Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill Equality Impact Assessment

Stage 1: Framing

Results of framing exercise

The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill builds on the public consultation on ‘‘Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture: Proposals for a new Agriculture Bill’. The Bill reflects the stakeholder feedback received on the consultation.

A framing exercise was initially undertaken to consider the Equality Impact Assessment. The Bill is a framework bill and will enable the development and delivery of new schemes and policies on support. As a result, policies in the Bill are not quantifiable.

Protected characteristic: Age

Protected characteristic: Sex

Protected characteristic: Race/ Ethnicity

Protected characteristic: Religion or belief

Extent/Level of EQIA required

The ‘Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture: Proposals for a new Agriculture Bill’ included a question to assist in determining the extent and level of EQIA required such as:

“Are you aware of any examples of how the proposals in this consultation may impact, either positively or negatively, on those with protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation)? Please give reasons for your answer.”

The consultation analysis noted that most responses did not give any examples of how the proposals in the consultation may impact those with protected characteristics.

It noted that some of the specific points were:

• there was a lack of focus on the impacts or inclusion of women throughout the consultation document,
• the impact of additional red tape on those with dyslexia,
• increased technological solutions impacting older people who may not have confidence with technology,
• little detail in the consultation in terms of support for young people,
• insufficient detail in the consultation on the impact of protected characteristics and that analysis needs to take place.

Further to this consultation there was substantial stakeholder engagement through the public consultation with nine in person events throughout Scotland (Inverness, Skye, Aberdeen, Oban, Scottish Borders, Stirling, Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire, and Orkney). In addition, five online events designed to ensure that views from across Scotland were heard.

The results of these engagements did not highlight any potential negative impacts that the Bill itself and the initiatives and policies covered within may have on certain groups. This has allowed any negative impacts to be considered thoroughly and ensured steps were taken to mitigate these. However, as the Bill is largely enabling it will have limited impact on equalities and protected characteristics. As such, minimal assessment is required at this stage.

The Scottish Government will ensure the teams working on future policy changes in secondary legislation are aware of the need to consult/further assess where appropriate.

This would normally include an EQIA being undertaken when future policies, that will follow on from the high-level legislation powers set out in the bill, are being developed. In due course.

Payments Framework

No impacts identified in relation to Payments Framework powers in the Bill.

Food and Drink

No impacts identified in relation to the food and drink provisions in the Bill.

Climate and Nature

No impacts identified, noting the Bill outlines climate and nature as a purpose of support, which will be delivered through the payments framework.

Payments Administration & Data

No impacts identified in relation to Payments Administration and Data enabling powers in the Bill.

Support for Rural Communities and Rural Networking

No impacts identified regarding the broadly framed enabling powers set out in the Bill.

Animal Health, Welfare and Genetic Resources

No negative impacts of the powers within the Bill on equalities and protected characteristics have been identified.

Plant Genetic Resources

No impacts identified in relation to plant genetic resources in the bill.

Access

No negative impacts have been identified in relation to access rights.

Forestry

No negative impacts of the powers within the Bill on equalities and protected characteristics have been identified.

However, these factors will need to be considered fully in relation to any future forestry policies to ensure there is due consideration of any impact, both positive and negative, on those with protected characteristics.

Knowledge, innovation, education and training

No impacts identified regarding the broadly framed enabling powers set out in the Bill.

Future consideration

While the proposals in the bill do not have any direct or indirect equality impacts, as noted above, it should be noted that a previous EQIA undertaken by Scottish Forestry relating to the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) indicated that 1 in 5 people in Scotland label themselves as disabled, and 1 in 10 people are thought to be dyslexic. Previous research from onescotland.org carried out by partners in the rural sector indicated that those working in land based sectors typically have a higher rate of dyslexia than the average population, so the ratio may be higher for our staff and targeted customers.

The Scottish Agricultural Census (June 2023) also shows that the majority of working occupiers in Scotland are Men (65%) and women make up 35%. Further, the age profile of working occupiers shows that the majority (85%) are older than 45. Male and female working occupiers are generally similar ages.

While the above figures are notable, those with protected characteristics are not likely to be adversely impacted by the Bill as it is a framework Bill, providing a suite of powers for Scottish Ministers to provide support for various purposes. However, there is potential for those with protected characteristics to be impacted in the future when drafting secondary legislation or future guidance to support new rural payments schemes.

As such further consideration and equalities impacts assessment will be undertaken when developing future policy options for secondary legalisation proposals and subsequent support schemes, in due course.