Jan Savage

Published in January 2025, the commission’s findings indicate that people with learning disabilities and autistic people are still being held in institutions in breach of their human rights under Article 19 of the UN Convention on Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Jan Savage, executive director, gave evidence alongside Oonagh Brown, participation and policy officer, and Cathy Asante, legal officer, from the SHRC.

Ms Savage said: “The starkest finding is that there has been no change in outcomes over a lengthy period of time. People continue to spend many years in hospital and those numbers did not greatly reduce as intended.

“We report emerging concerns that we may find evidence of violations of rights that are protected by the European Convention of Human Rights by the Human Rights Act, that is Article 3 the right to be free from inhuman and degrading treatment, Article 5 the right to liberty and Article 8 the right to family life.

“Hearing directly from people in this situation has been sobering and distressing and it continues to be.

“It is important that the focus is not on justifying these continued situations because it is difficult and it’s challenging to get things right, but we focus on ending the situation and we do so urgently.

“We welcome the committee’s continued scrutiny of our findings, the questions arising from our findings, and on progress from here from duty bearers, regulators and the Scottish government.”