covering all forms of transport (for example rail, air, tram, bus, taxi, ferry, motor mileage). As the Scottish Government has contracts in place with Edinburgh and Glasgow taxis, for sessions in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the Scottish Government arranged taxis for participants when required. Where participants used taxis elsewhere, they were reimbursed for their costs using the standard Experience Panels expenses claim form.

A new expenses process for the Experience Panels was set up over the summer. This expenses scheme covers any reasonable receipted expenses incurred in taking part in Experience Panel research (for example, travel, childcare and subsistence expenses). Following this set up phase we aim for members to receive payment within 2-3 days of Scottish Government receiving a completed form.

How information is being collected from Experience Panels depends on the research design. Taking part might include completing short surveys, or taking part in interviews and workshops. Activities can be carried out face-to-face, on the phone and online.

The information collected from both the "About Your Benefits and You" survey and focus groups will be used to develop a programme of work in collaboration with the Experience Panels that reflects what is important to our panel members.

Experience Panels research will be analysed and reported by Scottish Government researchers working on Social Security. The findings of Experience Panels research will be shared with Experience Panel members, and published as part of the Scottish Government’s social research publication series. Links to all publications will be made available at www.gov.scot/socialsecurity.

It is crucial that Experience Panel members - all of whom are unpaid volunteers - are able to see how their knowledge and direct, personal experience is shaping the new Social Security system for Scotland, So we will be communicating with them regularly, giving updates on the research programme and how the results are being used.