Coronavirus Acts: first report to Scottish Parliament (June 2020)

3. Our approach to reporting

3.1. Our approach is to provide a single report covering provisions in both the Scottish Act and UK Act. In due course, this approach will develop further in order to include reporting information on provisions in Part 1 of the second Scottish Act and on certain coronavirus-related Scottish Statutory Instruments (SSIs) made by Scottish Ministers, as set out within section 14 of the second Scottish Act.

3.2. In developing our approach, careful consideration has been given to ensuring that this balances openness and transparency with the need to avoid placing undue pressures on those individuals and organisations at the heart of the coronavirus response. We have recognised that some measures in the legislation may have greater impact than others in terms of their potential impacts on individuals or groups (people with one or more of the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010), or their implications for equality and rights. In addition, some provisions are of significant interest to the Scottish Parliament for other reasons. The question of how to determine significance of measures in this context is a matter on which Scottish Ministers have been keen to engage with the Scottish Parliament and wish to continue to do so.

3.3. The approach which has been developed for this first report is focused on those provisions which we have judged, at present, to be of the most significant impact or interest. For these provisions we have sought to provide detail over and above the reporting requirements in the Scottish Act. Assessment of the equality, human rights and children's rights impacts of the provisions is a central aspect of our reporting approach, and in developing our report we have sought to examine these impacts and to include or signpost to information disaggregated by protected characteristics where possible.

3.4. In view of the fact that these reporting arrangements are very newly-established and in some cases require new data reporting and other monitoring arrangements to be put in place, our approach will continue to evolve and develop as the powers are used and as more information on particular aspects of implementation becomes available. We will also keep our approach to reporting of impacts under review in line with legislation and in response to the views of the Scottish Parliament.