Public services for everyone (2026 Manifesto)

Meet everyone’s communication and access needs

• Develop a new See Hear Strategy and create a Scottish Government Sensory Policy Unit for a prioritised, joined-up approach.
• Provide a clear legal right to inclusive communication.
• Pass a Digital Inclusion Bill to realise the vision of Scotland as an ethical digital nation.

Public services must be accessible to anyone who needs them, yet too many people struggle to do so or find information about them. Publications and communications are not always readily available in fully accessible formats, leaving people with sensory impairments or learning disabilities lacking essential information. Meanwhile the growing shift to digital service provision provides new routes for many to access services they couldn’t previously, however it leaves those who lack digital access, skills, and confidence behind. A consistent approach that recognises a range of communication requirements and offers meaningful choice is needed.

The ALLIANCE and our sensory sector members and partners were deeply disappointed when the refresh of the 2014 “See Hear” strategy was abandoned in 2025. The lack of an up-to-date strategy risks further entrenching an already disjointed approach to supporting people with sensory impairments. The next Scottish Government must develop a successor to the See Hear Strategy, underpinned by adequate, sustainable investment in support. We also urge the creation of a dedicated Sensory Policy Unit within Scottish Government to lead and coordinate joined-up, cross-sector implementation of the strategy and support innovative, preventative support.

Most of us will need some form of communication support in our lifetimes; inclusive communication lets us live well and participate equally in our communities. Unfortunately, people who are Deaf, Deafblind or have Visual Impairments often experience unfair and unnecessary obstacles to public services. Everyone in Scotland should have a right to communication support, when they need it, where they need it. The next Scottish Government must act to recognise the importance of inclusive communication. This right should be protected in legislation, and work should be undertaken alongside expert groups and people with lived experience to co-produce training, data collection, monitoring and evaluation frameworks.

As more public services shift to digital delivery, they must continue to work for everyone. Digital should always be a choice, not an obligation. Further work is needed to address digital exclusion, not just through the provision of devices and data, but also support and training in how to use them. People should also feel confident about the security of, and have control over, their personal data. The next Scottish Government must pass a Digital Inclusion Bill that commits to binding actions and funding to support inclusion, whilst protecting the right to access in-person services and the security of personal health and social care data.

Services that work for people of all ages

• Refocus attention on the importance of Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC), whilst strengthening implementation, data gathering and reporting.
• Introduce an older people’s health and social care strategy and action plan.

The Scottish Government have been working towards an aspiration to make Scotland the best place to grow up. Through the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) approach and, more recently, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Incorporation Act, the rights and voice of children and young people are increasingly centred in decision making. At the same time, Scotland’s population is ageing through a combination of longer lifespans and smaller families. Whilst this generally reflects positive and welcome advancements in healthcare and reproductive autonomy, it also requires a policymaking approach that keeps pace with changing demographics.

2026 will mark 20 years of the GIRFEC approach to promoting, supporting and safeguarding the wellbeing of children and young people. However, there is a need to more clearly evidence how GIRFEC is embedded across all policy and legislation that impacts a child, particularly disabled children, children with long term conditions, and those experiencing poverty. The next Scottish Government must strengthen implementation of GIRFEC at all levels through a cross-policy framework which embeds children’s rights and robust data gathering and reporting, whilst better considering the groups of children whose rights are most at risk.

Although Scotland’s population is ageing, healthy life expectancy has reached a ten-year low, driven by persistent health inequalities that most severely affect the least affluent segments of the population. Longer life spans should mean that older people can continue making valuable contributions to society, but poor health outcomes limit many older people’s potential for employment and leisure. The next Scottish Government must develop a dedicated older people’s health and social care strategy, and accompanying action plan, setting out how public services will contribute to reducing inequalities and support everyone to achieve a longer, healthier life.

Improve and invest in tackling women’s health inequalities

• Drive the systemic change needed to ensure all women across Scotland enjoy their right to timely, accessible, suitable, and good quality healthcare.

There is growing recognition of the need to improve women’s access to and experiences of healthcare. Women’s health needs are not always the same as men’s; not just in relation to reproductive health, but also to differences in presentation and treatment of disease. Their experiences of accessing healthcare are too often more negative, and disproportionately so if they are disabled, live rurally, or belong to an ethnic minority. Prevalence of long term conditions is notably gendered, with women (43%) more likely than men (32%) to report living with a long term condition.

The Scottish Government’s Women’s Health Plan 2021-2024 was a welcome step forward, and the ALLIANCE worked to create opportunities for women to engage with the Plan. While this first plan delivered some progress, more action is urgently needed to tackle the deep-rooted and systemic health inequalities faced by women, particularly the most marginalised. To support the progressive realisation of women’s right to health, the next Scottish Government must increase investment in research and evidence-led policy and practice, improve rights-based intersectional data collection and analysis, and develop national standards and gender-competent, rights-based professional development.

Better support people with learning disabilities, autism and neurodiversity

• Pass a Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill.

Neurodiverse people and people with learning disabilities face a range of barriers to full and equal inclusion in society. For example, inappropriate use of restraint in educational settings is an ongoing issue, and progress away from institutionalisation towards independent living has stalled for too many people with learning disabilities. There is a clear need to improve the rights and protections afforded under the law, which is the context in which the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodiversity (LDAN) Bill was proposed by the current Scottish Government. However, this Bill was delayed pending further developments in other areas.

The ALLIANCE support a legislative definition and framework for supporting neurodivergent people and people with learning disabilities. The current inclusion of people with autism and learning disabilities under mental health law is inappropriate, stigmatising and leads to poor outcomes. At the same time, neurodiversity continues to be poorly understood and supported in too many circumstances. The next Scottish Government must bring forward a Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodiversity Bill, addressing input from the previous consultation and aligning with both the Mental Health Law Review and Human Rights Bill.