Chamber and committees

Having read some information on the subject, I want to start with how the data can be improved with intersectionality. For example, how do we know how many families from an ethnic minority background have children who have a disability? How do we drill down and get to the detail of what are complex and different lives?

I did not detect in the minister’s answer any recognition that, after 14 years in government, the Scottish National Party should accept that this shameful situation has unfolded under its watch. The gap in respect of premature deaths is at its widest since 2007, when the SNP came to power. The gap of 26 years in life expectancy between the most affluent areas and the least affluent areas is the widest ever.

It is clear that radical solutions are needed, such as those that Professor David Kerr of the University of Oxford has advocated. He has called for implementation of the framework that Professor Sir Michael Marmot devised, which would devolve to local communities powers and funding for education, public health, early years and employment to find solutions that work for our diverse cities, towns and villages.

The Government talks big and does little. Is it not time to take a radical approach to tackling such issues?

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent National Records of Scotland report, “Healthy Life Expectancy in Scotland”, showing that healthy life expectancy has decreased in each of the last four years for females, and in each of the last three years for males. (S6T-00500)

The fact that healthy life expectancy is going backwards is nothing short of a scandal. It is a fundamental measure of how our society is progressing. Years of public health failures that predate the pandemic, and mounting pressure on our national health service, are robbing people of their best years.

The two areas that have the lowest number of years spent in good health are both in my West Scotland region—they are Inverclyde for males, where the figure is 54.4 years, and North Ayrshire for females, where the figure is 54 years. Those communities have experienced years of cuts to health services and to council budgets, which provide vital community support, social work and regeneration services. Just a few months ago, the Government cut vital funding to those communities for closing the poverty-related attainment gap. When will the Government act to fund services properly to improve health and wellbeing across Scotland and to tackle the disgraceful health inequalities?

I thank Mr Doris for that very important question. I certainly think that the CPG would be keen to engage in that sort of thing. I believe that Sainsbury’s is doing work on a network of in-store changing places toilets, and that would certainly be of interest to us. Our other larger supermarkets are often well located with regard to where people might go and use facilities, and we also have to work with in-town and out-of-town shopping centres and other commercial organisations to ensure that they, too, are playing their part. As we know, they have the resources to put in such facilities and ensure that they are serving their customers better. We would want to explore with them and, indeed, with Government whether anything further can be done to persuade, cajole and perhaps compel the corporate world to do that.

Thank you for the question and for raising that vital issue. We had previously engaged with Euan’s Guide, which provides a lot of information on accessible facilities, including changing places toilets, and we would be keen to engage further in that respect. We have made some progress—facilities are available, and the Government has agreed to put more investment into our public buildings—but, often, the issue for families is knowing what is available and where they can access the facilities. The point about town centres is well made, and I go back to the comment that I made to Ms Webber about families not being able to plan a day out, even to, say, the shopping centre in East Kilbride, without the security of knowing that facilities will be available for them.

We are also hoping to map facilities in service stations, for example, to ensure that people who want to go on holiday here and drive along the north coast 500 or to some of the other places on our doorstep can do so. Holidays are crucial, particularly for families with young children who have life-limiting conditions and disabilities. Investing in a current map of facilities in Scotland, getting that information out to people and being able to add to it will be crucial, and all the partners involved in the CPG will want to take that forward.

Good morning, committee. I propose the formation of a cross-party group on changing places toilets, the purpose of which is to raise awareness of the essential need for accessible toilets for all of Scotland’s citizens and to investigate the feasibility of a changing places toilets fund that can be accessed by local authorities and small community groups. The group would continue the work of former MSP Mary Fee and the currently serving MSP Jeremy Balfour.

Scottish disability charities and changing places toilets campaigners have called on the Scottish Government to recognise that not all of Scotland’s citizens are being treated equally, with a section of society not being able to access basic human rights and have their needs met. Because of a lack of facilities, adults and children who have a disability often have their toileting needs met by having to lie on toilet floors, with no privacy or dignity. That can lead to a host of problems such as infections, mental health issues as a result of their not being able to leave their homes and the possibility of hospitalisation, which in the long run affects the public purse.

The group would like to explore with retail and business how they could change their outlook on disability and how changing their business model could be beneficial to all, and we would invite parents, carers and additional support needs teachers to join the group, give their testimony of lived experience and say what they would like the group and the Scottish Government to take on board and consider.

We would like to investigate issues such as tourism and Scotland as a holiday destination of choice for families with a disability. We would also like to focus on building design and the use of our public buildings and spaces in Scotland, and we would propose to discuss with the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland the feasibility of designs for changing places toilets and how such toilets could be placed in public buildings. Based on research, we would propose a changing places toilets standard for buildings across Scotland, and we would work collaboratively on that with Government departments and ministers.

I appreciate the committee’s consideration of our application.

For many years, the problem has been that people have had disabled facilities or a certain level of facility that they would view as a changing places toilet. However, such facilities have to conform to a very clear set of standards, which include space requirements, showering facilities and ensuring that people have enough room to move around in. That information has all been laid out, and I can provide members with it, if that would be helpful.

Essentially, it is quite a robust set of standards, and part of the challenge is that the costs can often be prohibitive, particularly for a community organisation that runs a community facility through, say, asset transfer. Because putting in such facilities can be quite expensive, we are proposing to work collaboratively with Government on a fund that would allow community organisations in particular to do that.

Thank you for that question. It is a vital issue, and the CPG will want to look at the availability of facilities, because we know that families, particularly those with children who have a disability, often struggle to access toilets in city centres or on days out. Indeed, spontaneity is not possible for many families, because they cannot access those facilities. We would certainly want to look, with local authorities and others, at current provision and where there are any gaps that can be filled.

I thank you and your colleagues on the committee.