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Equality Strategy: Working together for Equality

Executive strategy and action

• Strategic aims and vision

The Scottish Executive has a vision of an open, just and inclusive Scotland where respect and understanding are fostered and where everyone is encouraged and enabled to live, work and take part in society to their full potential, free from prejudice and discrimination.

The Executive's strategy aims to achieve this vision by seeking to:

• make sure that an equality perspective is integrated into the Executive's work and activity - in policy and programme development, legislation and spending plans, service design and delivery
• follow policies and programmes that seek to address the inequalities and exclusion which result from discrimination
• extend the ownership of and commitment to this strategy to all key public, private and voluntary sector bodies, equality specialists, academics and trade unions
• promote the inclusion of under-represented groups in policymaking, decision-making and public appointments
• foster greater understanding of and respect for Scotland's different communities
• educate and raise awareness about discrimination and the need for it to be challenged
• build and promote the Executive as an organisation that is effective, open and accessible, which broadly reflects the communities it serves and is committed to equality of opportunity

• Strategic objectives

The Equality Strategy will focus on three strategic objectives:

• making better policy and providing better services
• promoting equal opportunities and tackling discrimination
• being a good employer

• Making better policy and providing better services

This element has been sub-divided into Mainstreaming, Consultation and Research and Measurement.

• Mainstreaming

The Scottish Executive must make sure that in all its activities it seeks to meet the needs of the people it serves, and that services are delivered with equity and fairness.

This means that the Executive must make sure that equality issues are considered in the formulation, design and delivery of policy/legislation/services. This approach will make sure that equality is considered in the development of policy from the start and is not a 'bolt-on' at the end of the process. It complements the traditional approaches to promoting equality, such as legislation and positive action.

The Executive will also work to assess the equality impact of spending plans and decisions, as part of the mainstreaming agenda.

Consultation

The effective mainstreaming of equality will be helped by the input of different interests and communities to the development of policy. This is a fundamental part of the Executive's strategy and was the subject of much comment during the consultation.

In partnership with the relevant bodies, the Executive will develop proposals for structures, mechanisms and networks so that the different equality communities can take part in effective dialogue and consultation.

The Executive will consider the recommendations that the Race Equality Advisory Forum are about to make on appropriate consultation with ethnic minorities, and it will review the role and remit of the Women in Scotland Consultative Forum. Mechanisms for more effective consultation will also be developed with people with disabilities and disability organisations. The Executive will look at what immediate support is needed to develop effective consultative frameworks in the three statutory equality areas, and begin to address the needs of other equality groups such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities and travelling people.

Research and measurement

The Scottish Executive recognises the importance of making sure that information on different equality groups (disaggregated data) is available to inform and support the process of mainstreaming and developing work on equality.

The Executive is committed to developing better statistics that provide information for different equality groups. This is being taken forward specifically through providing better information about data sources and publishing statistics in various formats (eg subject specific statistical bulletins from statistics branches, Scottish Abstract of Statistics, Scottish Economic Bulletin, Scottish Household Survey, a proposed publication of Scottish Social Statistics, and the publication of a series of equality statistics fact cards).

The Executive has produced a Guide to Sources for equality statistics and intends to produce statistics comparing the position of men and women (gender disaggregated statistics) in Spring 2001.

But it is important that there is wider consultation with people who use equality statistics, and that the usefulness of publishing statistics in various formats is evaluated. Consultation is also important to identify gaps in data and to work out priorities for filling them.

The Executive intends to start this process with a seminar for equality statistics users. Measures to improve publication of equality statistics will be reviewed in discussions with statistics users. The Social Justice annual report will include a breakdown of the milestones by age, gender, ethnicity and disability status where data sources allow. It will also include a commitment to extend the range of sources from which these data can be drawn.

The Executive recognises that research is a key component of mainstreaming. Research identifies issues to be addressed, provides the evidence to support action and can help to signpost appropriate solutions to problems.

A research strategy to support mainstreaming is needed. This strategy will aim to make sure that all research projects commissioned by the Executive include equality categories as part of their data collection and analysis, where this is possible and appropriate. It will also include the development of cross cutting research on equality themes, and specific projects relevant to equality issues in particular policy areas.

• Promoting equal opportunities

Raising awareness and promoting best practice

Raising awareness of equality issues and promoting equal opportunities are vital. The Executive will work closely in partnership with the statutory equality bodies, public bodies, local authorities, trade unions, voluntary sector, business and the full range of equality interests. An equalities social justice action note will be published early next year.

The Scottish Executive wants to bring the issues of equality to public attention. We recognise the need to raise awareness about existing rights and entitlements. We also believe that increasing awareness and understanding can help to create a climate in which respect is fostered and prejudice is unacceptable. The Executive will work with equality interests and the statutory bodies to decide on the appropriate way forward.

Consultation on the strategy highlighted the need to spread good practice on equal opportunities. The Executive recognises the value of sharing good practice. We will discuss with partners what we can all contribute to the exchange of information and the effective sharing of good practice.

Communications

People who responded to the consultation document were clear in their concern to see the Executive improve its communications with external bodies, especially those with particular needs.

The Scottish Executive held four consultations with grass-roots organisations in July and August 2000 at which it asked for specific suggestions on communication and consultation. A report
of the meetings will further inform the Executive's approach to improving internal and external communications on equality issues.

Internally, the Executive will be developing standard practice on access to alternative formats and guidance for good practice in consultation with equality groups. As part of its communications strategy, it will consider advice on the use of equality sensitive language, and
it will determine what equality information is required and in what format.

The language of legislation is also an important signal of the Executive's commitment to greater equality. When drafting Acts of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Statutory Instruments, the Executive will do so in gender neutral terms whenever practicable. It will not be possible to avoid gender specific terms completely where existing legislation, which has not been drafted in gender neutral form, is being amended, but these will be kept to a minimum.

Developing partnerships

A key element of our strategy is extending the commitment on equality across the public sector, in partnership with public sector bodies. This will be vital for delivering change and successfully implementing equal opportunities policy and practice. We will develop a programme to roll out the strategy and encourage the development of customised action plans.

The Scottish Executive will encourage the promotion of equal opportunities across the public sector. The Race Relations Amendment Bill currently before the UK Parliament introduces a statutory duty on the public sector to promote race equality. That provides an opportunity for
the Executive, in partnership with the CRE and the other statutory equality bodies, to explore
with public bodies what action should be taken to promote equal opportunities more broadly in the Scottish context.

Local authorities are our largest partners in delivering public services in Scotland. Since devolution, the Executive and Scottish local authorities have worked in partnership to develop
a new approach to managing local authority services, called Best Value.

From the start, the principles and essential elements of Best Value in Scotland have included a strong commitment to equality, because integration of equality issues is essential to deliver the quality of services that meet the needs of the whole community. Best Value offers local authorities the chance to integrate key policy aims like equality into their corporate processes, and to achieve those aims through effective consultation, rigorous reviews, challenging targets and quality reporting.

In the most recent consultation paper on Best Value, published on 8 June 2000, Scottish Ministers asked whether equality, and other key elements of Best Value, should be included in a legislative definition of Best Value, or whether it could be explained in guidance. The Executive
is currently considering the responses to the consultation. It is also considering whether to amend Part 2 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1988 to allow workforce matters and equality issues to be taken into account in the exercise of functions relating to public supply or works contracts.

The Executive also acknowledges the importance of involving the voluntary and private sectors in developing and promoting equal opportunities, and will develop partnership working with these sectors.

Increasing the level of underrepresented groups in public appointments

Women, people from ethnic minority communities and people with disabilities are all under-represented in the public appointments system. The Scottish Executive is determined to address this situation.

A consultation paper, Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland: Modernising the System, was published in February as the first stage in the process of making the system fairer, more open, and genuinely representative of Scottish society as a whole. Ministers are currently considering which changes to introduce in light of responses received.

Addressing the issue of representation necessarily requires a strong focus on equality and diversity, both at the appointments process stage, and at the post-appointment level. The Executive is determined to address these issues and to set up an appointments system that is fair and open at all levels.

• Being a good employer

As an employer, the Scottish Executive is committed to promoting equal opportunities for all its people and to achieving a significant increase in the diversity of its staff. The Executive's commitment to equal opportunities comes from the fact that it is right, that it is necessary to maintain and improve the reputation and the effectiveness of the organisation, and that it is a policy commitment in its Programme for Government.

The Executive as an employer must be open and accessible to people with appropriate skills and abilities from all parts of the society that it serves. The Executive needs to be able to draw on people whose diversity reflects that of the population of Scotland at large so that it can be more effective in developing policy. We have an established reputation as an equal opportunities employer. A recent survey found that more than 75% of staff believe that the Executive treats people fairly. There is still scope to do better.

In the Executive, the Equal Opportunities Unit in the Directorate for Civil Service Reform takes the lead on these issues. The Unit maintains close and effective links with the Equality Unit. The Equal Opportunities Unit is charged with leading the work aimed at making sure the Executive becomes and remains a model equal opportunities employer.

To achieve that aim, a long term diversity strategy for the Executive is soon to be launched. A group led by the Executive and involving representatives from the Equality Unit, the Executive's Trade Union Side and representatives from the Commission for Racial Equality and Equal Opportunities Commission has been involved in developing this strategy.

The main immediate focus of the strategy is to increase the numbers of employees from previously under-represented groups, especially at senior levels. Diversity objectives are also
to be set in the business plans developed across the Executive. A longer term objective of the strategy is to value and manage diversity in the Executive. This means valuing people as individuals and making the best use of everyone's talent and potential.

The diversity strategy recognises the importance of raising awareness of equality and diversity issues within the Executive. It identifies the need for strong, visible leadership, the need for managers to be more confident in dealing with equality issues, and the need to bring in and develop staff from a more diverse background.

The strategy includes an action plan and a series of stretching targets. The diversity strategy will complement the Equality Strategy and in part aims to ensure that staff in the Executive are better equipped to meet the challenges of the Equality Strategy.

The joint training programme under development illustrates this joined up approach to developing these two strands of work. As the Executive develops its new diversity strategy, it will aim to share and support the development of good practice with others across the public sector and in all communities.

Targets for improving representation

Percentage targets have now been set for the proportion of the key under-represented groups in the Senior Civil Service (SCS) as a whole and the Scottish Executive will be making a contribution to achieving these. The Executive has also set its own targets for other Bands. The targets are set out below and progress towards reaching these targets will be monitored and reported on regularly.

*Information not publicly available to preserve confidentiality

But these targets are not end in themselves. They are simply milestones along the way.

The Executive has identified an extensive list of actions to be taken under the diversity strategy. These range from supporting networks for ethnic minority and part-time staff, to developing further family friendly measures in the area of childcare and to extending equality monitoring
to all key personnel processes. The actions include promoting the increased development and availability of alternative working patterns, and targeted efforts to increase the number of people from ethnic minorities applying to join the Executive.

Further actions under the diversity strategy range from changes in the corporate induction process to awareness raising activity; from promotion of networks for under-represented groups to incorporation of measurable diversity equality objectives for individual managers.

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