Scottish Budget 2023-24: equality and Fairer Scotland statement

Summary of impacts by groups of people

This section provides an overview of parts of the Scottish Budget that are particularly important for people with the characteristics set out in the introduction. It responds to the inequalities discussed in the Equality and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement templates, and so it only highlights a selection of key budget responses.

It should be noted that many measures will benefit people from different characteristics. For example, in relation to measures to tackle child poverty 90% of families with children in poverty are in the Scottish Government's identified Priority Groups, including households with a disabled person, lone parents (usually women), young mothers and minority ethnic families. We also fund direct intervention which cuts across all areas including the Equality and Human Rights Fund providing £8 million per annum to support organisations to deliver direct work tackling inequality and discrimination and advancing human rights.

Socio-economic disadvantage

• Committing over £5.2 billion in benefits expenditure - an increase of over £1 billion compared to 2022-23
• Funding for Scottish Child Payment, which provides £25 per week per eligible child, will help eligible parents on low incomes
• Expanding eligibility for Best Start Foods. An estimated £17 million will be spent on Best Start Foods in 2023-24
• Spending £86 million on Discretionary Housing Payments, helping those on low income benefits and £41 million for the Scottish Welfare Fund
• Our five family payments could be worth over £10,000 by the time a first child turns six, and £9,700 for subsequent children. In 2023‑24 this is an investment of £479 million, £251 million more than in 2022‑23
• In education, investment of up to £200 million in 2023-24 to support recovery from the pandemic and to tackle the poverty related attainment gap
• Allocating £25 million to continue funding the Education Maintenance Allowance
• Maintaining funding for the International Development Fund and Humanitarian Emergency Fund at the same levels as for 2022-23 at £11.5 million and £1 million respectively
• Protecting investment in our employability commitments in 2023-24 through No One Left Behind and Fair Start Scotland
• Maintaining funding on Drug Related Deaths at current levels, enabling the delivery of the National Drugs Mission Plan
• Continuing funding of almost £1.5 billion to Scottish Police Authority (SPA) in 2023-24, following around £1.4 billion in 2022-23, which will allow them to maintain policing services across Scotland including in the most deprived communities

Children & young people

• Continuing delivery of Best Start Bright Futures and fulfil our commitment of investment of a £50 million Tackling Child Poverty Fund over the lifetime of the plan 2022-26
• Supporting more children through Best Start Foods in 2023-24 as eligibility is expanded
• Continued funding for the expanded statutory entitlement to funded early learning and childcare, which increased from 600 hours to 1,140 hours in August 2021
• Supporting mental health services – including overall increases to mental health spending
• Continued free national concessionary bus travel for those aged under 22 years old
• Continuing to deliver towards the commitment to provide free bikes to school children that cannot afford one
• Funding of £2.5 million towards the initial development of the Scottish 'Bairns Hoose' model for child victims of traumatic crimes

Older people

• Continued work on the National Care Service through co-design to ensure the optimal delivery model is created and value for money in all decisions
• Funding to ensure the minimum hourly rate for workers providing direct adult social care rose to £10.50 per hour from April this year
• Enabling Police Scotland and other justice partners to continue their work to support the most vulnerable including older people affected by cybercrimes

Disability

• Support through the Scottish Veterans Fund which was increased to £500,000 per annum in 2022-23 and maintained at that level in 2023-24
• Investing over £4.1 billion across our various disability benefits in 2023-24
• Funding of free bus travel for eligible disabled people (as well as over 60s)
• Supporting local authorities by investing £15 million this year to increase the number of pupil support assistants for children and young people with additional support needs
• Maintaining overall budget commitments for supporting disabled students as for 2022-23
• Funding our Workplace Equality Fund, aimed at removing labour market barriers for certain priority groups, including the over 50 year old workforce, racialised minorities, disabled people and women
• Over £15 million of funding to community safety partners in 2023-24, following £14 million in 2022-23, to enable funded organisations to continue to deliver their projects that support those most vulnerable in society and address all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against disabled people

Gender reassignment

• Maintaining the budget for Gender Identity Services in the NHS
• Proving analytical and statistical support to help understanding, including a further £3.1 million is provided for ongoing costs of the Census in 2023/24, (which for the first time included a voluntary question on trans status or history for those over 16 and provide the first official estimate of the trans population in Scotland)
• Funding to continue in 2023-24 for the hate crime charter which offers training for public transport operators and raises awareness of issues that affect vulnerable groups
• Funding of the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service and other justice partners, courts and tribunals which will continue to have an important role in protecting vulnerable people and addressing discrimination and hate crime

Pregnancy & maternity

• Continued support for more pregnant women and families with children through Best Start Foods in 2023-24 as eligibility is expanded
• Funding to build a system of school age childcare to support children and families, particularly those on the lowest incomes
• Co-funding of the MBRRACE-UK Programme and The National Maternity and Perinatal Audit
• Continued funding for Prison Visitor Centres, enabling ongoing support for families affected by imprisonment
• Provide continued subsidies for bus services through the Network Support Grant, which are particularly important to women including pregnant women and mothers with children

Race

• Following a key recommendation from the Expert Reference Group on Covid-19 and Ethnicity, we are establishing an independent Observatory to provide a range of functions in relation to anti-racism and to start bringing about the required systemic change to create equity for all of Scotland's communities
• Funding of the migration strategy, increasing to £4 million in 2023-24 to sustain our work and deliver new commitments such as the Talent Attraction and Migration Service
• Developing a health & social care action plan to address racism and racialised health inequalities, including workforce and data improvement
• Over £15 million of funding to community safety partners enabling funded organisations to continue to deliver their projects that support those most vulnerable in society and address all forms of discrimination
• Support for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit under the One Community Programme which offers help and support to people from ethnic minority communities within Glasgow

Religion & belief

• Over £15 million of funding to community safety partners enabling funded organisations to continue to deliver their projects that support those most vulnerable in society and address all forms of discrimination
• Funding of £12 million for Funeral Support Payment helping over 6,000 people meet the costs of a funeral (those applying for Funeral Support Payment are more likely to identify as having a religion)
• Funding to continue in 2023-24 for the hate crime charter which offers training for public transport operators and raises awareness of issues that affect vulnerable groups

Sex

• Funding for Scottish Child Payment will help eligible parents on low incomes, whilst Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods will also support low income families with a pregnant woman or young children
• Continuing funding for key projects to tackle violence against women and girls including the continued funding of the Scottish Women's Rights Centre (SWRC) relating to legal advice and advocacy services
• Investing £6 million to support legal aid reform and strengthen access to justice, including measures to assist victims of domestic abuse
• Increasing the minimum pay for commissioned services twice in the last year from £9.50 per hour to £10.50 per hour (approximately 77% of the health and social care workforce is female)
• Continued subsidies for bus services, which are particularly important to women, through the Network Support Grant

Sexual orientation

• Continued investment in self-harm services (as the LGBTI+ community experience a higher rates of self-harm than those of the general population)
• Support for a new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy to ensure it is informed by lived experience, evidence based and underpinned by equality and human rights
• Continued funding in 2023-24 for the hate crime charter which offers training for public transport operators and raises awareness of issues that affect vulnerable groups