Post-school education, research and skills - purpose and principles: equality impact assessment - draft

Stage 4: Decision making and monitoring

Identifying and establishing any required mitigating action

Have positive or negative impacts been identified for any of the equality groups?

Yes, overall there are positive intended impacts for the age, disability, sex, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation equality groups.

Is the policy directly or indirectly discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010^[74]?

No, the Purpose and Principles for Post School Education, research and skills are not intended to be discriminatory.

If the policy is indirectly discriminatory, how is it justified under the relevant legislation?

N/A

If not justified, what mitigating action will be undertaken?

N/A

Describing how Equality Impact analysis has shaped the policy making process

Informing Policy Development

Data collected and engagement undertaken during the EQIA development has identified existing barriers and enablers within the post-school education, research and skills ecosystem. This understanding is informing the development of the Purpose and Principles. The EQIA demonstrates the need for any subsequent policy decisions arising from the Purpose and Principles to conduct robust impact assessments picking up on some of the key trends mentioned here and utilising the range of engagement already undertaken. Where necessary, and depending on the area of reform, we recommend working with equalities groups' and staff/student representative bodies to conduct more detailed research to better understand how we can take action to address the barriers individuals and groups face in accessing, participating or working within the post school education, research and skills ecosystem.

The evidence that has been gathered to date highlights that there is likely to be an overall positive impact from the Purpose and Principles on all equality groups, however more data may be required to monitor this impact on some equality groups such as religion and sexual orientation.

Gaps in Evidence

During the collection and analysis of evidence and knowledge some data gaps were identified including data on intersectionalities between protected characteristics. A draft EQIA was published to support the collection of information and knowledge to address some of the identified gaps outlined in Stage 2. Future monitoring and evaluation will seek to address these data gaps and ensure that accurate and robust information is available in the future to inform future policy decisions.

Cost/resourcing implications

As future policy decisions arise from the implementation of the Purpose and Principles costs and resourcing implications should be considered.

Monitoring and Review

As part of the Purpose and Principles, due to be published in Spring 2023, we will be articulating a set of outcomes and evidence measures that will allow us to monitor our progress. These strategic outcomes will drive performance in the ecosystem. They will influence the development of a National Impact Framework which the Scottish Funding Council will use to hold colleges and universities accountable^[75] as well as link to the implementation and monitoring of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation^[76] and to the implementation of SFC and Skills Development Scotland's current collaborative work through the Shared Outcomes Framework. There is a raft of data already being collected across the ecosystem which can be utilised to monitor activity and outcomes. There is a known need to improve comparability of some of this data and to undertake some additional evaluative activity, as programmes are implemented. As specific policy decisions are made in the future as part of this programme, further consideration will be given to measuring and monitoring impacts on equality and protected characteristics. Monitoring and evaluation plans will also be established to check that outcomes are maintained or improved and that any unintended outcomes are identified and tackled promptly.