Kayleigh Kinross-O'Neill
Scottish Green Party · Scotland
“The statement refers to a shift towards bringing care closer to home, which we welcome. Figures that were published by Macmillan Cancer Support show that nearly a quarter of Scottish cancer patients lack specialist support. In my region, Edinburgh cancer centre improvements remain paused, due to constraints on capital funding.”
“There is a list of projects that we have delivered in the past five years, there are projects under construction and there are projects in development. I should afford the member a very detailed response to her serious question, and I will do so in writing as soon as possible.”
“I, too, refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests—I am a City of Edinburgh Council councillor. Families who are excluded from social security support due to immigration status are especially at risk of poverty.”
“Shirley-Anne Somerville: It is very important that we are exceptionally careful about any programme that is put in place for those who have no recourse to public funds. The last thing that the vast majority of us would want to do is to damage anyone’s immigration status and their journey through the immigration system.”
“In Scotland, the disability employment gap is about 50 per cent, which is a startling and harrowing statistic, and the gap for autistic folks is closer to 30 per cent. That shows that they are further marginalised through a lack of clear avenues of support in the community.”
“As Dawn Black mentioned, there has been an increase in the number of women with an ADHD diagnosis, due to testing and assessment having historically been geared towards young boys. ADHD might not be picked up among girls, because girls are less likely to have symptoms of hyperactivity.”
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“There is a list of projects that we have delivered in the past five years, there are projects under construction and there are projects in development. I should afford the member a very detailed response to her serious question, and I will do so in writing as soon as possible.”
“The statement refers to a shift towards bringing care closer to home, which we welcome. Figures that were published by Macmillan Cancer Support show that nearly a quarter of Scottish cancer patients lack specialist support. In my region, Edinburgh cancer centre improvements remain paused, due to constraints on capital funding. Will the cabinet secretary provide a timeline for those in the east of the country who are still waiting for updates and specialist care? Angela Constance: As would be expected from the health secretary, I recognise the importance of cancer care. We still need to overcome many challenges in that care, notwithstanding the fact that the risk of dying from cancer in Scotland is the lowest that it has ever been.”
“We are working with the British Red Cross and others to ensure that support can be provided within the powers and limitations that we have at this time.”
“Shirley-Anne Somerville: It is very important that we are exceptionally careful about any programme that is put in place for those who have no recourse to public funds. The last thing that the vast majority of us would want to do is to damage anyone’s immigration status and their journey through the immigration system. There are limitations to what can be done. The UK Government sets the rules about what can and cannot be given by way of social security; for example, we cannot give the Scottish child payment to such families. However, we work with third sector partners to investigate what we can do, because the failing parts of the immigration system draw people in Scotland into destitution.”
“I, too, refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests—I am a City of Edinburgh Council councillor. Families who are excluded from social security support due to immigration status are especially at risk of poverty. The Child Poverty Action Group identified that local authority powers under section 2 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 can be used to provide cash payments to those families without contravening the rules on no recourse to public funds. The Scottish Greens made the same call during the recent election. Will the cabinet secretary commit to providing guidance to all local authorities to deliver those payments, of an amount at least equivalent to the Scottish child payment, to children whose families are in that position?”
“Moreover, as decision makers in the Parliament, all members play a part in inclusion, too, whether that be advocating for our most vulnerable in every area in which the Parliament holds a remit or fighting against far-right nonsense that paracetamol or vaccines cause autism, which is just eugenics wrapped in—quote, unquote—“efficiencies”. It is positive that we are now acknowledging these existences. As a society, as parliamentarians and as people, we have a duty to provide the basic support that everyone needs. Autistic people and people with ADHD have always been around and always will be. With decency and humanity, they can live their best lives, and that is the best life outcome. 18:30”
“In Scotland, the disability employment gap is about 50 per cent, which is a startling and harrowing statistic, and the gap for autistic folks is closer to 30 per cent. That shows that they are further marginalised through a lack of clear avenues of support in the community. Before my meander into politics, I worked at Inclusion Scotland, the nation’s leading voice on disability rights. I helped to set up internships in the public and third sectors for disabled people and autistic people who might not otherwise be able to engage with or enter the job market through traditional means, and I worked equally with individuals and employers to ensure that accessibility and inclusion were key at all stages. I mention that, because I believe that employers have a duty to include everyone.”
“We discussed the increased demand, which Helen McDade’s motion mentions, but I do not think that that means solely that more people are coming out as autistic these days. After all, we must remember that, 40 or 50 years ago, people—not all, but some—were probably institutionalised or left to suffer in silence, whereas more people are now able to notice the symptoms and reach out for support as a start. We all know that diagnosis can be a powerful tool, but it is not the be-all and end-all. Many people seek a diagnosis to confirm what they have always known and believed in themselves, to enable them to access local support services or to allow them to be the best advocate for themselves in the workplace. I also want to touch on employment.”
“As Dawn Black mentioned, there has been an increase in the number of women with an ADHD diagnosis, due to testing and assessment having historically been geared towards young boys. ADHD might not be picked up among girls, because girls are less likely to have symptoms of hyperactivity. As the member said, they mask for a longer period and their conditions can be ignored or misdiagnosed, which can have an impact for the rest of their lives. Symptoms not only differ between the genders but can be worsened by puberty, menopause and the other societal barriers and stigma that women already face. This morning, I met Scottish Autism, a great organisation, and learned about the fantastic work that it does through its outreach services and its evolving approach to education.”
“I sincerely thank Helen McDade for lodging the motion for debate. I have close lived experience of autism and ADHD, and I know from my inbox that there is a widespread issue with waiting times for assessments. In East Lothian, for example, the number of adults waiting for an ADHD assessment from NHS Lothian is in the thousands, but only 120 assessments were completed between January and August 2025. That is not a dig at the exceptional people who deliver the service and those who advocate for better treatment, but it is a sign that the work has not been mainstreamed enough. Strategies have been bold but are not as tangible as they could be, and practice can vary depending on age, gender and geography, as we have heard from other speakers.”
“In a former ministerial role, I was the Minister for Youth Employment, so I am committed to vocational learning and models that are otherwise adapted with regard to what we have learned from the success of apprenticeship-type models.”
“I echo the cabinet secretary’s appreciation of, and sincere thanks for, the exceptional dedication of midwives. When they start their journey as midwifery students, there are often barriers to their staying in the sector due to the costs of living and studying. Will the cabinet secretary confirm whether the review will also look at paying midwifery students while they learn? Angela Constance: The purpose of the midwifery and nursing task force is to look at those issues, and I mentioned the work that Maree Todd will be leading on apprenticeships. Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill raised an interesting point about earn-as-you-learn routes into the profession.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to help eligible applicants for adult disability payment access the support that they need, in light of the reported fall in the proportion of applications approved from 57 per cent to 34 per cent. (S7O-00025)”
“That is why the Deputy First Minister’s guidance put them front and centre and put our support behind them. Support is also vital. As I have reflected, we have heard calls for increased national support, which will now be provided. Ms Kinross-O’Neill is absolutely right to remind us of the importance of the views of children and young people. That is central to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and our belief in getting it right for every child. Children and young people have already been engaged through the development of the guidance, and I assure her that that approach will be front and centre as we take forward the legislation. However, it is also worth saying that, as adults in society, we have an obligation to act when we believe that something is harming our children.”
“The cabinet secretary has outlined that existing guidance gives schools the power to ban the use of mobile phones, with the Government’s support. Although we look forward to reading the proposed bill, we believe that the emphasis should first be on placing trust in teachers and providing them with resources so that they can do what is best for their own classrooms, as well as on ensuring that guidance is implemented as uniformly as possible. How will children and young people from across the country—especially those with additional support needs, who have already been mentioned—be effectively and meaningfully consulted beforehand? Màiri McAllan: Trust is vital, and we absolutely trust our school leaders and teachers to lead the policy.”
“I know that we cannot fix our inherent and systemic problems overnight but, with hope, honesty and respect, independence can and will be the real driver towards a better, greener future for all. The Deputy Presiding Officer: I call George Adam, to be followed by Emma Roddick. You have up to a generous seven-and-a-half minutes, Mr Adam. 15:42”
“I am disabled not solely because of my illness but because of the barriers that I face every day— in healthcare, in moving around, in accessing support and in just trying to live my life like anybody else. In that sense, Scotland has been disabled not by an inherent illness, but because we are held back by the needless barriers that Westminster has erected and the arrogant presumption that it knows better than we, the people of Scotland. Following the election, and throughout the parliamentary session, I am determined to see bold change. We cannot go on under the same pressure, disrespect and uncertainty. We must create a fresh start with independence, with the emphasis on that being the start of Scotland’s progressive journey, not a final destination in itself.”
“Scope, a disability equality charity, states: “The social model of disability is a way of viewing the world … The model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or condition.” That counters the medical model way of thinking, which focuses only on what a person currently has, instead of what they actually need. Scope goes on to say that that model “creates low expectations and leads to people losing independence, choice and control in their lives.” I will give an example that brings that a bit closer to home. Until this session of Parliament, we could not have had a Presiding Officer in a wheelchair— not because members should have been expected to fix themselves or sit aside and assume that they would never be elected anyway, but because the steps to the chair excluded equal opportunity.”
“I was not old enough to vote in 2014, but the result left me and many of my generation feeling helpless about our future—the same type of helplessness that was forced on us by the Brexit vote. The truth is that, when living with the threat of having personal independence taken away, seeing it happen to everyone in Scotland becomes painful. As a disabled person, I know all too well what it is like to have people above me tell me what I am and am not capable of. We are vilified by the media and the right-wing pundits in order to distract people from the real greed and fraud that prop up this system. Our existence and authority are constantly under scrutiny. I will bring those comparisons together and touch briefly on the social model of disability.”
“Because the subject is so important to me, it felt fitting that one of the first pieces of engagement that I undertook with my new constituents—an Instagram story—should be on independence. I asked a range of folk for their thoughts, and they said that independence is equality, democracy, internationalism and solidarity; it is trust in making our own decisions and the freedom to make our own laws for ourselves; it is the power to be radical and make the change that is needed for people and for the planet; it is hope and choice, and an opportunity to rejoin the European Union; and it is hope that there may still be any alternative to all that we are ever given.”
“I did not live through the Thatcher years, but I lived through the trauma, uncertainty, austerity and anger that passes through generations in our communities. The failed Thatcherite experiments that still cause so much damage to those communities through issues ranging from privatised bus networks to sewage polluting our natural environment need to come to an end. Independence provides a fresh start: a break from the past, and an opportunity to build a better Scotland that works for all. Because of that, the vision of an independent Scotland has always struck a chord with me on a personal level, and I know that a lot of people my age feel the same way.”
“I open by recognising what a huge privilege it is to speak in the chamber, as I am doing for the first time, not least in a debate about securing a positive future for Scotland—a fairer, greener and independent Scotland. I was born only a couple of months before the reconvening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. I say that not to make some people feel a bit old but to say that devolution and I have grown up together. Deputy Presiding Officer, I grew up in your constituency, in Motherwell, where the ghosts of cooling towers sit above hopeful regeneration while thousands of families who are still affected by job losses struggle to this day. I watched my uncles, grandparents and family friends become shells of themselves following years of underemployment and unemployment due to their livelihoods being pulled from under them.”
“Before I begin my affirmation, I would like to state that the people of Scotland are sovereign. I, Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill, do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm, that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law. Wierzę w suwerenność narodu szkockiego. Ja, Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill, uroczyście, szczerze i zgodnie z prawdą oświadczam i ślubuję, że zgodnie z prawem, będę wierna i lojalna Jego Królewskiej Mości Królowi Karolowi, jego dziedzicom i nastepcom.”