Update 27 Nov 2023
On 23 Nov 2023, the Scottish Parliament debated the Bill. As not enough MSPs voted for it, the Bill fell at Stage 1 and so won't become law.
On 5 Oct 2023, the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee published its Stage 1 Report on the Bill. You can read it here. The Committee says that the Scottish Government needs to take urgent action to improve disabled young people’s experiences of transitions, however it does not believe this Bill would be the best way to do this. Responses to the report will follow.
The Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions) Members Bill was proposed in 2019.
If passed, this Bill would require the Scottish Government to introduce a national transitions strategy to improve outcomes for children and young people with a disability in the transition to adulthood, and to appoint a Minister with special responsibility for transitions.
It would also require local authorities to introduce a transitions plan to ensure each child and young person with a disability receives appropriate care and support before, and during, the transition to adulthood.
The Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee provided scrutiny to the Bill, and you can read our response to the Committee’s call for views here.
This Bill fell at Stage 1 as it could not be compleated before the Parliament went into recess for the 2021 election, however an updated version of the Bill was proposed on 20 September 2021 by Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow. It includes an amendment to include provisions requiring the Scottish Ministers to assign to a member of the Scottish Government or junior Minister special responsibility for the functions of the Bill, as this was left out of the original by mistake, and other minor amendments. The proposed bill has secured cross party support, and was introduced to Parliament 20 April 2022. You can track its progress here.
The Education, Children and Young People Committee is providing scrutiny to the Bill, and ran a Call for Views to gather opinions from the public. You can read Connect's response here.