Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 24 March 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made towards halving the disability employment gap by 2038, and whether it remains on track to meet this target.
We are making progress to meet our commitment to halve the disability employment gap by 2038 to 18.7 p.p. The disability employment rate gap is estimated to have reduced by 5.8 percentage points (p.p.) from 37.4 p.p. in January to December 2016 (our baseline year) to 31.5 p.p. in January to December 2024, and the interim milestone to increase the employment rate for disabled people to 50 per cent by 2023 was met one year early in 2022. Between 2018 and 2024 the Workplace Equality Fund (WEF) provided over £3.1 million funding to 71 projects to reduce labour market barriers for priority groups - providing support, training and advice on workplace culture, to enhance retention and progression of disabled staff.
We have also developed a Fair Work digital resource hub, designed to provide information and signpost to support on the implementation of fair work practices within organisations across Scotland. This includes information on inclusive recruitment and reasonable adjustments for disabled employees. We have provided investment of £5 million in 2025-26 for the delivery of Specialist Employability Support in every Local Authority area, and this is protected in our draft budget for 2026-27. This budget ensures every Local Employability Partnership has funding to implement place and train approaches to support for disabled people and people with long term health conditions.