Equality Data Improvement Programme project board - highlight report: October 2024

Project name: Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP)
Senior Responsible Officer: Mick Wilson, Head of Communities Analysis Division
Project Manager: Beth Cocker /Molly Halligan
Next project meeting: TBC
Period covering: 13/09/2024-30/09/2024
Report date: 08/10/24
RAG last period: Green
RAG this period: Green

Summary of overall progress 

Analysts across the Scottish Government and NRS are now progressing the agreed equality data improvement actions, set from now until the end of 2025. Action leads provided an update on progress in September 2024.

Of the 45 actions in the strategy:

• 14 are complete, in the previous July progress update 14 were complete
• 23 are on course, in the previous July progress update 23 were on course
• 7 are delayed, in the previous July progress update 6 were delayed
• 1 are not yet started, in the previous July progress update 2 were not yet started

Project achievements for this period

• action 13 (on course): on 27 August 2024, Social Security Scotland published client diversity and equalities analysis up to March 2024. This looked at equality analysis by outcome of application across all benefits with application forms
• action 10 (on course): The Justice Analytical team published a literature review on racially minoritised women’s experiences of domestic abuse and barriers to support in August 2024
• action 21 (on course): publication of ‘Intersectional Evidence Review: Minority Ethnic Women’s experiences in Scotland’ is set to be published by 6th November 2024. The purpose of this report is to draw together new and existing evidence from Scottish Government, other public sector organisations, third sector organisations, and academia to highlight learnings in relation to analysis and publication of intersectional equalities data
• action 22 (on course): publication of the ‘Evidence Review of Non-binary People’s Experiences in Scotland’ is due to be published by early November

Delayed milestones/tasks

Actions 1 and 2

Development of disability data is being explored in the context of child protection Joint Investigative Interview data, in work being led by CELCIS. Learning from this will be considered and applied in future updates to Child Protection and Looked After Children datasets.

Actions 28 and 30

Previously marked as ‘not yet started’, these actions relate to Health and Social Care improving response rates which includes developing an easier system to input data year round, as well as plans to explore how links can be made to NPCCD for smoother data collection. The new approach aims to be in place for in-hours in 2024 and out-of-hours by 2025 onwards. A working group for the 2024 survey discussed the collection of more equality data, but suggested the surveys were not the best approach as individuals do not have access to their own data. Other approaches to obtain this data are now being considered.

Action 31

Previously marked as ‘not yet started’, this action relates to improvements to equality data for Core Dataset for Tier 2 and Tier 3 Weight Management Services for Children/Young People and Adults in Scotland. The team are reviewing this dataset with PHS and exploring what progress can be made in light of resourcing issues.

Action 32

The RAP (Reusable Analytical Pipeline) project is underway for the analysis of MHIC data received. The team have identified some errors in previous iterations of the MHIC coding. Whilst they don’t expect the impact of these errors to be large, they are prioritising work to fix this and will report any changes or impacts to users in the next publication of the results, around June or July 2024. It is therefore likely that assessing options for protected characteristics data to be expanded will be delayed until the 2025/26 data collection, commencing in spring 2025.

Action 45

Exploration of potential for more granular data on hold due to staffing redeployment.

Actions not yet started

Action 20

An evaluation of the impact of mode change (from face to face to online) for the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey is currently being carried out prior to any further commissioning by SG. It may not be possible to complete this work within the given timeframe.

Plans for next period

• action 21: publication of ‘Intersectional Evidence Review: Minority Ethnic Women’s experiences in Scotland’ is set to be published 6th November 2024
• action 22: publication of the ‘Evidence Review of Non-binary People’s Experiences in Scotland’ is due to be published early November
• action 43: Further topic data from NRS, Scotland’s Census 2022, will be released in the following months

Key risks

Risk no. 1

Some actions within the Equality Evidence Strategy are not taken forward by analysts, for example some action leads have indicated that their completion date will go beyond 2025 due to lack of available data.
Severity (1-5): 4 
Probability (1-5): 2
Actions: Equality analysis team have gained buy-in from a network of analysts to help drive the work forward.  The EDIP programme also has senior buy in from ALG, along with the Chief Statistician and Chief Social Researcher.
An Interim Review of the Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-25 will be published towards the end of 2024. Consideration of additional Actions or refresh of the current Actions may be possible at this stage.
Impact of Actions on Risks: Regular review of actions ensuring progress and relevance.

Risk no. 2

Staff changes within project board and network leads responsible for actions
Severity (1-5): 1
Probability (1-5): 3
Actions: Staff changes primarily took place at the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024. New were asked to be involved or complete the update for the previous meeting with support from their predecessor.
During the February EDIP meeting, the chair invited introductions from all new members of the Project Board. These members were sent the new ToRs and previous minutes from the last meeting for context.
Impact of Actions on Risks: Project Board are more informed of EDIPs progress to date. Analytical network leads are able to take actions forward and maintain progress updates. 

Project RAG status key

Red: some risks/issues require immediate attention from the Programme Manager/Challenge Owner/Lead
Amber: some risks/issues are self contained within tolerances
Green: project is proceeding on schedule