Disabled employment gap inquiry - BSL

Overview

Identifying barriers to accessing employment is a key part of the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s remit

Statistics show that the disabled people in Scotland have a lower employment rate than non-disabled people.

The Committee would like to understand what more can be done to ensure disabled people can access employment.

Committee inquiry

The Committee has agreed to hold an inquiry that will look at how we can identify and address barriers that limit the ability of disabled people to get and keep a job.

Remit

The Committee is therefore seeking views on the following issues: 

• what progress has been made to reduce and remove barriers faced by disabled people to access Scotland’s labour market?
• what are the remaining challenges, and why has progress been difficult?
• what policy measures would you like to see to support disabled people and employers to increase participation rates?
• what has been the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on disabled people’s experience of the labour market?

How to submit your views

You can write your answers in the box below each question, or you can send a BSL video with your views through a file transfer service. Please send your video to economyandfairwork.committee@parliament.scot.

In your BSL video, please state clearly which question numbers you are referring to.

Please also state if you would like your response to be published in its entirety (both your video and a written English translation). If you do not want your response to be published in its entirety, please contact the committee to discuss your options before making your submission.

If you have any questions, please email us or call 0131 348 5000. You can call in BSL through contactscotland-bsl.org.

We welcome your views in BSL, English, Gaelic, Scots or any other language.

The call for views closes on 16 February 2023.

The Economy and Fair Work Committee plans to hear from the relevant Scottish Government Minister in early February 2023.

Any views provided by the end of January will be made available for that evidence session with the Minister. However, we appreciate that this is a tight timescale. The committee will come back to the topic later in the year and all views provided after January will be considered at that point.

Thank you for taking the time to give us your views.