Equality evidence strategy 2023 to 2025: consultation paper

Ministerial Foreword

I am delighted to be launching this consultation on Scotland's Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-25. As a strong advocate of the use of data to improve the quality and inclusivity of Scotland's services, strengthening the equality evidence base to ensure that services deliver for everyone is close to my heart.

The Scottish Government has a longstanding commitment to inclusive, evidence-based policymaking. The publication of our Equality Evidence Strategy follows on from our ambitious and wide-ranging Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP), which launched in April 2021. Through the EDIP, we have been working with partner organisations to undertake a range of actions to share good practice and undertake improvements to priority datasets.

This consultation is our opportunity to hear from you about the Scottish Government's plans to improve the data and strengthen Scotland's equality evidence base over the next three years. Your input will help to ensure that our new strategy will deliver better equality evidence that will, in turn, enable policy makers to develop sound and inclusive policies to improve service delivery and outcomes for people in Scotland. The strategy will seek to improve and expand data already collected and explore new and innovative ways of improving Scotland's evidence base.

Your responses to this consultation will shape our shared vision for the equality evidence base, inform the development of proposals to improve this, and help us to understand the barriers you face in using and gathering equality evidence. I would encourage everyone taking part to answer as many questions as you are comfortable with.

We are developing the new Equality Evidence Strategy with the primary aim of improving the lives for everyone in Scotland. Your voices matter.

Together we will develop a meaningful Equality Evidence Strategy that empowers greater use of data to continuously improve the services we provide.

Christina McKelvie
Minister for Equalities and Older People