The Scottish government has come under fire for dropping human rights legislation from the coming year’s Programme for Government, with one MSP suggesting it is part of a wider set of decisions that will disadvantage disabled people.

The Programme for Government unveiled by First Minster John Swinney yesterday included 14 new pieces of legislation to be brought in over the course of the parliamentary year to add to the 12 Bills already being considered by MSPs.

None of the new Bills affect the delivery of health and care services.

In its manifesto ahead of the last Holyrood election, the SNP undertook to broaden human rights laws including embedding the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into Scots Law.

Last summer ministers published plans for a Human Rights Bill saying the legislation would be brought to parliament for consideration during the current session, which ends in 2026.

The Chief Officer of the Health and Social Care ALLIANCE Scotland, Sara Redmond, said, while she was pleased to see a commitment to accelerate action to mainstream human rights and equality in all government and public sector work, she was “incredibly disappointed” by the decision not to include a Human Rights Bill in the legislative programme:

“The Scottish government is at risk of breaking the promise it has made to the people of Scotland to put more of their rights firmly in law, including greater protections for women, people from minority ethnic communities, and disabled people. We call on the Scottish government to bring forward the Human Rights Bill as a matter of urgency.”

At First Minister’s Questions in parliament today, Scottish Labour Equalities and Social Justice spokesperson, Paul O’Kane, said the Human Rights Bill was one of several policy commitments that should have been included.

“Deeply disappointing, unjustifiable and a breach of trust, is how human rights organisations like the Scottish Human Rights Commission Amnesty and the Human Rights Consortium have described the government abandoning human rights legislation from the session of parliament,” he said in a question to the First Minister, adding:

“Coupled with the apparent abandoning of the Learning Disability, Neurodiversity and Autism Bill, and decisions such as re-profiling £10m of money for Changing Places toilets, what does the First Minister think that says to disabled people, and what does he think, more widely, it says to people whose human rights are often most at risk? “

The Scottish government launched a consultation on proposals for a Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill last December.

The decision to push back the launch of a Changing Places Toilet Fund was one of the measures included in the Finance Secretary Shona Robison’s package of in-year cuts to balance the books, announced on Tuesday.

In response to Mr O’Kane, the First Minster said the government takes a number of steps to ensure that the rights and the support for disabled people are taken forward, adding:

“Over the summer, I met, along with the equalities minister, the Glasgow Disability Alliance and a number of other organisations representing people with disabilities in Glasgow, and we had a very open conversation about some of the issues that required to be addressed.

“I can assure Mr O’Kane and stakeholders that the government takes very seriously these issues, and will take all practical steps, we can address the issues that are of concern.”

Read more: Call for national dialogue on disabled children’s care; A ‘dispiriting picture’: human rights in prisons; Council care failures echo Shakespearean tragedy

Sign up to our bulletin for key health & social care updates straight to your inbox.