Working together towards a Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill: Partial Equality Impact Assessment

Executive summary

This partial Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) examined how the proposed LDAN Bill could potentially affect people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, considering each of the three elements of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED): eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity, and fostering good relations.

This partial EQIA will be reviewed and updated as necessary to reflect future decisions on key aspects of the Bill, for example, its reach and definitions.

Evidence from consultation responses, research, and stakeholder engagement shows that neurodivergent people and people with learning disabilities experience structural exclusion from public services, particularly where barriers overlap with race, gender, age, or socio-economic disadvantage. The Bill’s core “cross-cutting” proposals of a statutory national strategy, local delivery plans and guidance; mandatory training in the public sector; improved data; independent advocacy; and enhanced accountability as well as sector-specific proposals around complex care and identification of communication support needs in justice sector could deliver clear benefits across all protected groups.

However, the assessment highlighted potential concerns due to the potential Bill only applying to neurodivergent people and people with learning disabilities, rather than disabled people more broadly. In their responses to the consultation, some Disabled People’s Organisations highlighted that some disabled people, such as those with only physical disabilities, may face equivalent barriers to those explicitly covered by the Bill but are not intended to be included within its legal definition and therefore may not directly benefit from the intended aims of the Bill, though they may do indirectly due to the cultural shift that additional visibility, awareness and understanding may bring. The Scottish Government could address this through continued engagement with equality groups to ensure the policy aligns fully with the Public Sector Equality Duty.

People with intersectional identities have been considered across all the proposals for the Bill. Mandatory training, data improvement, and strategic planning could be designed to gather and reflect the experiences of people who face multiple barriers, ensuring that implementation promotes equality across all protected characteristics.

Should the LDAN Bill be introduced to the Scottish Parliament by a future Government, consideration must be given to any impact of the legislation and an accompanying suite of impact assessments will be produced and published. More information on these assessments can be found at Guidance on Public Bills.

Overall, the proposed LDAN Bill represents a significant opportunity to further embed equality and human rights into Scotland’s approach to people with learning disabilities and neurodivergent people, strengthening participation, fairness, and public trust.