National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG) 2019 - report and recommendations: SG response - easy read

Scottish Government Response to the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls: 2019 Report and Recommendations

The National Advisory Council for Women and Girls (NACWG) is a group of women and girls over 17 who come from different backgrounds. The NACWG want to make life better for women and girls in Scotland. 

The First Minister set this group up in 2017. The NACWG talk about different things each year. 

The NACWG looked at government policies and if they work together. Policies are rules made by the government that help make better decisions. The report looked at the people who decide things and where they work. 

The NACWG then looked at how policies are made. It is not always clear. People who decide policies do not always talk to people who have experience. They need to understand the lives of women and girls and what they need. This will make things better for women and girls. 

To help change things, the NACWG made recommendations to the Scottish Government 

The Scottish Government agreed with these recommendations. 

The Scottish Government must have a way of working that is strong on equal rights. 

We are already working on this, and this will grow. We follow the law to make sure everyone is treated equally. 

We know COVID-19 has really affected some groups, like women, people from minority ethnic communities, older people, and disabled people. Some people belong to more than one group. 

Different groups may have already experienced inequality. COVID-19 has made this worse. COVID-19 has shown how important equality and human rights are. Human rights are the rights that every person has. 

We want to use what we have learned from COVID-19. We have found new ways to deal with issues. These make us stronger. 

We already support equality and human rights work. We will learn from other work in Scotland. This will help us build a new plan. We can then use information and talk to people in a better way. 

Recommendation 1: 

To make an Equalities Directorate. A directorate is a part of the Government that works on one area. 

This will work with Centres of Expertise. Centres of Expertise will lead and make sure that all Directorates better understand the lives of women and girls and what they need. Directorates can contact them about equality in their areas. 

The Scottish Government have now opened a new Equalities Directorate. There is now a Director. The Director is the person in charge of the Directorate. They will work to make sure we think about women and girls in every decision we take. This will make equality more important in the Scottish Government. 

Recommendation 2: 

Have a new group of important leaders. They will make sure that Scottish Government policies are good for everyone in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will set up this new group.  This will include people who are not from the Scottish Government.

Recommendation 3: 

Make a new list of things that people who make decisions must follow. It will make sure polices are made to a high standard. They will understand the lives of women and girls and what they need. 

All people who make decisions will follow the this. 

The Scottish Government will make sure all people get training on equality. Having an understanding will help make better policies. These are good for everyone in Scotland.

Recommendation 4: 

Make a yearly report. This will say how the Scottish Government is making the country a more equal place to grow up and live in. 

The Scottish Government already report on equality. We will think about how we do this as well. 

Recommendation 5: 

Public services should look at what they already do when talking to people and deciding things. They should do more of this and be better at it. 

The Scottish Government will talk to people when deciding things. We will look at what has worked well before in Scotland, UK and other countries. We will learn from them. We will work with people who are not from the Scottish Government who know a lot about this subject. 

Recommendation 6: 

To collect and use information about people who have problems and difficulties in life. We need this to let us know what the problems are and how we can solve them.  

The Scottish Government promised to make a plan on equality and human rights. We want to find better ways to collect and use information. 

The Scottish Government already work to understand problems for gathering information. We want to know what things can help us to do this. We will let people know more about this and make a plan for what to do next.