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Equality Strategy: Working together for Equality

Delivery arrangements

• Equality Unit

In support of Ministers, the Equality Unit will co-ordinate the delivery and implementation of the Equality Strategy. It will continue to develop the equality work of the Executive, in particular promoting and extending ownership of the equality agenda in departments and working with partners to roll out the Equality Strategy across the public sector and in all communities.

• Scottish Executive Departments

The Equality Strategy is a shared responsibility across the Executive.

Ministers and senior management have endorsed the strategy and will provide the leadership to ensure its effective implementation.

Departments will have responsibility for making sure that the objectives of the strategy are advanced, in particular that the process of mainstreaming equality into all aspects of their work is supported.

In the first 18 months of the strategy, departments will collate baseline information on equality and establish departmental equality contacts. They will contribute to the preliminary report to Parliament in Summer 2001 and to the first Scottish Executive annual report in Summer 2002. Departments will also develop equality business objectives for inclusion in business plans from April 2001.

The Executive recognises that it will take time to set in place the mainstreaming of equality and its implementation will be phased:

• Accountability

The Executive will produce an annual equality report to Parliament, beginning with a preliminary report published in Summer 2001. The first annual equality report will be published in Summer 2002.

The Executive will expect to see the development of equality reporting across the public sector. In parallel with the development of the reporting framework for the Executive's own work, there will be discussion with public sector bodies on the appropriate reporting frameworks for their interests.

• Consultation

Delivering the strategy requires effective communication between the Executive and the equality interests and communities. The strategy is intended to be a dynamic instrument to direct the work of the Executive. We expect the dialogue and consultation between the Executive and the equality interests, communities and partners to continue and develop.

The Executive will publish proposals for effective consultation and communication. These will draw on the contributions made during the consultation and on the report of the discussions held with grass-roots interests in July and August. We will also consider what can be learnt from the different methods of consultation carried out by the Executive and others, including the Race Equality Advisory Forum and Women in Scotland Consultative Forum.

• Monitoring and evaluation

The Executive can monitor and evaluate its work in several ways. It can do this through meetings, reporting, special projects or research studies. The Executive is to develop a framework for monitoring and evaluation as part of its programme of action.

The departmental review of policies, programmes, research and statistics will help to establish the baseline information necessary for effective monitoring and evaluation. The annual reporting to Parliament will be a key part of the process.

• Equality indicators

Performance indicators are essential to measure what progress is being made and to determine trends and patterns of change. They are also a useful tool in the process of highlighting issues and informing opinion.

The Executive acknowledges that we need to develop appropriate equality indicators as, in general, existing performance indicators are designed without equality considerations. This means that equality considerations have not been fully integrated into their development.

The Executive will develop appropriate equality indicators in conjunction with the statutory equality bodies and equality interests. We will draw on the experience of other organisations and specialists in the development of equality indicators.

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