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CHAPTER 10: DATA GATHERING

Introduction

10.1 Ensuring that we develop a good evidence base is key to creating public policies which understand and respond to the needs of men and women in Scotland.

10.2 As we set out in our Scheme, equality impact assessment ( EQIA) is a key mechanism for ensuring public policies consider and respond to people's different needs. Information and data about gender is vital to support officials to undertake the EQIA process and identify where they may need to adjust individual policies and strategies in order to address disadvantage and achieve greater equality between women and men.

10.3 In recognition of this, the Government made data gathering one of its gender equality scheme priorities.

What we said we would do

10.4 Chapter 9 of our gender equality scheme set out the Scottish Government's commitment to developing the evidence base, the steps we had already taken in this regard and the Government's long term strategy for gathering information and data about the experiences of women and men throughout Scotland. This strategy recognises that there is a distinct need to improve the collection and analysis of equalities data, particularly the kinds of data that is collected on the differing needs, views and experiences of men and women. Our scheme set out a number of activities to improve data including:

• Data comparing social groups - Our scheme set out the need to understand more about issues of multiple discrimination and the complex inter-linkages between gender and other equalities strands such as age, disability and gender. While we recognised the significant challenges in producing data on multiple discrimination we highlighted that we were undertaking work to integrate our five core surveys allowing us the possibility of combining samples to increase numbers.
• Exploring various methodologies - We also highlighted that we were exploring different methodologies, such as standalone, issue-focussed surveys to provide supplementary quantitative information to the larger national surveys.
• Scottish Household Survey ( SHS) - A new discrimination question has been added to the SHS which asks respondents about their experiences of verbal or physical abuse within their communities because of their gender, disability, race, faith or sexual orientation.
• Specific action by Analytical Services Divisions ( ASDs) across the Government - Our scheme highlighted that action to develop the evidence base would be needed across individual ASDs and that this would be supported by a dedicated equalities research team within Communities Analytical Services.
• Analytical Services Divisions ( ASDs) committed to:
• Procurement - putting in place monitoring arrangements to ensure that gender issues have been considered as part of the tendering/contract process.
• Consultation Registration Evaluation System ( CRES) - bringing the gender duty to the attention of policy customers through the CRES.
• Stakeholder Engagement - strengthening engagement on the production and use of analysis to help ensure that the needs of equality groups are addressed.
• Business Planning - ensuring equality is embedded into ASDs business planning.
• Equalities public duties analysts group - We also set out our intention for our equalities public duties analysts group to develop ways to support Directorates to review the effectiveness of the gender equality scheme and to inform the development of future schemes.

What we've done

10.5 We continue to work to improve the collection and analysis of equalities data, particularly in terms of the kinds of data collected on the needs, views and experiences of women and men. All national surveys break down data by some of the equalities strands and more work is being done by various divisions to link mainstreaming concerns with data collection and analysis issues. Examples of what we have done to improve the collection and analysis of data are discussed below.

Data Comparing Social Groups

10.6 The Office of Chief Statistician ( OCS) is leading on a Scottish Government Survey Harmonisation Work Programme. Although a decision has not yet be taken as to whether the five large scale surveys ¹⁷ in Scotland will be integrated, the surveys have made significant progress on harmonisation in relation to survey design (e.g. on adoption of continuous surveying, core and modular structures and on un-clustered sampling) and committing to include a core set of 20 socio-economic questions in each survey.

10.7 The Work Programme is currently developing the wording and outputs of the 20 core questions in conjunction with the large-scale survey managers, Census 2011 and the Office for National Statistics ( ONS) harmonisation team. This should facilitate harmonisation of survey outputs for the core questions, which includes the equality strands.

10.8 The first meeting of the Methodology Forum Sub-Group (of the Survey Harmonisation Work Programme) has been set for April 2008 to consider ways of combining the samples of the 5 large scale surveys (possibly as early as 2009) to provide larger, more robust samples available for analysis. This will allow for more robust breakdowns and analysis by social groups, including gender.

Exploring Various Methods

10.9 We are continuing to explore the use of standalone, issue-focused surveys to provide supplementary quantitative information to the larger national surveys. We do not currently have examples in the context of gender, but we will continue to explore, in collaboration with the Equalities Public Duties Analyst Working Group, these methods to provide supplementary quantitative information to the larger national surveys. We will support the use of such methods where we believe they would improve our evidence around gender issues (and other equality groups).

Scottish Household Survey ( SHS)

10.10 The discrimination question added to the SHS for 2007 is currently being evaluated for 2009. In the meantime, analysis of responses to the question will appear in the SHS annual report (or supplementary tables) due to be published in August 2008. This will include, where feasible, breakdown of responses by equality groups (including by gender). A similar question is also to be added to the Scottish Health Survey in 2009.

Specific Action by Analytical Services Divisions ( ASDs)

10.11 Central Support for Mainstreaming and Building Capacity - Over the last year, we have continued to mainstream equalities into the work of analysts by strengthening central support for mainstreaming, working to build capacity and make information and analysis more accessible.

10.12 We have now established a Social Justice Analytical Unit within Communities ASD which provides analytical support to the Scottish Government Equality Unit and supports mainstreaming of equalities across the three analytical groups - statistics, social research and economists. The Unit has a role to help build the capacity of analysts to provide sound equalities evidence and analysis which will inform and support policy. The Unit supports equalities mainstreaming across analytical groups to help ensure that good evidence and analysis are built into the EQIA process. The Unit developed training for ASDs on EQIAs and this was rolled out during February 2008 for all ASDs across the Scottish Government. The Unit also co-ordinated the Scottish Government's input to the ONS led Equalities Data Review of UK data on equalities.

10.13 The remainder of this section highlights examples of information gathering which has been undertaken by ASDs across the Scottish Government and describes how this information has been, and is being, used to inform policy development.

10.14 Indicators and Outcomes - The Scottish Government's performance framework was published on 14 November 2007 following the Government Spending Review ( SR). The SR framework sets out a series of high level indicators, outcomes and related targets against which the current Administration will monitor its performance.

10.15 Communities ASD will work with ASDs to ensure that the equality dimensions of these indicators, outcomes and targets are monitored and delivered in an evidence-based way. Communities ASD will also work with other bodies outwith the Scottish Government to ensure the necessary linkage between the equality dimensions of the SR framework and other frameworks used by these bodies.

10.16 The Office of the Chief Statistician ( OCS) is facilitating this process by making available to all ASDs, and others in the Scottish Government, a database of statistical outputs and sources. The database will indicate which data are available on each equality group (including gender) on each of the Scottish Government's statistical outputs and sources (170 sources and 150 outputs).

10.17 The database went 'live' on the Scottish Government's intranet on 31 January 2008 and is currently being populated with information by Statisticians across the Government. The database will be rolled out to all ASDs in spring 2008 and more widely across the Government in autumn 2008.

10.18 Further, the High Level Summary of Equality Statistics ( HLSES) published by OCS in November 2006 continues to provide an important source of evidence on equalities. The recently established Social Justice Statistics branch will review the role and scope of this publication in collaboration with the Equalities Public Duties Analysts Working Group in spring 2008.

10.19 The Office of Chief Researcher ( OCR) - report that the annual Scottish Government Employee Survey now asks for demographics on all six equality strands and about caring responsibilities. The corporate report highlights areas where there are significant differences in opinions and perceptions of the Scottish Government and its policies between different demographic groups in comparison to the findings for the organisation as a whole. The employee survey covers topics such as reward, work life balance, bullying and harassment and overall engagement.

10.20 The Scottish Social Attitudes Survey Core Module routinely collects background demographic data, including gender, for all survey respondents. Gender is also a key variable for data analysis, and any significant differences between men and women in their attitudes towards government and public services are reported in the annual Core Reports. In December 2007 we published the results of the discrimination module from the 2006 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey entitled Attitudes to Discrimination in Scotland: 2006. This provides useful information about attitudes towards discrimination in regards to gender. For example, the survey showed that just over one in five feel that a women is more suitable as primary school teacher than a man is. A similar sized minority also feel that a woman who takes time off work to have a baby should accept that she may be less likely to be promoted as a result.

10.21 OCR's ongoing analytical work on demography includes support for external research and knowledge transfer seminars exploring the theme of fertility in Scotland. This research regularly flags the key role of flexible working policies, childcare provision and the unequal household division of labour in influencing levels of fertility in Scotland.

10.22 Education Information and Analytical Services Division (Education ASD) - A significant amount of data is gathered from Scottish schools and local authorities through the ScotXed ¹⁸ Unit. The ScotXed data is analysed to highlight gender imbalance in relation to, for example, achievement and attainment of pupils and education workforce. For example, the data is used to develop and provide the secondary school sector with benchmarking data highlighting differences between the performance of boys and girls in Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework ( SCQF) courses.

10.23 Within Education ASD, all research undertaken or commissioned by the Children, Young People and Social Care Unit ( CYPSC) Unit is subject to detailed scrutiny by research advisory groups under the terms of the gender equality scheme. This includes consideration of sampling, questionnaire design and data analysis options appropriate to each project. Also within Education ASD, the Lifelong Learning Unit has been fully engaged with the Scottish Government cross-office group on occupational segregation. In so doing, the Unit has undertaken analysis to help highlight potential issues around earnings, occupations and education which are key to developing solutions to the issue of occupational segregation.

10.24 Justice Analytical Services Division - The Civil and International Research team is currently undertaking an exercise to examine existing evidence on unmet need for civil legal information, advice, assistance and representation across Scotland, as part of the Access to Justice Agenda. The evidence here will be used to report on the influence of gender on unmet civil legal need in Scotland.

10.25 Scotland's new crime survey, the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey ( SCJS), will contribute significantly to the evidence base on gender and victimisation. The fieldwork for the survey is due to begin in April 2008, and data will be available annually from late summer 2009.

10.26 The survey has a larger sample size (16,000), allowing for more data to be gathered and analysis of lower volume crimes such as serious violence. In the victim form, as per previous crime surveys, victims are asked why they felt they were a victim of crime (including discrimination), and there is additional information on harassment in the module section of the questionnaire. The SCJS also has an improved self-completion section which will provide valuable information on violence against women as the section includes questions on experience of domestic abuse and sexual victimisation as well as stalking and harassment.

10.27 Communities Analytical Services Division - The Social Justice Analytical Unit (Equalities Research team) have commissioned an academic expert to undertake a small-scale review of the National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland. This analytical paper will review relevant policy documentation, research literature and available data on domestic abuse in Scotland. The review will be used to inform development of the new Violence Against Women Strategy.

10.28 In 2008, the Equalities Research team will be updating a literature review on violence against women previously conducted in 2004, reviewing the extent of the problem, consequences of violence against women and response to the different types of violence.

10.29 Health Analytical Services Division - systematically considers equalities (including gender) in the development and future delivery of 'Better Together' - patient experience programme and in the development and roll-out of the Scottish Health Survey. Data gathered by Health ASD on equalities contributes, where appropriate, to the evidence-base of the Health Inequality Taskforce.

10.30 Local Government and Public Service Reform Research - is committed to ensuring that equality considerations are embedded within the work that they undertake. For example, the team are currently undertaking an EQIA as part of the policy development process on the introduction of a local income tax in Scotland, and have included a specific section to discuss equalities in the re-drafted version of the Pre-Expenditure Assessment guidance.

10.31 Europe, External Affairs and Culture Analytical Unit- have established the following web-page: www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Research/Research/14478/22003 which details projects where all commitments to equality were taken into account. It also highlights some projects where data has been analysed by different socio-economic and equality groups (including gender) to establish whether such groups have equal access to culture (and sport).

Procuring Social Research

10.32 The Office of Chief Researcher ( OCR) published a new version of the Guidance for Commissioning and Managing Social Research on the 15 ^th January 2008. This version includes a new separate section on mainstreaming equality issues, including gender equality in social research commissioning and management as well as other references throughout, including compliance with equalities duties. The forms used during the research procurement process have also been updated to include equalities issues.

10.33 OCR will also be undertaking further work during 2008 to develop intranet pages/click through guidance to assist with considering equalities when procuring research. There are also plans to update the contract letter so that it specifically mentions equality issues.

10.34 The CERES (Central Research) database also collects information on whether equality issues have been considered in the procurement of social research. There are plans to update this function during 2008 to make it a mandatory field completed by all research managers.

10.35 Further, the Ethics Working Group is developing a checklist for research project managers. The checklist will ask questions about whether all equalities issues have been addressed in the development, procurement and management of all social research commissioned projects.

CRES

10.36 We are currently exploring how to improve the links between the CRES system, the three public sector equality duties and the Government's equality impact assessment tool. In addition, we are reviewing our "good practice" consultation guidance to support effective engagement and consultation as part of policy development process and to update and strengthen our advice and guidance in relation to the duties and EQIA. These changes will be another mechanism to support us to mainstream gender equality across the Scottish Government.

Analytical Services Committed to Stakeholder Engagement

10.37 Stakeholder engagement is important to all our ASDs. The following paragraphs highlight the activity and progress being undertaken on engagement across the Scottish Government.

10.38 Office of Chief Statistician - One of the key roles of OCS is to provide strategic and professional guidance to Scottish Government statisticians across the Government. OCS plans to produce 'best practice' consultation guidance for statisticians. Alongside encouraging stakeholder engagement, this guidance will include a section on working with equality groups/stakeholders (including those with an interest in gender). This guidance will be circulated in Spring/Summer 2008.

10.39 OCS is also currently reviewing the ScotStat Consultation Network - the Scottish Government's official consultation network for users and providers of Scottish official statistics. The network comprises the ScotStat web-site and a large database of ScotStat members. The web-site is currently under reconstruction (due to be re-launched in spring 2008). The 'new' web-site will be more user-friendly to ensure that stakeholders are kept informed about statistical products and issues which would include those with a focus on gender and other equality groups.

10.40 Office of Chief Researcher - is just about to commission the Scottish Government's Stakeholder Survey which aims to obtain views and opinions from key stakeholders on the new working relationships with Local Government partners, and contribution of these towards achieving the five new strategic outcomes. A key output of the survey is a guidance document on 'best practice' in building and maintaining effective stakeholder relationships.

10.41 Education Information and Analytical Services Division - The ScotXed Unit plays a pivotal role in partnership working with a wide range of stakeholders from across the Scottish education community. Any work plans are approved by a strategic group which oversees and directs ScotXed activity to ensure the Unit is inclusive in terms of engagement and activity where possible (including with equality groups).

10.42 The CYPSC unit routinely engages with a wide range of stakeholder organisations to ensure that evidence is gathered and analysed appropriately with respect to all equality groups. A significant recent area of activity to develop an action plan for children affected by domestic abuse, has been specifically designed to engage children and young people directly in the policy making process.

10.43 Justice Analytical Services Division - As part of the Civil Judicial Statistics Review, Civil and International Analytical Research team have consulted with key stakeholders (Equality and Human Rights Commission, Glasgow Women's Support Project and Scottish Women's Aid) in relation to gender equality.

10.44 For example, the team organised a programme of focus groups to consult with a range of stakeholders on "Organising Child Contact". The focus groups followed on from a highly successful one-day seminar that brought together academics, professionals and voluntary sector organisations to discuss issues around the current legal framework for contact between children and non-resident parents. Key concerns over domestic violence and abuse that were raised during the seminar were discussed with Scottish Women's Aid to explore the publication of research that examines the effect of domestic violence on children.

10.45 Through such dynamic process of engagement with stakeholders the team will develop, with reference to the equality agenda, a programme of research on contact and family law.

10.46 In developing the new self-completion section on domestic abuse and sexual victimisation in the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey ( SCJS), the Court Affairs, Prisons and Offenders Analytical Research team have worked in partnership with the Violence Against Women team to review coverage of these issues in the 2006 Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey and make improvements for the future. Scottish Women's Aid, Rape Crisis and Routes Out were also consulted on exact wording and content of questions for the new SCJS, using in depth cognitive testing techniques to ensure that the best possible data is gathered on these issues.

Analytical Services Committed to Business Planning

10.47 We recognise the importance of continually improving the quality of our evidence, particularly in terms of equality data. In particular, we understand the need to provide a comprehensive picture of the experiences of equalities groups and explore where differences between social groups may be due to disadvantage arising from inequality of opportunity and/or discrimination.

10.48 The gender equality duty requires us to gather and analyse information in order to develop gender equality action plans and to review the effectiveness of those action plans. We recognise the importance of gathering information to inform these action plans. ASDs are focusing on (and committed to) assisting Directorates to gather information in relation to the actions identified in their business plans, supporting equality mainstreaming in the business planning process. This information will inform EQIA and policy development as well as systems for monitoring and recording - enabling a better understanding of the effectiveness of policies and the outcomes for gender equality.

10.49 Therefore, ensuring equality is embedded into ASD business planning is a priority for all ASDs and by using the new Scottish Government Business Planning tool we ensure regular monitoring of progress against agreed milestones.

Equalities Public Duties Analysts Group

10.50 This group was first established in 2006 to address more specific issues around definitions, data collection and use of evidence/data. Its members are drawn from across the Scottish Government's ASDs and the group provides practical support and advice on mainstreaming equalities across analyst groups. The Group has received training on EQIAs and the Equalities Review and has begun to look at better ways of ensuring that equality data are accessible and available to policy at the right time. This first stage has been to collate equalities data which relate to the Scottish Government main priorities and themes.

10.51 Work is currently on-going to improve analytical support to EQIAs and to look at options for improving the consistency of data collected across research and surveys. To improve how the group can provide support it is currently under review and will be re-launched in spring 2008.

Chapter Conclusion

10.52 Undertaking research and gathering information through national surveys and other measures takes time. Analysis of data and the subsequent refinement of policy or development of new initiatives can also take time. Given that the gender equality duty has been in place for only one year and this is our first annual report on our gender equality scheme we are clearly limited in what we can report at this stage, particularly in relation to the use made of information gathered.

10.53 However, the preceding pages highlight progress we have made on what we said we would do on data gathering in the gender equality duty 2007. They also describe how this information has been and is being used to inform policy development.

10.54 Future annual reports will report more substantially on this aspect of the gender equality duty.

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