Chamber and committees

Hisashi, you said at the beginning that there is no small business representative on the Grangemouth future industry board. Many of your small businesses will be a part of the supply chain. Others are businesses that are based in Grangemouth but that will still be impacted. On the skills agenda, do you feel there is recognition of the role that your members play and of the support that they need?

Thank you. That brings us to the end of this evidence session. I thank the panel members for their contributions this morning. You have helped to set the scene for the inquiry that we are about to undertake and have raised some key issues for us to explore with other witnesses in the coming weeks. We will now move into private session.

The Government is focusing on Grangemouth first, which, in industry terms, is one of the highest-emitting areas in Scotland. You have informed us of the general position of all businesses across Scotland, because they are all trying to meet the target, but there is a particular focus on Grangemouth. What will the impact be on smaller businesses in that area? Do you feel that you are being involved enough in putting a plan together?

Those of us who visited the National Autistic Society in Scotland on Monday heard positive reports about the work that the Scottish Government has undertaken on employing people on the autism spectrum. The society was very favourable about the work that is being done. There was comment on whether, if that work could be learned from, that example could be used to encourage other employers. That points towards the need for more joined-up and connected policy.

Earlier, the point was made that where something is working well, it needs to be recognised, spread throughout the country, and used as a good example. Maybe that is not happening enough. There are pockets of progress and pockets in which things are not progressing, and we do not know what is happening where. That goes back to the data question.

When we visited the National Autistic Society, a strong point was made about the need for specialist support for young people in schools. We might be looking at the issue from an education perspective, but the case was made that specialists are needed. Often, that requires third sector involvement in education. That support needs to be funded.

I understand that that issue is not in your portfolio, but it crosses over. If you are looking at bringing those young people into employment and making them productive members of society, they need specialist support, which is maybe not always available in schools. More focus on that is needed. That might be something that you could feed back.

That brings us to the end of the evidence session. I thank the minister and the officials for the evidence that we have heard this morning. We now move into private session.

Is work being done to collect data and statistics? You have described how challenging it is and that some of it is not in place yet. The target that we are heading towards is numbers based, so we need to know the baselines to see what progress is being made. Is any work being done by the Scottish Government to collect and collate data in order to have a better understanding of what makes up the disability employment gap, where we are making progress and where more progress needs to be made?

The committee is doing a short piece of work on the disability employment gap. One of the areas that we have identified is data and the information that is available. As you have recognised, progress has been made in closing the gap, which the committee very much welcomes. However, there is evidence, in particular from work that the Fraser of Allander Institute has done, to suggest that progress is concentrated in certain groups and certain types of disability, while other groups are even further away from the workplace than they were. In particular, that work looked at people with learning disabilities. Do you have an understanding of where progress has been made and where further progress needs to be made? Has the data that is needed to inform that understanding been adequately collected?

I suppose I will now add to that difficulty. In the evidence session that we held with Enable Scotland and the Fraser of Allander Institute, they talked about an increase in the number of people with poor mental health—you mentioned Covid and long Covid being in there, as well—and how that was impacting on employment figures. Some of those people are already in work and are then classified as disabled. That might be contributing to the improvement in the number of people in work who have a disability. Do you want to comment on the impact of poor mental health? Has any work been undertaken to assess what impact trends in those areas are having on the overall figures? I think that Susan Ferguson works in that area.

Our next item of business is an evidence session on the disability employment gap. The committee agreed to undertake initial work in this area to identify and address the barriers for disabled people getting into employment. Although we are hearing from the minister today, our call for views remains open for another week, and we encourage people to contribute.

Last week, we heard from the Fraser of Allander Institute, along with Enable Scotland, on structural barriers that disabled people face in accessing employment. Since then, we have been to visit Dovetail Enterprises in Dundee with Enable, and, on Monday, we went to visit the National Autistic Society Scotland to find out about its work in assisting young people into employment.

I welcome Richard Lochhead, the Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work. He is joined by Scottish Government officials Susan Ferguson, who is the interim deputy director for complex mental health care and dementia, and Lewis Hedge, who is deputy director for fair work and labour market strategy. As always, members and witnesses should keep their questions and answers short and concise. I invite the minister to make a brief opening statement.

The commitment is quite long term. You are looking to halve the disability employment gap by 2038. Are there interim targets? Is there a pathway that has been set out, or does that depend on having the data? There have been successes, but do you know why we are having successes and where we need to focus policy? Are there interim targets, and is there a clear pathway towards meeting the 2038 target?