Friday30 October 2009
Mainstreaming Equalities Event
CONTENTS
Friday30 October 2009
Col.
Welcome and Opening Presentations...... 1
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Alasdair Morgan)...... 1
Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con)...... 2
Yvonne Strachan (Scottish Government Equality Unit) ...... 4
Dr Ailsa McKay (GlasgowCaledonianUniversity)...... 9
Open Discussion...... 14
Reports from Breakout Discussions...... 19
Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP)...... 19
Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab)...... 20
Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP)...... 21
John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP)...... 23
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)...... 24
Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con)...... 25
Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP)...... 27
Open Discussion...... 29
2930 October 200930
Equal Opportunities Committee
Mainstreaming Equalities Event
Friday30 October 2009
[The Deputy Presiding Officer opened the event at 10:00]
Welcome and Opening Presentations
10:00
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Alasdair Morgan): Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is a great pleasure to welcome you here for this Equal Opportunities Committee event on the mainstreaming of equalities issues into the work of the Parliament’s committees.
When the Parliament was reconvened 10 years ago, we had four principles in mind: accountability, equal opportunities, accessibility and the sharing of power. We have taken our commitment to those principles very seriously, and have worked hard to open Parliament’s doors and engage with all the people of Scotland.
In this year, which is, as you will probably know, our 10th anniversary year, we have undertaken a number of activities that have been aimed at making the Parliament even more open and accessible to all the people of Scotland. One of those activities has been our community partnerships project, which aims to reach out to people who have traditionally been underrepresented in political life, but we have also undertaken other initiatives that have been aimed at ensuring that equalities issues are considered in everything that the Parliament does as an organisation.
Today’s event focuses on the committees of the Parliament. Their job, as you know, is to scrutinise the work of the Government and legislation that is going through the Parliament. Today, we have with us members and officials from the various subject committees as well as members of the Equal Opportunities Committee.
It is also a great pleasure to welcome all the non-parliamentarians who are here today. You are particularly important to today’s event, as you will have the chance to share your views on how, or whether, the Parliament’s committees have successfully mainstreamed equalities in the work that they do, and on whether those changes have affected how you participate in the parliamentary process. You will have your chance to do that in the workshops that will follow this part of the event, which will for most of you be in the committee rooms that the committees use in their day-to-day work. We will hear the outcomes of those workshops when we reconvene back here at around 12 o’ clock.
Before we hear from our two keynote speakers, I invite Margaret Mitchell MSP, the convener of the Equal Opportunities Committee, to say a few words on behalf of the committee that has organised today’s event.
10:02
Margaret Mitchell (Central Scotland) (Con): Good morning, everyone, and thank you, Presiding Officer. I was on automatic pilot when you came in and so was ready to stand to attention, as MSPs always do when the Presiding Officers come into the chamber.
It is important to stress at the outset that equal opportunities is one of the founding principles of the Scottish Parliament. As such, our purpose this morning is to discuss what that means in practice for the Parliament’s committees.
There are two main triggers for having this discussion today. The first is the recent change to standing orders—the rules that guide the work of the Parliament and its committees—which means that all committees will have to report publicly each year on the equal opportunities work that they have undertaken. The second trigger is the Equal Opportunities Committee’sguidance that was issued to committees to help them with consideration of equal opportunities in their work. That guidance suggests practical ways in which equal opportunities considerations can be built into the committees’ work. For example, as a first step, it is suggested that committees could receive an informal briefing from their stakeholders and the Scottish Government on key equal opportunities issues within their remit. It is hoped that today’s event will help towards providing such briefings. The guidance also focuses on key pieces of work that committees undertake, such as scrutinising legislation and carrying out inquiries.
I will turn first to scrutinising legislation. All bills must be accompanied by a policy memorandum, which must include an assessment of the bill’s impact on equal opportunities. For the avoidance of doubt, that means issues of fairness. Furthermore, lead committees must consider and report on the policy memorandum in their stage 1 reports. The Equal Opportunities Committee’s guidelines therefore highlighted a number of ways in which scrutiny of these policy memorandums could be more effective.
In carrying out inquiries and devising remits, committees should consider whether there are any specific equal opportunities questions that they should ask. They should also consider whether there are issues that may be of particular concern to a specific equal opportunities group. The equal opportunities guidance is not exhaustive: it merely gives committees practical examples of how to factor in equal opportunities issuesmeaningfully. Committees may well develop their own good practice and share it with others, in which event the guidance will be changed accordingly. That is where your co-operation and participation today will be important. Today’s event provides the opportunity for interaction among stakeholders, committee conveners and members. Stakeholders can discuss what could and—perhaps more important—what should be done in the committees to build in equal opportunities.
Given that a fundamental part of the committees’ work is to scrutinise the Scottish Government, the guidance also refers to relevant activity that is being undertaken by the Scottish Government. I am pleased to say that Yvonne Strachan, who is head of the Scottish Government’s equality unit, is with us today to give a factual outline of the key equality legislation and Scottish Government policy. Her presentation will demonstrate exactly why equal opportunities is relevant to all committees.
I will outline some of the practical arrangements for today. After the speeches in the chamber, we will move to the committee rooms for discussions on how equality issues can be relevant to all subject committees. That will be a key opportunity for us to hear your views. In the longer term, I hope that today’s event will help to reinforce the point that equality groups should raise any concerns that they have with the relevant subject committee as well as with the Equal Opportunities Committee. I reinforce the point that equality is not just a matter for the Equal Opportunities Committee but is relevant to every single committee in the Parliament. I hope that today’s event will enable you to establish closer links with members of other committees.
The Equal Opportunities Committee is keen to cover issues that are relevant to the widest possible group of people, which are often cross-cutting issues. To aid the committee in that objective, we seek your ideas. Given that we have so many experts assembled here this morning, we consider the event a golden opportunity to get your suggestions as to what the committee’s forthcoming work should focus on. On each desk, you will find a feedback form that asks you to rate today’s event, but which crucially also includes a space for your suggestions on future areas of work for the committee. I would be grateful if you could fill in the form by the end of the day and leave it on your desk for a member of staff to pick up. I add one proviso: there is, of course, no guarantee that your suggestions will be used, but they will certainly inform the committee’s forthcoming away day.
Finally, I hope that you all enjoy this morning’s event and find it worth while. [Applause.]
The Deputy Presiding Officer: Thanks, Margaret. I ask Yvonne Strachan, who is head of the equality unit at the Scottish Government, to speak.
10:09
Yvonne Strachan (Scottish Government Equality Unit): I am delighted to take part in this event. On behalf of the Scottish Government officials who are here, I thank the Equal Opportunities Committee for inviting us and allowing us to be part of the discussion, which I hope will contribute to greater shared understanding between the Parliament and the Scottish Government about this really important matter. Today’s event will enable us in Government to understand what the Parliament’s committees will expect from us in the future, and I hope that, in the conversations that we have during the day, we will be able to impart a little of what the Scottish Government is doing to advance equality across the range of its activities.
In her introduction,Margaret Mitchell reminded us that equal opportunities is a founding principle of the Scottish Parliament.She outlined how the recent changes to the standing orders will further help to put that principle into practice. That new development will undoubtedly enable the Parliament to build on its impressive record of championing equality. Furthermore—dare I say it?—I think that the changes will enable the Parliament to hold the Scottish Government more to account.
This morning, I will focus my remarks on why equality is an important issue for us all—Parliament, Government and stakeholders in the public sector more widely—as well as on the Scottish Government’s approach to the mainstreaming of equality and the important role of the public sector equality duties in supporting and driving forward the mainstreaming of equality.
I will first say a little about what makes equality important for us. I am sure that, when delegates were asked to come to the event today, there was some debate about why you all had to come here to talk about equal opportunities. You might be a member of the Justice Committee or the Local Government and Communities Committee. We had that debate within the Scottish Government, as well. First, it is important to say that equality isnot marginal; it is central to what we all do.When we make policies, develop our programmes, make strategic decisions, design services or create legislation, we do it to improve the lives of the people of Scotland: five million people with different backgrounds, experiences, histories, aspirations and attributes, but who have a shared agenda of living in Scotland a life that is good and promising and which allows them to fulfil their potential.
More than half our population are women, one fifth are disabled people, and we are an ageing population. We also have an increasing minority ethnic population and a significant number of us are gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgendered.In addition, although today in Scotland the majority of those who have a religion or belief are Christian, an increasing number of people who participate in our society belong to different religions and faiths. We are a diverse nation and we are becoming increasingly so. Therefore, if our policies, programmes and legislation are to be effective theymust take account of that diversity, which means that one size does not always fit all.
To design what we do effectively, we must know and understand the experiences and needs of the communities that we serve and we must draw on the evidence and information that we have to ensure that we make the best-informed decisions. Sometimes, that will mean understanding that our past has left us with a legacy in our institutions and the way in which we do business, such that the inequalities that existed in past laws and practices sometimes continue inadvertently in how we carry out our tasks. Historically, there have also been unequal power relations between different groups of people. We must recognise that some of that inequality lingers. Unless we recognise that and think about it in conducting our business, we will perhaps inadvertently perpetuate that inequality or disadvantage.
We must remember that equality is not about someone else, over there. Race equality is not about minority ethnic communities and disability equality is not about disabled people. Equality is about the way we all are as a society. We all have an age, an ethnicity, a faith or none, a gender and a sexual orientation. Some of us will have a disability—more of us will have one as we age. So, the question is not about the other, but about all of us. To that extent, we must take a different approach and recognise that as we deal with the issue.
Secondly, equality is relevant to what we do. Over the past 40 years, there have been huge advances in equality. Looking around, we can recognise what we are able to do today that we were unable to do 50, 60 or 70 years ago.We have improved life chances. We have removed the barriers to equality of opportunity in many areas, but there remain significant inequalities that we need to address: the difficulty that some people still have in accessing services; the lack of employment opportunities for disabled people or minority ethnic communities; the difficulties for disabled people and older people to live independently if they so choose; the pay gap between men and women; the concentration of men and women in particular occupations or jobs, with women being overrepresented in lower-paid and lower-level jobs; violence against women; higher unemployment rates among disabled people and some minority ethnic communities; the lack of qualifications and access to educational opportunity that a number of disabled people have experienced; the negative attitudes that still exist towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities and Gypsy Travellers; and the pervading question of intolerance around faith and religion that we witness through sectarianism and Islamophobia.
For us to make inroads in tackling those issues, we need to take action across a range of policy areas including justice, education, housing, local government, enterprise and transport. It is not just a matter of dealing with those issues within the Equal Opportunities Committee or the equality unit of the Scottish Government: they need to be addressed across all our areas of interest and are matters for all committees and all directorates.
Thirdly, we need to address equality if we want to achieve our aspirations. We set ourselves targets, goals and outcomes that we want to achieve so that we have a better Scotland, but it is difficult to see how they can be achieved if we are not doing it for all the population—if we are not ensuring that all our children are getting their life chances and that all our communities are able to access the benefits and activities that we put forward. We will not be equipped to deal with the big challenges that we face as a nation—our economic prosperity and growth, our population targets, meeting the challenges of an ageing population and addressing issues of security and community cohesion—if we do not also address the inequalities that undermine our ability to deal with those issues.
When we talk about considering equality in the development of policy or legislation, that is not just because it is right. It is because it is needed. We must ensure that everything we produce—the Parliament in its activities, or the Scottish Government in its policy frameworks and decisions—is really fit for purpose and addresses the needs of the communities that we serve. Equality is therefore an integral and important part of good policy making and service delivery across the whole range of issues and policies with which we deal.
Fourthly, we should say that we can make a difference. I know that because equality legislation is largely reserved there can be a feeling that equality is perhaps a matter for another place. However, we have responsibilities in Scotland through devolution. We are allowed to encourage equal opportunities, of which the definition is broad, and to put duties on public bodies, which we have done throughout the process of devolution. Over the past 10 years, Scottish ministers have made advances to that end across a range of policy areas. Therefore, both the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government can make a difference on equality and on this agenda.
Legislation is a key lever for change. It is important, because it helps to provide a focus for activity and enables us to drive change. At the moment, we have three public sector equality duties—on race, gender and disability. Although those duties are slightly different, broadly speaking, they state that all public bodies should promote equality and tackle and eliminate discrimination that is based on race, gender and disability. Those are important duties, because they do not just ask for compliance in a passive way, but make demands on public authorities to be proactive and to do something to demonstrate that they are taking the issue forward. That is relevant for us, because Scottish ministers are subject to those duties. Although the Scottish Parliament is not subject to them, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is. It is also relevant to the Parliament’s committees, because the people with whom the committee’s deal, the organisations that come before you and the communities with which you engage are affected by those duties. Therefore, your knowledge and understanding of them is helpful.