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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 16 August 2025
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Displaying 1653 contributions

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Economy and Fair Work Committee

Disability Employment Gap

Meeting date: 25 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

There are different schemes for disabled-positive employers, with accreditations and so on. Is there a role for formalising that in a more coherent and standardised way across business sectors in order to support employers to understand what they should be doing and what they could be doing very easily?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Disability Employment Gap

Meeting date: 25 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

There is also the impact of—I was going to say, “doing the wrong thing”. I do not mean that uncharitably, but I refer back to Colin Smyth’s point about single-year funding. We have been talking about multiyear funding for decades now, and we are still talking about it. Your comments are really helpful and they give us something to dig into.

Ashley, you spoke about something that I see fitting into the social model of disability when you said that people’s employment chances start long before they leave school. I suppose that one of the challenges is to educate society as a whole so that people understand what they are entitled to and what support is out there, and to help employers to understand how they can upskill and what they should be doing legally, never mind ethically or morally.

Will you unpick that a little more? How are we not getting the right support either for people who need employment support or for people who provide employment to know what they can and should be doing? How are we not getting that right?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Disability Employment Gap

Meeting date: 25 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

You said that the reality of what is happening on the ground is not matching the expectations. Is that a capacity issue or is it to do with understanding? Why are businesses going into schools but not galvanising any continuity or any relationship?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Disability Employment Gap

Meeting date: 25 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

Do you see particular areas of weakness? In your 2021 report, you talked specifically about the relationship between unpaid carers and people who draw on unpaid care to function—never mind to gain employability, but just to live. Are there other areas of particular weakness or, if not weakness, areas that we should be mindful of ensuring that we focus on to get that joining up?

Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

Clare Gallagher wants to come in; then I will bring in Rob Watts.

Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

That links to the work that we will be doing on minimum cores in order to get a baseline across all the connections.

Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

Good morning. Thank you for joining us and for your comments so far. I want to delve into more detail on questions of accountability. Angela O’Hagan, in your opening remarks, you said that there is a clear need for much stronger or deeper scrutiny of Scottish Government decision making. Ali Hosie, in your previous answer, you talked about the linkages between the programme for government, the national performance framework and other policy frameworks and how those assist or otherwise our understanding of the realisation of rights.

I will start with Ali. Will you comment on those linkages with the NPF and the programme for government? Do they aid our understanding of what human rights outcomes we are seeking to achieve? If not, what could we do differently?

Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

Thanks, Ali. That is really clear. The suggestions for how we rethink the national performance framework are really helpful. Angela O’Hagan, may I bring you in and ask for your comments on that? Are there cross-portfolio issues, inconsistencies or conflicts that we need to tease out, particularly if we are thinking about human rights in the round and having an outcome or impact focus rather than departmental silos?

10:45  

Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 24 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

Thank you, Clare. Your comment about how we go so far and miss the next step is well made.

Rob, do you have any comments on this point? I am aware of time so I will leave it there after this.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Budget 2023-24

Meeting date: 18 January 2023

Maggie Chapman

Good morning, Deputy First Minister, and thank you for joining us. I want to pick up on a couple of points that we have touched on and to expand on them a bit.

In response to questions from Fiona Hyslop on tourism, you talked about digital connectivity and its importance for organisations in shifting marketing strategy. More broadly, digital connectivity is clearly important for local and regional economies and because of the shift in working practices as more people work from home. Entrepreneurs often start off at home and therefore require digital connectivity.

In the budget, we see a reduction of more than 6 per cent in digital funding, which is significant in cash terms compared to last year. The Government has noted that that relates to new spend profiles over the life of the programme. Can you give us a bit more detail on that? Importantly, what are the impacts on people who have been waiting for connectivity? How will that materially affect their ability to be connected?