Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report 2015

Part 1: Mainstreaming Equality

SECTION 1: THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT AS A POLICY MAKER

The Scottish Government places equality at the core of its business. The public sector equality duty helps us to integrate equality across our activities.

1.1 Policies and legislation that advance equality

A commitment to equality of opportunity is evident in the key documents that set the context and direction of this Government: Scotland's Economic Strategy, Programme for Government 2014-15 and the Budget.

Legislation

Since 2013 a range of legislation has been made or introduced which advances equality. This includes the significant achievement of legalising same-sex marriage: ^[6]

Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014

The Act provides equality of opportunity for same-sex couples, who can now marry in the same way as opposite-sex couples, and for transgender people by making provision for them to obtain a full Gender Recognition Certificate and stay married.

The Act and associated legislation also promote and protect religious freedom, in that religious and belief bodies are free to decide for themselves whether or not to solemnise same-sex marriages and register civil partnerships.

Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill

The Bill is designed to improve how Scotland deals with the trafficking of human beings and the exploitation of individuals. It will create a legislative framework which ensures that police, prosecutors and other agencies have the powers to make Scotland a hostile environment for human traffickers and those who exploit others, and helps to identify and support the needs of victims. Some of the proposals are intended to ensure that the particular circumstances of individuals may be taken into account. For example, the slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour offence requires that the court, in assessing whether a person has been the victim of the offence, has regard to any characteristics that make the alleged victim more vulnerable than other people, and this could include protected characteristics.

Carers (Scotland) Bill

The Bill, introduced to Parliament on 9 March 2014, aims to better support Scotland's estimated 745,000 adult carers and 44,000 young carers on a more consistent basis so that they can continue to care, if they so wish, in good health and have a life alongside caring, and so that young carers can have a childhood similar to their non-carer peers.

The Bill widens access to support by removing the current requirement that a carer must be able to demonstrate that they care for someone on a regular and substantial basis. It also introduces the adult carer support plan and the young carer statement. The adult carer support plan will replace carers' assessments and will set out the adult carer's identified personal outcomes and needs, and any support to be provided. The young carer statement will be introduced for carers of 18 and under to recognise their unique needs. The Bill places a duty on local authorities to provide support to carers based on whether the carer's assessed needs meet local eligibility criteria, and a duty to publish these criteria, developed through public consultation. In addition, local authorities will have a power to support carers whose needs do not meet eligibility criteria.

The Bill places an obligation on local authorities to involve carers, young carers and carers' organisations in the planning, shaping, delivery and review of service, and carers are to be involved in care planning for the person they care for and in support for themselves. The Bill will introduce a service to provide information and advice in a number of key areas, which will be both accessible and proportionate to the local population. As part of this service, local authorities will be required to prepare and publish a short breaks statement, providing information to adult and young carers about the range of short breaks that are available in Scotland.

Policies

Over recent years, a range of policies have been developed and delivered that have equality considerations at their heart. New policies that help to advance equality are building on the foundations of previous ones, strengthening the overall benefits to communities:

For a more comprehensive list and details on recent (since 2013) legislation and policies that help to advance equality, please see the Supplementary Information section.

Partnership for Change commitment - 50:50 by 2020

The Government is committed to making boards more representative of the communities and customers they serve. This will enable wider access to talent and it will improve board governance, decision making and performance. In the Scottish Government's Programme for Government published in November 2014, we have committed to launching the Partnership for Change, bringing together an alliance of organisations across the public, private and third sectors, who are committed to increasing the diversity of boards and the talent pipeline to work towards gender balance - 50:50 by 2020.

Expansion of statutory early learning and childcare

In a staged approach to expanding and improving early learning and childcare to 2 year olds, we prioritise those who are most vulnerable or disadvantaged, for example those who are looked after or under a kinship care order, those who are likely to be more disadvantaged as a result of parents having no sustainable employment and living in poverty, or those in low income families.

We also make sure that expansion, most recently through the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and statutory guidance, applies and is promoted to those children with additional support needs or a disability. In addition to the number of 2 year olds registered for early learning and childcare, annual national statistics indicate the number and percentages of young children registered for early learning and childcare whose home language is not English, or who have additional support needs or a co-ordinated support plan. Uptake of early learning and childcare by 2 year olds, including those in the groups identified, will continue to be monitored through the annual national schools statistical collection.

The aim of the policy is also to support parents to work or study, which will have particular benefits for women.

Digital participation

As stated in Scotland's Digital Future - Delivery of Public Services (November 2012), our ambition is to use digital technology to redesign services, or find alternatives to such services, so that they focus on user needs and experience, and achieve the outcomes to which we aspire as a nation. Our "digital first" approach means that the public sector will deliver online all services that can be delivered online.

The majority of people do not require support to access public benefits and services in the analogue world and the same is true of the digital world. However, a significant percentage of people have no or low level digital skills, a recognised disability which limits online accessibility, or poor connectivity and thus require a third party to transfer information on line. It is also the case that some people who have the capability do not want to transact digitally.

About 20% of the Scottish population is not online. Internet access is lowest amongst the elderly, disabled people, those living in social housing and the unemployed.

Those who are not able to transact digitally, for whatever reason, will need to be supported through other means. This is commonly described as Assisted Digital.

Scottish Government is currently developing its approach to Assisted Digital, which will also consider the provision of software and applications that will enable those with recognised disabilities and other limiting physical and mental conditions to transact autonomously with public services.

1.2 Equality and poverty

Scotland's economic performance is improving, but too many people are still living in poverty. The connection between poverty and equality is clear, if sometimes complex:

In 2012-13, 20% of individuals in families containing a disabled adult were in relative poverty; for families with no disabled adults the figure was 14%.

People from minority ethnic (non-white) groups are more likely to be in relative poverty (before housing costs) compared to those from the 'White - British' group (25% and 14% respectively ^[7] ).

Although the headline rates of poverty between men and women were identical in Scotland in the most recent year (2012-13), this hides many differences within different household types. For example, women experience a higher rate of pensioner poverty than men, while men who are single working age adults without children face a higher rate of poverty than women in the same circumstances.

Women, disabled people and some minority ethnic communities are also particularly affected by UK Government welfare reform.

Inequalities in income, power, access and expectation persist across society. The combination of systematic and structural inequalities with prejudice and discrimination prevent many people from achieving their potential and living with dignity. That is why our commitment to social justice and the creation of a fairer Scotland are core themes of our Programme for Government, our Economic Strategy and our 2015-16 Budget.

Action on Poverty

The refresh of the Scottish Government's Child Poverty Strategy, published in 2014, focused on three key outcomes: maximising household resources; improving children's wellbeing and life chances; and ensuring that children from low income households live in well-designed, sustainable places. These three outcomes ('Pockets', 'Prospects' and 'Places') are reflected in the range of activity funded by the Budget.

The expansion of provision of early learning and childcare for vulnerable 2 year olds will also help around 15,500 disadvantaged children and families on low incomes by 2015-16, in particular lone parent households, most of which are headed up by women. Alongside annual funded childcare provision for 3 and 4 year olds of 600 hours, this will reduce the cost barriers facing parents with young children when they participate in the labour market.

Housing quality is key to tackling fuel poverty and the Scottish Government continues to invest in domestic energy efficiency through the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland. Further, a new energy efficiency standard for social housing will help households save around £210 a year on energy bills by 2020.

Our Programme for Government emphasises a commitment to empower communities and to make government open and accessible through public participation in the decisions that affect them. We have committed to "poverty proofing" all of our new policies and legislation through the use of poverty impact assessments whenever we make a change, and we will be linking this to our work on equality impact assessments. As previously announced, we will appoint an Independent Advisor on Poverty and Inequality to hold public events with the First Minister to raise awareness of the reality of living in poverty, make recommendations to the Scottish Government on how collectively we should respond, and hold the Scottish Government to account on its performance.

The Impact of Welfare Reform

Many individuals affected by welfare reform are from particular equality groups. Over the last year, Scottish Government analysts have produced a range of analysis on welfare reform which has implications for equality.

Scottish Government spend to mitigate the worst impacts of welfare reform is significant at £81 million in 2015-16. Help for those in crisis or with an essential need is also being prioritised via the Scottish Welfare Fund. Assistance with basic costs via the Council Tax Reduction Scheme is also important - for example, it has gender implications, with more women than men receiving assistance in meeting their council tax liability.

1.3 Equality data

Good equality data are key to the performance of the public sector equality duty. We are committed to improving the gathering, collation and use of equality data. New developments since the 2013 report are described below.

The Census

The Census is the most comprehensive source of equality data in Scotland. Within Scotland's Census website there is a vast array of national and local equality data, which is presented in a range of different ways, including user-friendly interactive maps and charts.

In 2014 and 2015 the Scottish Government produced three reports that provide additional analysis of the equality data published on Scotland's Census website by National Records of Scotland ( NRS). These reports filled evidence gaps across the following characteristics: age; gender; marriage and civil partnership; ethnicity; religion; disability. They also contained specific chapters focussing on Gypsy/Travellers and users of British Sign Language:

Overview of Equality Results from the 2011 Census Release 2 (focus on: Demographic Change since 2001; Country of Birth; Identity; Area Deprivation). This report, published in March 2014, showed how the size of Scotland's ethnic and religious groups had changed from 2001 and revealed which of these groups were most likely to live in deprived areas. It also provided information on the change in the number of people in Scotland with a long-term health problem or disability.

Analysis of Equality Results from the 2011 Census (examines the following topic areas: Population and Households; Identity, Language; Health). This report, published in October 2014, provided information on the household structures and languages used by different ethnic and religious groups, and provided an analysis of their general health. It also analysed these topics for those who reported a long-term health problem or disability.

Analysis of Equality Results from the 2011 Census - Part 2 (the areas covered are: Labour Market, Education, Housing and Transport). This report, published in March 2015, provided information on how different ethnic and religious groups fared across the labour market, education, housing and transport. It also provided an analysis of these topics for those who reported a long-term health problem or disability.

The reports bring together relevant statistics from the Census and other sources to paint a highly detailed picture of equality in Scotland. They are accompanied by detailed tables which allow users to carry out their own analysis.

The analysis is designed to be used by policy makers and stakeholders to evidence policy and equality outcomes, target services and help tackle discrimination.

Using standard questions across household surveys

Although many large scale Scottish household surveys have included questions on some or all equality characteristics for some time, consistent questions have not always been used and the utility of the data has been limited.

In addition, although the overall sample sizes of surveys can be large, the number of individuals sampled from individual equality groups is often too small to allow for detailed analysis.

In response to this, the Scottish Government has developed a set of core harmonised questions, including questions on six equality characteristics. From the beginning of 2012 onwards these questions were asked in the major household surveys - Scottish Household Survey ( SHS), Scottish Health Survey ( SHeS) and Scottish Crime and Justice Survey ( SCJS). In addition, the core questions are strongly recommended for inclusion in all Scottish Government cross-sectional population and household surveys.

Pooled sample data for the core questions from the three surveys cited above ( SHS, SCJS and SHeS) was published for the first time in 2014. This dataset has a larger sample size, which allows the calculation of more robust estimates for smaller-sized equality characteristic groups.

The dataset was released under the classification "Data Being Developed" to encourage analysis, exploration and feedback by stakeholders, whilst ensuring that care be taken when analysing this data. ^[8]

Equality Analysts Network

A network of social researchers, statisticians and economists from across the Scottish Government's Analytical Services Divisions contribute to the development and maintenance of the Equality Evidence Finder and to the delivery of the Equality Budget Statement.

Review of the National Performance Framework

The Scottish Government is currently carrying out a review of the National Indicators and Purpose Targets in the National Performance Framework. This work is focused on producing an improved set of measures of what makes a successful Scotland with opportunities for all to flourish. Whether an indicator can describe the inequalities in Scottish society is one of the key criteria in assessing potential indicators' suitability.

We are taking a pro-active approach to developing these new indicators, and will be engaging with the public to understand what matters to them.

When the new indicators are published, the revised Scotland Performs website will place a greater focus on describing performance in reducing inequalities. This follows an exercise that was carried out in the summer of 2014 to ensure that Scotland Performs contains all available data disaggregated by protected characteristics for the current indicators.

1.4 Equality Impact Assessment

The Equality Impact Assessment ( EQIA) process is a key element of good policy making, helping to ensure that policies recognise the diversity of people and are shaped around diverse needs and experiences. EQIAs help to develop better policies and contribute towards achieving the Scottish Government's vision of an equal Scotland.

“One of the objectives of Homecoming Scotland 2014 was ‘to engage, inspire and mobilise communities across Scotland’. The process of developing an EQIA was invaluable in helping us particularly identify opportunities to engage multicultural and LGBTI communities in the Homecoming celebration, and also indicated that enhancing access and information would help engage disabled people throughout the year.

The Scottish Government and its partners organised a series of activities designed to promote the inclusion of people who share protected characteristics in Homecoming, inviting their participation through meetings with representative bodies which helped scope out the opportunities and also via targeted news updates to showcase attractions.

The multicultural Homecoming programme, delivered in partnership with BEMIS, was a great success involving over 6,500 people in over 40 events designed by communities themselves across 18 different ethnic and cultural communities.

We also worked with several LGBTI organisations to support a range of activities, including LGBT History Month, Pride House during the Commonwealth Games, research into the needs of LGBT visitors to Scotland, and an international conference for the Transgender and Intersex Community. The Scottish Government supported activity to engage multicultural and LGBTI communities in Homecoming with funding of around £70,000 and additional support was also provided to Visit Scotland for online training to boost accessible skills within the tourism industry, commencing in 2014. An EQIA is also being developed for 2015’s Year of Food and Drink, which builds on the successes of Homecoming and helps us achieve our aim to ensure that all of Scotland’s diverse communities have the opportunity to join the celebration.”

Policy Official, Homecoming Scotland Team

Commonwealth Games 2014

The Scottish Government's overall vision for the Games was to host a successful, safe and secure Games that would deliver a lasting legacy for the whole of Scotland. Equality was an integral part of this vision.

An equality impact assessment highlighted a number of positive impacts resulting from the work of the Scottish Government Commonwealth Games Delivery Team, including additional changing facilities and accessible toilets and lifts. The EQIA helped identify further opportunities for continued communication with equality groups. The Scottish Government worked with the Organising Committee ( OC) and the BIG Lottery fund to develop a £500,000 Volunteer Support Fund, to support volunteering among socially and economically disadvantaged young people and lone parents, rurally isolated people, and people from minority ethnic groups. Recognising the prevalence across the Commonwealth of issues relating to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ( LGBT) people, the Scottish Government contributed almost £25,000 to the establishment of a Pride House in Glasgow during the Games. The Glasgow 2014 Accessible Transport Strategy covered not only disabled people, but also elderly people and passengers with buggies and small children. Along with the Accessible Transport Strategy the Games ticketing strategy ensured that the Games were the most affordable of recent times.

The Scottish Government had direct input into the OC's procurement policy to ensure that it was consistent with Scottish Government standards for the consideration of equality and diversity matters, and to ensure that supported businesses were included in the awarding of Games contracts. As a result, Games contracts to the value of approximately £1 million were awarded to supported businesses.

Our focus has been to continue embedding the EQIA process within the policy development process, including looking at making better links with the other impact assessment tools that are used when developing policies (Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, Strategic Environmental Assessment, Privacy Impact Assessment). We have also been further exploring how human rights considerations and equality considerations could be better integrated.

The Scottish Government maintains a list of published equality impact assessments.

1.5 Engagement with equality groups

Strengthening participative, democratic decision making is a key priority for the Scottish Government, as set out in the Programme for Government. In particular, we recognise the need to ensure that equality communities have a voice and are enabled to engage in shaping policy in order to make sure that it responds effectively to the diversity of need and so that it builds on the assets held by people and communities.

“The Scottish equal marriage legislation was developed in close consultation with LGBTI groups. The Equality Network worked with the Scottish Government to involve LGBTI people across Scotland through a series of meetings and in other ways, and to advise on the main provisions and details of the law. As a result, we have legislation which works successfully for people across Scotland’s LGBTI communities.”

Tim Hopkins, Equality Network

For effective communication to happen, both sides of the dialogue need to be well supported. We need to ensure that Scotland's equality communities can participate in public life and have the opportunity and capacity to engage in dialogue to inform policy decision making. We also need to invest in the skills of policy makers, to ensure that engagement with equality communities is well embedded within policy making. Our staff need to have appropriate skills and confidence to be able to effectively engage with different equality communities. Therefore, in 2013 we set an equality outcome to improve in this area (see Equality and Diversity Matters outcome).

Ongoing engagement with equality organisations

We provide support to a range of equality organisations with wide ranging networks to enable the voices of communities of interest to be heard right at the heart of policy making.

These organisations play an important role in building capacity within communities and amongst smaller, grass roots organisations. They ensure that we are made aware of issues affecting people with protected characteristics. The positive, collaborative relationships we have with equality organisations, both individually and collectively, ensure that our work is directed at the outcomes which will bring the greatest benefit. A programme of regular meetings and events takes place throughout the year, enabling policy to develop flexibly in response to emerging issues.

There is a wide range of activities happening across the Scottish Government that involves engagement with equality organisations and communities. Some recent examples are listed below.

Female Genital Mutilation ( FGM)

Our work on FGM for 2015-16 has been developed collaboratively by working with a small group of stakeholder organisations to define and shape priorities. It helped us to move to a streamlined strategic approach with each organisation receiving funding for a specific area of work aligned to their expertise and strengths. The programme is strongly rooted in affected communities and the priorities identified by them.

Scotland's future and further powers

The Scottish Government brought together a range of equality organisations on a regular basis to discuss Scotland's future in the context of the Referendum on Independence and subsequent developments. Events took place in August 2013, in January, July and December 2014 and in February 2015. These discussions focussed on the kind of Scotland people wanted to see and sought to identify some of the actions which might be required to realise the vision.

For example, the event in July 2014 followed publication of the draft Scottish Independence Bill and allowed some discussion of how equality might have been provided for within an interim constitution. The events in December 2014 and February 2015 informed Scottish Government thinking on the Smith Commission Heads of Agreement on Equalities and subsequent UK Government draft clauses. Hearing the views of equality organisations was vitally important and helped the Scottish Government to appreciate a range of views and perspectives.

Working in co-production with disabled people

We are proactively implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( UNCRPD), which we see as an opportunity to articulate and illustrate the barriers which prevent disabled people from enjoying their human rights, and to work together to develop practical solutions.

Working in co-production with disabled people to design our approach and support improvement across key policy areas has been crucial. Our starting point has been focusing on what disabled people tell us needs to change, and promoting a 'can do' attitude to addressing these, in line with our Scottish Government-wide commitment to continuous improvement.

We have involved a wide range of disabled people and their organisations in delivering a series of seminars to lead officials in key policy areas, and we have facilitated the ongoing involvement of disabled people to help develop commitments which will be reflected in our Disability Delivery Plan, to be published for consultation in June 2015. We have also provided funding to disability-led organisations to help ensure that a diverse range of disabled people is supported to contribute to the plan as it develops.

1.6 Training and support

We recognise that we need to continue raising the levels of staff confidence on equality and diversity, including awareness and knowledge of the EQIA process. That is why one of our equality outcomes that we set in 2013 is on raising confidence levels of staff on equality and diversity matters (see Equality and Diversity Matters).

Since May 2013 we have delivered a range of training on equality issues:

• Six transgender awareness sessions during May-June 2014, in conjunction with Scottish Transgender Alliance.
• Disability - a series of seminars in 2014 to policy officials with responsibility for articles under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ( UNCRPD), delivered jointly with disabled people.
• We have started a series of Inclusive Communication seminars, in conjunction with Sense Scotland.
• A series of Saltire News (intranet) articles for Scottish Government staff on a range of equality related issues, including: gender equality, violence against women, transgender, LGBTI equality, same-sex marriage, the 'One Scotland' campaign, maternity/paternity/adoption leave, Scottish Government Diversity and Equality Networks, and the Civil Service Diversity and Equality Awards.

'One Scotland' campaign

In July 2014 the Scottish Government launched the next phase of the 'One Scotland' campaign, promoting equality and celebrating Scotland's diversity. The first phase of activity is focusing on equality for minority ethnic and LGBTI people.

As part of the development of the campaign, 93 per cent of people we surveyed said they believe in a commitment to treating each other equally; however, some 89 per cent also said there's more work to be done to improve equality in Scotland.

We worked with stakeholders and partner organisations to deliver a case study-led communications plan with an emphasis on PR and social media. This ran alongside outdoor, radio, digital and press advertising. The campaign reached a total of 1.8 million people on Facebook, and onescotland.org has received over 19,000 visits.

Our EQIA training and support has been focused on policy development in key policy areas, for example around Welfare Reform, and those areas that were developing Bills.

During 2015 we will be further developing our equality awareness raising programme (see Equality and Diversity Matters outcome).

Some policy areas develop their own equality training and EQIA support systems, based on the local needs:

Justice and Safer Communities Equality & Diversity Network

The role of the Network is to promote equality and diversity issues across the Justice and Safer Communities Directorates. Each division within the Justice and Safer Communities Directorates is represented on the Network. The Network will help ensure that, in discharging their policy-making functions, divisions fulfil their statutory responsibilities in relation to equality and diversity, as well as creating fair and supportive work environments. Members of the Network act as champions for equality and diversity within their divisions; signpost colleagues to relevant resources and opportunities designed to promote equality and diversity; promote completion of statutory requirements, such as equality impact assessments and mandatory requirements, such as training and staff objectives, across their division; and use the Network to share any best practice, skills or expertise that may be of assistance in fulfilling its remit.

1.7 Equality within corporate systems and processes

We continue to build reference to equality into corporate systems and processes:

• There is a section on equality in the 'delivery essentials' portal on the Scottish Government's intranet. The portal collates the most important and frequently used internal guidance, and includes reference to equality impact assessment and the public sector equality duty.
• Equality impact assessment is also referenced in the internal control checklist within the certificate of assurance that senior civil servants sign at the end of every financial year.
• References to the public sector equality duty are included in our public bodies guidance, including the Guide for Board Members of Public Bodies in Scotland.
• There is a section on equality in the Scottish Government's Bill Handbook - the definitive guide for civil servants working on legislation.
• And within our HR functions and systems there are references to equality and diversity, for example, in our People Strategy.

1.8 Equality in the Budget process

How a government chooses to invest its resources is an important sign of the priorities that it holds on behalf of people. Information on the equality analysis and impact assessment of the Scottish Government's spending plans is presented in the Equality Budget Statement ( EBS), published every year alongside the draft budget. It offers details on the equality impact of spend by ministerial portfolio.

The Scottish Government's spending plans over the last two years have drawn from the priorities set out by the Scottish Spending Review 2010-11. The 2014-15 EBS set out a comprehensive narrative on the Draft Budget 2014-15 and on the indicative plans set out at that time for 2015-16. The 2015-16 Equality Budget Statement provided supplementary assessments focused on areas where there had been a significant change in expenditure since the previous year or where new relevant equality evidence had come to light.

Responding to advice from the Equality and Budget Advisory Group ( EBAG), a focus on continuous improvement has underpinned the development of these two equality budget statements. Recent improvements include:

In 2014, EBAG hosted a small number of discussions with relevant policy teams and analysts on strategic themes identified through EBAG and previous budget scrutiny. The purpose of these was to share insight about key equality considerations to help create better outcomes in policy design and budget decisions. A series of short thematic chapters was published as part of the 2015-16 EBS in response.

Each portfolio has identified key areas for improvement to ensure the effective use of equality impact assessments in shaping future spending decisions.

The Equality Budget Statement process is included within arrangements for managing and overseeing the main budget process.

Equality Budget chapters are produced for each portfolio, reflecting Draft Budget portfolio chapters and based on analysis and equality impact assessment work.

The Equality and Budget Advisory Group ( EBAG) has continued to advise, shape and inform the Scottish Government's approach.

1.9 Procurement

The public sector spends around £10 billion a year on buying goods, works and services. Public spend is a significant lever that can be used to support economic growth for all.

The Scottish specific duties contain an explicit procurement duty, which applies to public authorities listed in the Schedule to the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and which meet the definition of a "contracting authority" in the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

• We have worked with the Equality and Human Rights Commission ( EHRC) to produce in 2014 further guidance for the wider public sector, including examples of existing good practice in Scotland on the public sector equality duty and procurement, with a view to this guidance being useful to service users, service providers and equality organisations. This builds on a Policy Note for the wider public sector produced in 2012 to provide information on the specific duty in the legislation in relation to public procurement.
• The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a project with the Equality and Human Rights Commission ( EHRC), the Scottish Human Rights Commission ( SHRC) and a number of other public bodies on the inclusion of equality and human rights-focused criteria within procurement exercises.
• We are also working with Scottish Fair Trade Forum ( SFTF) to increase public sector knowledge and uptake of fairly and ethically traded goods and services in public procurement.
• A national reserved Framework Agreement was established in 2012, which covers four product groups: textiles and personal protection equipment; document management; furniture and associated products; and signage. The framework provides all Scottish public bodies with an easier route to contracts with selected supported businesses. Over £700,000 of spending has been reported by suppliers from the framework, with 255 orders delivered for public bodies from across the wider public sector.
• The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 complements the requirements laid out in the Equality Act 2010 to further advance equality through procurement strategy and process.
• Three new procurement Directives came into force on 17 April 2014. We have been working on a consultation relating to policy options in the new Directives and statutory guidance for the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. The consultation commenced in February 2015. Together, the Act and the Directives will provide the statutory foundations for the Scottish Model of Procurement, simplifying, standardising and streamlining procedures for both businesses and public bodies. It will place sustainable and socially responsible purchasing at the heart of the process.

Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014

The Act requires:

• a contracting authority to consider how, by the way in which it conducts the procurement process, it might improve economic, social and environmental well-being; facilitate the involvement of small and medium enterprises, third sector bodies and supported business; and promote innovation. There is a requirement for 'well-being' to include reducing inequality.
• those contracting authorities that expect significant expenditure in the next financial year (above £5 million) to prepare a new procurement strategy (or review the existing one) and produce annual procurement reports. Procurement policy officials intend to cross reference equality reporting duties in the guidance relating to the procurement strategy and annual report.

Scottish Ministers are given powers to issue guidance that contracting authorities must have regard to when selecting suppliers to participate in a procurement process. This will include suppliers' approach to workforce matters.

The new Directive says that:

• Technical specifications shall, except in duly justified cases, be drawn up so as to take into account accessibility criteria for persons with disabilities or design for all users.
• Where mandatory accessibility requirements are adopted by a legal act of the Union, technical specifications shall, as far as accessibility criteria for persons with disabilities or design for all users are concerned, be defined by reference thereto.

1.10 Mainstreaming equality in Scottish Government Agencies

The following Agencies are covered by this report: Accountant in Bankruptcy; Disclosure Scotland; Education Scotland; Historic Scotland; Scottish Public Pensions Agencies; Student Awards Agencies for Scotland and Transport Scotland.

Agencies are constituent parts of Scottish Government with a stronger focus on operational management and direct delivery of public services.

A range of activities are supporting the mainstreaming of equality across Agencies. Some examples are listed below where activity is in addition to what is being done in the core Directorates of the Scottish Government.

1.10.1 ACCOUNTANT IN BANKRUPTCY

Learning, Development and Performance Management: Fairness at Work sessions are included as a mandatory part of all inductions. An ongoing management training programme is also delivered in AiB and one of the modules on this training programme is Equality, Diversity and Fairness at Work for Line Managers. In addition, a series of staff awareness seminars is provided every year, with at least one of these covering an equality and diversity related topic. The Agency is in the process of piloting a customer service qualification, part of which focuses on equality and diversity and how to ensure the service that is being delivered is appropriate.

Evidence gathering: in November 2012, Accountant in Bankruptcy adapted the equality data collected from those applying for bankruptcy in Scotland to conform to the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010, and to achieve consistency with Equality and Human Rights Commission recommendations and the 2011 Census. Since then the data collected have been analysed and no areas for concern have been identified. Ongoing collection of these data will provide robust material with which to undertake further statistical analysis, and this will inform any future equality issues that AiB seeks to address in the delivery of its services.

Equality consideration in decision making: the standard template for all AiB committee meeting papers includes a section to detail potential equality or diversity implications of proposed recommendations or changes to process. This ensures that equality issues are considered and recorded for all decisions, not just those subject to full equality impact assessments.

Access to information and services: AiB responds quickly to any requests for information in alternative languages and formats to ensure that there are no barriers to accessing information and services. On request AiB arranges for interpreters to attend meetings with Citizens Advice representatives to provide important information in relation to the insolvency process, options and consequences. The AiB website also publishes a number of corporate information booklets in alternative languages.

1.10.2 DISCLOSURE SCOTLAND

Disclosure Scotland has worked with information and data security specialists to put in place an enhanced translation service within its Protection Services department. This service will allow individuals whose first language is not English and who are under consideration for barring from regulated work with children or protected adults, to make personal written representations in their native language, enhancing accessibility and promoting engagement. This enhanced translation service has been delivered against strict security standards to ensure the continued protection of sensitive personal data.

Throughout 2014, Disclosure Scotland commissioned and facilitated Fairness at Work sessions for all staff, focused on bullying and harassment in the workplace and on respect for diversity issues. They introduced a "yellow card" system, through which staff could report unsavoury incidents to HR with the expectation that these would be followed up. This led to the formation of a staff improvement forum and a series of presentations by Directors to all staff on the theme of fairness at work, feeding back the results from the facilitated sessions and setting out the policy of the Agency on fairness at work and respect for diversity.

Protection Services operate a decision-making process that is structured and evidence based to avoid the reliance on inappropriate and irrelevant characteristics, and training for new caseworkers emphasises the subjective nature of judgement and sources of bias in decision making. Diversity training has been offered to staff in Protection Services twice in the last three years, and another session will be delivered in 2015.

Disclosure Scotland has commissioned an external social research agency to carry out a customer research study. This will give us an opportunity to gather structured data about our service users, including their protected characteristics, which will enable us to understand the user experience.

A Board Equality Champion has recently been appointed and, going forward, James Wallace, Director of Corporate Services, will lead this Agenda. Disclosure Scotland has a People Strategy Community Network, which includes a People Engagement Group to give staff a voice and to increase our understanding of the issues being faced in Disclosure Scotland. The group uses People Survey data as its evidence base.

1.10.3 EDUCATION SCOTLAND

Disability: Although we are seeing improvements, young people with a disability do less well than their non-disabled peers in terms of attainment and initial positive destinations on leaving school, and are nearly twice as likely to be excluded.

Gender: Regarding educational outcomes, there is a long history of boys doing less well than girls, and more boys are identified as having additional support needs. Too many young people continue to make choices which conform to gender stereotypes. Staff in secondary schools need to recognise and act on gender imbalance in science and technologies where it exists.

Race: Most young people from minority ethnic groups achieve high rates of attainment and positive leaver destinations, however, young people from a Gypsy/Traveller background continue to underperform quite significantly in comparison. The largest ethnic group in our schools, white Scottish, along with those whose ethnicity is not known or not disclosed, have the lowest levels of attainment and positive leaver destinations.

Bullying has a negative impact on school attendance and attainment, and young people with protected characteristics, such as young people who have a disability or are from a minority ethnic community, or LGBTI young people, may be more susceptible.

Transforming lives through learning

Education Scotland's corporate plan for 2013-16 was built on a significant period of engagement with staff and stakeholders, and lays out how we plan to work collaboratively to improve outcomes for all learners in Scotland. The plan sets out our vision that learners in Scotland will progress in one of the most effective education systems in the world, renowned for the ability of national and local partners to work flexibly together to achieve high quality and equitable outcomes for all. Achieving this vision will be marked by the following outcomes:

• educational outcomes for all learners are improving;
• inequity in educational outcomes is eradicated; and
• public confidence in education is high.

The first of the strategic objectives contained in the corporate plan is to build a world-class curriculum for all learners in Scotland. To deliver on this, we commit to:

"Focus on reducing inequity in educational outcomes for all learners by working with partners to identify and drive effective strategies to improve achievement and raise attainment, particularly in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing."

One of the ways in which we will measure success is that:

"Inequity in learner outcomes will begin to incrementally reduce as evidenced through analysis of specific vulnerable communities or groups and international benchmarking studies."

Education Scotland looks to achieve its strategic objectives through the work of Directorates focused on different aspects of the learner's journey, as well as our own staff. Our work is spread across four Directorates, with Directorate A (Families, Inclusion and Local Authorities) offering a lead for equalities work within Scottish Education. In addition to Strategic Objective 1 (see above), Strategic Objective 6 relates to how we carry out our work in respect of our own staff. Education Scotland aspires to go beyond compliance with the public sector equality duty and includes social background.

Recent equalities work

Education Scotland engages with a wide range of equality groups, representing stakeholders across the protected characteristics.

Our Diversity and Equality Network is an external group whose members include Scottish Government, Equality and Human Rights Commission, Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People, Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights, Inclusion Scotland, Stonewall, LGBT Youth, Scottish Refugee Council, BEMIS, Respectme, Show Racism the Red Card, Roshni, the Educational Institute for Scotland and Glasgow City Council. The Network offers advice to Education Scotland in respect of diversity and equality, and collaborates on some specific projects. For example, 'How Good Is Our School?' is a set of quality indicators that provide the core tool for self-evaluation for all schools; the Network has been consulted on a new (fourth) version and on proposals for changes to inspection. Network participants are also involved in advice and guidance about curricular developments, such as 'Learning Journeys', and in reporting to Education Scotland aspects of research and campaigning linked to equalities.

Education Scotland has an Inclusion Reference Group drawn from practitioners, which aims to consider developments in inclusive learning and how Scottish education can consider new approaches to inclusion. The group has considered a definition for inclusion that takes account of a broader equalities agenda. It notes:

"In Scotland inclusive learning takes place when local schools and communities create a learning environment designed to meet the needs of all learners.

In inclusive environments the needs of diverse learners are provided through personalised learning and support that takes account of individual needs, choices and circumstances while relentlessly reinforcing high expectations. Effective individualised support is provided in environments that ensure all our children and young people become successful learners, responsible citizens, effective contributors and confident individuals."

Inspection processes and equality

Education Scotland has been working with Scottish Government and other stakeholders to ensure that a new online benchmarking tool, Insight, takes account of equalities matters such as social background, gender, disability and ethnicity. These are key determinants of achievement and are readily benchmarked across schools and authorities.

Ahead of an inspection, every school is asked to self-evaluate its performance in respect of the question, " How do you ensure equality and inclusion and promote diversity across the school?". The response to this question identifies issues for inspectors to discuss with the school about its approaches to equality and diversity. This question is not always answered effectively.

In every inspection, a sample of children, young people, staff and parents are surveyed across some key aspects of the work of the school, including whether children feel they are treated fairly in the school, if they get help when they need it and if bullying is tackled effectively by staff. Over the last five years, more than 120,000 children and young people across all 32 education authorities in Scotland have responded to questionnaires, and 95% agree or strongly agree that the school is helping them to become more confident and think they are getting on well with their school work. Education Scotland has equality monitored the use of the questionnaires and is considering moving to an online approach to pre-inspection questionnaires. Plans will consider linking equality monitoring not only to the use of the questionnaire but also to monitor responses by protected characteristics.

International profile

Scotland is an active and participative member of the European Agency in Special Needs and Inclusive Education. The Agency coordinates the work of over 30 European countries, focusing on inclusive education, and engages in project work across countries in areas such as organising provision and raising achievement of all learners in inclusive education. Scotland was one of three sites to welcome groups of expert project participants from schools and universities in 20 European countries to Calderglen Learning Community to promote inclusive education internationally. Scotland is taking a key role in an international Country Review Activity project, as well as participating in an Inclusive Pre-Primary Education project.

Education Scotland has worked with the British Council in Pakistan to promote gender equality in education and offered approaches to inclusion at a major conference in Dubai in December 2014. Scotland also welcomed a number of visitors during the Scottish Learning Festival who, in participating in the Festival and visiting schools, were struck at the general level of commitment to equality in Scottish education. The theme of the 2014 Festival was "Raising achievement and attainment for all".

Conferences and events

Education Scotland recently held two very successful conferences for young deaf learners in Glasgow and a peer learning event across diversity and equality issues. Together with National Deaf Children's Society over 60 deaf young people came together to share experiences and engage with deaf role models. While 120 young people from all over Scotland came to hear about a range of approaches to peer learning leading on diversity and equality matters. Groups included young people talking about their work in tackling homophobia, learning to remember about World Holocaust Day, tackling sectarianism, mentors into violence, promoting rights respecting schools and removing barriers to learning.

Education Scotland organises a series of events that support aims to tackle inequalities and encourage schools and authorities to take account of the needs of diverse learners. In 2014 this included supporting third sector organisations to consider ways to build sustainability into 44 projects connected with challenging sectarianism, and a peer learning seminar at the Scottish Learning Festival about how children and young people can be ambassadors for equality and diversity, tackling sectarianism, homophobia and racism. Practitioners have been engaged in events about children too ill to attend school, service families' children, provision for those with social, emotional and behavioural needs; and resources have been produced to review good practice and research evidence. Over 200 guidance and support teachers have engaged on ways to improve personalised learning and support. Education Scotland has participated frequently with the Scottish Guidance Association to support the success of their Annual Conference. A number of other networks have been supported to good effect regarding groups linked to disabilities and health needs.

1.10.4 HISTORIC SCOTLAND

Widening Access to Historic Environment

Scottish Heritage: We know that those most likely to engage are older, more affluent members of society. Therefore, work is targeted at reaching minority ethnic groups, Gypsy/Traveller communities and younger people.

Conservation: Based on audience research and analysis, hard to reach groups can include young people, particularly those from socially deprived areas; minority ethnic groups; people with mental health issues. Recent work includes engaging women with traditional skills.

Access for all

Historic Scotland is committed to developing and promoting inclusive access for all, while being sensitive to our special historic environments. Historic Scotland recognises that many historic properties can present difficulties for disabled people so each property page on our website provides access details, along with brief descriptions of the types of display and the tactile qualities of artefacts. In addition, we also have an Access Guide, which provides visitors with access information for attractions maintained by Historic Scotland. This guide is also available on request in large print, PDF and MP3/ CD alternative formats.

In considering new interventions at our sites and monuments we always strive to accommodate, where we can, improvements that provide access for all. Historic Scotland currently carries out Visitor Services Risk Assessments at a number of monuments; offers free entry for one-to-one carers accompanying disabled visitors; welcomes assistance dogs at all sites; and provides large print scripts and portable induction loops with handsets on all audio tours. Wherever possible we provide accessible parking and blue badge holders take priority.

Engaging children and young people

Historic Scotland's Learning Services Team supports access to the historic environment through operation of our Free Education Visits Scheme, Heritage Travel Subsidy for Schools and provision of learning programmes for wide-ranging audiences. The Free Education Visits Scheme is open to all schools and qualifying groups from within the EU and, in administering the Scottish Government's Heritage Travel Subsidy Scheme, applications from Scottish schools in areas on the Index of Multiple Deprivation are given priority, enabling enhanced access to young people from these areas. Our wide-ranging learning programmes and projects actively collaborate in partnerships and projects to foster opportunities to engage with diverse audiences such as schools, community groups, the youth work sector and groups with additional support needs, to enhance social inclusion, provide access to underrepresented groups and enable positive experiences inspired by our properties.

Engaging children -'Heritage on Your Doorstep'

The Heritage Management Directorate within Historic Scotland has continued to work closely with local communities, encouraging different groups within the Scottish heritage environment sector to participate in such projects as ' Heritage on Your Doorstep'.

The Project Team developed 'Heritage on Your Doorstep' as a heritage/planning addition to the already successful and popular 'Haunted Heritage Road Show', in response to a request to design an 'Inception Project' to be piloted at Broomlands Primary School, Kelso. The Team worked closely with staff at the primary school and colleagues from the Scottish Government. After careful consideration, it was agreed that Heritage on Your Doorstep/Haunted Heritage would best support positive learning outcomes to young people in P7.

Heritage on Your Doorstep was centred around a number of lesson plans and learning activities, which were specifically designed to increase young people's understanding, experience, and above all ENJOYMENT of the historic environment. We developed a number of learning tools, including a detective toolkit, clue sheets and quizzes. There was also a strong emphasis on anchoring the activities within the context of the planning system, fostering an understanding of the role we all play in our built environment. In particular a number of discussions and site visits were developed specifically around the Townscape Heritage Initiative that was taking place in Kelso. Heritage on Your Doorstep also supported the 'Curriculum For Excellence', drawing on 'Creativity and Imagination', 'Thinking Skills' and 'Reporting and Presentation Skills'.

Miss Eilidh Porrelli, P7 teacher, explained:

"This tied in very well with our local history project. Good curricular links with history, social studies, mapping, environmental conservation works and art. Also good for collaborative work."

After the successful delivery of the pilot project at Broomlands Primary School, we hope to collaborate further with Education Directorate in running 'Heritage on Your Doorstep' and the 'Haunted Heritage Road Shows'.

Engaging minority ethnic communities

Our Investment Team provides funding to the West of Scotland Regional Equality Council ( WSREC) with grants of £36,000, £50,000 and £50,000 being provided for the period 2014-2017. Through their work on the Roots Scotland Project, WSREC aims to increase the knowledge, appreciation and enjoyment of the historic environment by minority ethnic communities in Scotland. Minority ethnic communities are now more aware of open events being held by Historic Scotland, and Historic Scotland continues to have an increased understanding of and opportunities to interact with minority ethnic communities across Scotland.

Volunteering

Historic Scotland currently offers a range of volunteering opportunities, in particular within our Ranger Services. We place no upper age limits for volunteers and our Historic Scotland Rangers Service ( HSRS) has recently developed and piloted a national Junior Rangers Scheme.

Learning programmes and projects

Our Ranger Team, assisted by our volunteers, provides wide-ranging learning programmes and projects that enable positive experiences inspired by our properties and the outdoors:

1. Bus tours around Holyrood Park and home presentations for elderly care home/day care residents/dementia/stroke patients
2. The John Muir Award to impart skills and experiences to young people in various groups from socially challenged backgrounds
3. Various activities with the Edinburgh Garvald group - adults with physical and learning disabilities
4. The "Holyrood Park Pioneer Award" for Upward Mobility (six sessions in Summer 2014) - adults with physical and learning disabilities
5. Early intervention project to engage with, develop and encourage truant pupils to return to school /college
6. Natural Capital Project to engage and develop young people in care or who had come to the attention of City of Edinburgh Council Social Work
7. Development and delivery of 'using my senses talking maps' for pupils at Oaklands Special School to engage with the environment, history and our monuments.

Gaelic Language Plan

Historic Scotland's five-year Gaelic Language Plan was officially approved in 2012 and signed off by Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the government body responsible for supporting Gaelic in Scotland. The plan supports the National Plan for Gaelic, sets out our commitment to the Gaelic language and details what we will do to incorporate it into our day-to-day business. The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 states that Gaelic should command 'equal respect' with English in Scotland. It is an official language of Scotland and we believe should be taken into consideration when discussing equality within our organisation and the community we serve. Over the last year, Historic Scotland has held a series of Gaelic awareness training sessions for staff and published information about Gaelic and its importance in the internal newpaper Historic Times. This helps staff to understand why Gaelic has been made an official language, and why it is important to include it in our work. We have launched a thesaurus of Gaelic terms relating to the historic environment, which is an invaluable resource not only for staff, but also for teachers, pupils and Gaelic speakers and learners across the country. In addition we have worked with schools, particularly in Edinburgh. Taobh na Pàirce primary and Stenhouse primary have taken part in the Gaelic Junior Guides Scheme at Edinburgh Castle. With the support of our Gaelic Learning Officer, second year pupils at James Gillespie's High School have researched, written, illustrated and published a book about Mary Queen of Scots in Gaelic, aimed at primary school children.

Wedding service

Historic Scotland offers a wedding service and welcomes civil, religious and humanist ceremonies at many of our sites including Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle, Linlithgow Palace and Urquhart Castle. This year we will start welcoming our first same-sex weddings.

Collaboration with Young Scot

The Young Scot Awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of Scotland's young people. Young Scot is looking for young people that have made a positive difference: unsung heroes who are worthy of recognition; young people who have improved their community and/or Scotland; or young Scots who have been an inspiration to Scotland and its people. For the last eight years, Historic Scotland has sponsored the Heritage Award which, year after year, pays tribute to those who have worked hard to protect, maintain and support Scotland's historic environment.

Royal Commission of Ancient and Historic Monuments ( RCAHMS)

The RCAHMS Education and Outreach programme has a nationwide remit covering a wide range of audiences. Online resources provide access to hundreds of thousands of unique images and information, in addition to a publication and exhibition programme. Through programmes of work and collaborative projects, there is a particularly strong focus on community engagement with local groups and organisations.

Scotland's Urban Past is a five-year community engagement project supported by a £1.65 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant and will launch in June 2015. Through crowd-sourcing activities, hands-on training and creative input from artists, musicians, writers, actors and digital designers, SUP will work with communities of all age groups across the nation to explore the rich architectural, social and personal histories of Scotland's towns and cities.

RCAHMS also manages Scran which is one of the largest educational online services in the UK, supporting over 4,000 schools, libraries, colleges and universities. It works in partnership with over 300 cultural institutions in Scotland and the rest of the UK, and gives access to 390,000 images, movies and sounds from museums, galleries, archives and the media. Supporting learning as part of the Curriculum for Excellence, its Education Officers offer support - at no cost - to all local authority schools in Scotland, including talks, workshops and CPD training.

A new public body, Historic Environment Scotland, will shortly replace Historic Scotland and RCAHMS. The Chair and Board of the new body were appointed in January 2015 and will take over all duties in October 2015. Historic Scotland and RCAHMS will cease to exist at that time.

1.10.5 SCOTTISH PUBLIC PENSIONS AGENCY

The SPPA has introduced its own People Strategy (People@ SPPA), which correlates with the timings of the Agency Corporate Plan 2012-15. We aim to ensure that measures are in place within the Agency to encourage all staff to meet their full potential, and ensure we have a workforce which reflects the skills and knowledge required for significant changes in public sector pensions and how these changes will be administered. In November 2012 we received the 'Investors in People' Gold Award independently of the Scottish Government and, throughout 2013-14, we continued to encourage and support the values and requirements of the IiP key indicators. The SPPA also supports the Scottish Government Youth Employment Strategy. Eight of our 34 new starts in 2013-14 joined through the Modern Apprenticeship scheme, and we provided employment for one student placement.

SECTION 2: THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT AS AN EMPLOYER

Introduction

The Programme for Government sets out a commitment to promoting Fair Work. As an employer we are playing our part in making our workplace fairer. In partnership with our recognised trade unions, we promote fair work practices, employee engagement and job security. For example, all directly employed staff are paid above the level of the Living Wage and we have a no compulsory redundancy agreement in place until July 2016.

The Scottish Government is committed to continually increasing the diversity of our organisation. Diversity and equality considerations underpin all our employment policies and practices and shape the employee journey. We strive to develop all our people and see diversity as a strength.

This organisational vision is set out in our Business Strategy:
Being the Scotland we want to see
Giving everyone a chance to shine.
We have a diverse workforce that represents the communities we serve.

And is delivered through our People Strategy with the specific commitment that:
The organisation treats everyone with dignity and respect and promotes equality and diversity.

This vision is realised through consistent improvement of our systems and processes of workforce development and planning (recruitment, promotion, performance management, learning and development) and through working to grow the right conditions and culture (engagement, leadership and management, networks of support). To create an environment where everyone has a chance to shine, we encourage an empowered and empowering organisation where leadership is more widely distributed and diversity of perspective is valued. The People Strategy embodies a 'deal' between the organisation and the individuals within it: the organisation will work to embed and promote equality and diversity and in turn each individual has a part to play to ensure everyone has the opportunity to learn, develop, thrive and gain satisfaction from their work.

Pursuing workforce diversity goes beyond meeting our legal responsibilities. It is about ' being the Scotland we want to see' and bringing diverse perspectives to create and shape better policy making and delivery. As set out in our Equality Outcomes, it is vital to our success that we become an organisation that broadly reflects wider Scottish society. We want to be an exemplar employer and lead the way for Scottish public services and for the wider Civil Service, sharing best practice and working together to progress the wider diversity and equality agenda. Our intention is for all our people to be treated fairly and equally and not to be disadvantaged because of their protected characteristics or as a result of, for example, their working pattern, employment status, caring responsibility, or trade union membership.

The Public Boards and Corporate Diversity Programme ( PBCDPB), which was established by the Scottish Government in early 2014 encompasses: improving Board diversity in private, public and third sector organisations, making Ministerial public appointments more diverse, and improving the diversity of Scottish Government's own leadership. Although the initial focus is on improving gender balance, the strand relating to Scottish Government's own diversity at senior levels aspires to increase representation of people at senior level across all protected characteristics.

We are taking action to eliminate discrimination, advance equality and foster good relations at every stage of the employee journey . Actions at key points in this journey - recruitment into the organisation, resourcing and progression, development and retention - are set out below. We work closely with our Council of Scottish Government Union partners on all aspects and they bring a particular focus on ensuring that equality of opportunity and outcome are at the forefront of planning, decision making and evaluation.

Recruitment and resourcing

The employee experience begins with recruitment: ensuring equality of opportunity is a core and visible aim of our resourcing policy and supporting procedures. We welcome applications from all suitably-qualified people and aim to employ a diverse workforce that reflects the people of Scotland. Constrained resources may have limited our opportunities to increase diversity through recruitment but where we do recruit permanent staff from outside the Civil Service the diversity message is set out in our job advertisement template. We highlight that we are part of the Positive about Disabled People Scheme, and we promote flexible working and other benefits to help encourage a diverse range of applicants. Under the Positive About Disabled People Scheme, disabled applicants are automatically invited to interview if they meet the defined minimum criteria and reasonable adjustments are made to the recruitment process as required. This statement is included in our recruitment code on our website and the guaranteed interview symbol appears on press adverts. As part of its annual audit, the Civil Service Commission ensures proper arrangements for disabled applicants are in place.

In 2014 we included specific requirements on the management of disabled applicants in the procurement process to run our assessment centres. These related to how the bidder would ensure appropriate checks before placing a candidate in a role, would assess and implement reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants during the selection process and how they will ensure robust diversity and equality policies are implemented throughout the contract duration.

We test how far diverse needs are met through our recruitment process by requesting diversity monitoring information from all candidates. We use this information, which is held separately and accessible to a very limited number of colleagues, both to help ensure that our resourcing policy and procedures have no discriminatory impact on any groups of applicants and to assess the effectiveness of different recruitment campaigns for applicants from particular diversity groups to ensure equality of opportunity for all.

Through the sponsorship of the Public Boards and Corporate Diversity Programme specific focus has been given to improving the diversity at our most senior levels. This began in late 2014, focusing on how we improve and sustain the gender diversity of the organisation at a senior level, including our Non-Executive Directors. This work has included reviewing the range of people attracted to roles and identifying alternative mechanisms for reaching potential applicants. We have not had all-male shortlists since early 2014 and all members of the senior Civil Service were notified in March that they are required to undertake a Civil Service Learning on-line course on unconscious bias.

Our age profile shows that we have fewer people in younger age groups and so one direct recruitment route - the Modern Apprenticeship Programme ( MAP) - is specifically designed as a youth employment initiative and was negotiated with the Civil Service Commissioner to be targeted at 16 to 24 year olds. This programme of recruitment and assessed development is helping to widen the age profile of the organisation. Scottish Ministers' commitment to youth employment initiatives has resulted in the recruitment of over 150 Modern Apprentices across the 2013-14 and 2014-15 financial years. We continue to have regular networking events for Modern Apprentices and their line managers to help young people with the transition to work. We have updated our eHR system so that we can track the careers of those who join us as Modern Apprentices and from 2015-16 we will capture the protected characteristics of MAs at the point of recruitment . We are working towards an Investors in Young People award to ensure that we have the highest standards of practice.

We have established a Graduate Development Programme ( GDP) to externally recruit 20 new employees. The GDP aims to be an exemplar in terms of diversity and equality with the advertising and recruitment process reaching deep into communities to connect with under-represented groups. We have worked with internal and external equality and diversity networks to get advice on how best to attract people with protected characteristics to our Graduate Development Programme and Graduate Internship schemes.

We worked with Adopt an Intern, an organisation established in 2009 to place unemployed and under employed graduates into graduate internship schemes, to recruit to our Graduate Internship Scheme. Through Adopt an Intern the Scottish Government offered 26 graduates the opportunity to work with us on projects lasting 6-12 months. Eighteen females and eight males were accepted onto the scheme last year. We will learn from and build on the success of this scheme by running an Internship scheme annually and will continue to monitor and evaluate the process. For example, with the Internship scheme we did not ask for any specific level of degree (which many other schemes do) thus increasing the pool of applicants. This subsequently informed our approach to the Graduate Development Programme.

As part of our role to foster good relations with stakeholders and to ensure that recruitment and development opportunities offered by Scottish Government have the widest possible reach, we have engaged in a number of initiatives. We have collaborated with the UK Government to participate in the Whitehall Internship Programme as part of the Coalition Government's social mobility strategy for 2011-15. It is designed to give young people from under privileged and under-represented backgrounds access to internships in every Whitehall Department and in Glasgow. These include Black, Asian and Minority ethnic communities.

We have been liaising with the City of Edinburgh Council to bring the Project Search Work Experience Programme for young people with autism to the Scottish Government in 2015-16. The Scottish Government has also been working with the charity Career Academy (soon to be known as Career Ready) to provide students (school children and college students studying the equivalent of three Highers) with a structured two-year programme, which includes mentoring (Scottish Government employees volunteer to be mentors), motivational lectures, workshops and a four week paid placement. Through the placement students get a chance to experience the working week in a real operating environment, undertaking a job that benefits the employer and putting into practice what they have learned at school or college. The programme in Scotland focuses on young people with limited social mobility who are at risk of under-achieving and not fulfilling their potential.

Talent and development

The Scottish Government values individual learning and talent development to allow everyone to grow and reach their potential. These commitments are at the heart of our People Strategy. We mainstream equality in learning and development through ensuring that our corporate learning offering is open and accessible to all. We recognise that each individual is unique and make available support and development which is appropriate to the needs of the individual. Support is targeted where necessary.

Our core learning offer is available to all via the intranet and our open online booking system. These core programmes have no application process and every employee is encouraged to have an active learning plan. Individuals are able to determine their learning needs and discuss these with their line manager through the Monthly Conversation and personal learning plan process. They are then free to book onto the core learning which fits their individual and business need. Our investment in products such as the Civil Service Learning online system means that even formal learning is available in a range of locations, times and channels to suit the whole workforce. We have a Union Learning Agreement and our trade union partners are active in promoting learning opportunities and spreading awareness of 'learning for all' at a local level.

We actively target support to ensure that all our people can access learning. All who wish to attend a learning event are specifically asked if we can provide any additional support or adjustments. This includes making arrangements to ensure that disabled colleagues can access corporate courses and programmes, visually impaired colleagues can access course materials online using assistive technology or direct support and can also receive 1-2-1 training covering essential business needs ( e.g. IT skills) as required. Colleagues can also arrange loans of laptops and on line learning materials to allow them to learn in a place and time that suits them. Materials are also made available in large print and in dyslexia-friendly print colours, and we have the option to record audio books of training materials. We also respect religion and beliefs and ensure that where required colleagues can access space and time to honour prayers during learning and development activities.

To help us ensure our learning is truly open and to ensure equality of opportunity to all we actively seek feedback on an ongoing basis. We have end of event surveys which includes a question about awareness of availability of reasonable adjustments that allows us to monitor how we are doing and consider areas for improvement. Results in 2014 were roughly 50/50 in terms of awareness and we are taking action to increase awareness levels. Every learning opportunity descriptor will now include a statement about reasonable adjustments. Our network of Training Liaison Officers will also be undertaking awareness sessions locally. A review of the end of event questionnaire/evaluation questions will also take place during 2015 to improve the feedback we receive on equality of accessibility to learning.

In addition to our core learning provision, we have targeted talent and development programmes. Our Realising Potential Programme ( RPP) aims to identify individuals with potential, accelerate their development and build long term leadership capacity, across all grades and role types, for the organisation and for Scotland. The first cohort 2012-14 were 32 male/38 female. We were flexible about the commitment of time to RPP based on working patterns and have allowed participants who went on maternity leave either to stay in touch with their current cohort or to defer until the next cohort of RPP. We also provided resilience training as part of RPP and all participants were offered a resilience coach to help with work-life balance. When the second cohort of the RPP is launched later in 2015, we will use targeted communications and work with our equality networks to ensure that we attract a diverse cohort.

Our mentoring programme is a good example of the combination of openness and accessibility and equality of opportunity. It is open to staff in all bands across the Scottish Government. Where possible we meet any specific requests for either mentor or mentee, e.g. location; gender; sexual orientation; specialism etc. and personal circumstances such as work pattern; travel constraints; special requirements. We also ensure that we promote it regularly through our staff diversity networks which in turn helps us to foster good relations across different groups of staff.

Our mentoring team supports requests from across the organisation for best practice and guidance on 'mentoring'/buddying opportunities that are being developed within their specific area. The training provided by our mentoring team is open to all those with an interest in mentoring - either as a mentee or mentor. We are developing a series of Continuous Professional Development ( CPD) interventions for mentors to enhance their skill and quality as a mentor. As part of our commitment to providing colleagues with a variety of mentoring opportunities we have developed several collaborative initiatives to mentor young people in our communities such as Career Ready and Edinburgh University Mentoring Programme. We provide advice and guidance for our Race and Equality Network on best practice in undertaking a mentoring programme. As part of this collaboration the Race and Equality Network have decided to mainstream their applications into the core programme.

The work of the Public Boards and Corporate Diversity Programme ( PBCDPB) has highlighted that individuals, particularly those currently underrepresented at senior levels, require role models at the highest level in the organisation to be visible and inspire them. One of our early actions is to roll out the '9 box grid process' - a succession planning tool which helps identify talent - to senior managers at C Band. The 9 box grid has been used over a number of years to assist with the active career management, succession planning and appropriate development of senior civil servants. This will help identify those with the potential to progress to the senior Civil Service and together with diversity information will assist with identifying those with potential in the protected characteristics groups to allow targeted support and development including mentoring.

GRID FOR C Band - FOR COMPLETION

Progression and Promotion

Ensuring equality of opportunity to move through the organisation is a key consideration within Scottish Government. We have looked closely at our central promotion board process and, working closely with our trade unions, conducted extensive evaluations of the last two rounds. Equality considerations have been at the heart of those reviews.

In 2014 we held internal promotion boards to bands B and C. On completion of this exercise, a comprehensive assessment of the process was undertaken, including a survey of the views of candidates (71% response rate), and interviews with colleagues involved in the process. Diversity analysis was produced to highlight both strengths and areas for improvement in relation to gender, age, national identity, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and health condition/disability. For disability, national identity, ethnicity and religion there were either no notable differences in the success rates of different groups of candidates, or the proportion of candidates in minority groups was too small to draw any valid conclusions. For gender and age statistically significant differences were found, however:

• Female candidates were relatively more successful than male at the C band board: 15% of female candidates passed the board compared to 9% of men. This may be related to the fact that proportionately fewer women applied to the C band board: 47% of candidates were women compared to 52% of people in the grade eligible to apply. Hence, female candidates may have more frequently 'self-selected' when applying than male candidates.
• Relatively fewer people aged 50 years or older applied, and those who did were relatively less successful at both boards than younger candidates. At the C band board, fewer than 5% of candidates aged 50 years or older were successful, compared to the average pass rate of 11%. At the B band board, 8% aged 50 or older were successful, compared to the average pass rate of 19%.

The results of this diversity analysis are being used in a review of the processes in place for promotion, including the use of multi-test assessment centres and competency based interviews and the possible effect they have on the relative success rates of diversity groups, including in terms of age. This is to ensure that the promotion process does not inadvertently discriminate against any group and attracts applications from under-represented groups. Findings from this review will be fully discussed with staff diversity networks as part of the equality impact assessment.

The Promotion Review Project is an in-depth examination of our approach to internal promotion. We have looked to the lessons learned from previous exercises including the evaluation and diversity analysis undertaken by our Corporate Analytical Services team, benchmarking with public and private sector organisations and research into current best practice. We are developing proposals to inform our future promotion process, in discussion with our trade union partners. This review will inform process and policy change and help us continue to ensure that our promotion activity is fair and presents no barriers to any individual groups.

Retention

Diversity is also important for our people's engagement - engagement is a measure of how attached and proud people feel to be part of the organisation and how motivated and inspired they are to achieve its objectives. We know from our annual People Survey that there are some groups that are less engaged in the workforce than others, and we want to change this. We know for example that colleagues who report they have a long-standing condition or disability that impacts on their daily work a lot have a lower engagement score than the Scottish Government average and across the survey themes, a less positive workplace experience in general. We will work with our disability network to identify any reasons for this and take steps to rectify this. Increasing the engagement levels of all groups of staff is important because research indicates that engaged people tend to have higher wellbeing at work, perform better, be more innovative and take less time off sick and are more likely to remain working in the organisation.

We are also aware that difficulties experienced in returning to the workplace after a long absence could further delay that return, or indeed lead to an employee leaving the organisation. We were therefore keen to identify the issues facing those returning from an absence from the organisation to ensure we were able to make their return easier and more welcoming and ensure we were able to ensure equality of opportunity for that particular group.

A group of colleagues on our extended development programme undertook a research project during 2012-14 into the barriers faced by those returning from a long-term absence from the organisation. The research has shown that the biggest impact is most likely to be on women returning from maternity leave and those returning from a long term sick absence. The group have now delivered their final report and recommendations which included; detailed guidance for line managers and staff, dedicated points of contact within HR for those out of the office for longer periods and a network to enable those out of the office to meet and share experiences. The implementation of these recommendations is now being consider by the responsible business areas within HR.

We understand the importance to individuals to remain in, and to be able to, contribute fully in the workplace. To support our colleagues who are absent from the office we have a dedicated Attendance Management team who provide support, advice and guidance to individuals and managers. The team works with individuals, their managers and the Scottish Government's Occupational Health Adviser to ensure appropriate measures are in place to support those experiencing health problems.

As an exemplar employer, the Scottish Government appreciates that we have a pivotal role to play in supporting colleagues diagnosed or living with cancer. We strongly believe that maintaining a positive relationship between employer and employees diagnosed or living with cancer is the right thing to do. In 2013 a group of employees along with our Diversity Manager consulted with colleagues who had had cancer, line managers who had managed individuals returning from absence and professional organisations. From this the group created comprehensive guidance for individuals and managers to support them when having to work with and support colleagues who may be diagnosed with cancer. We also held an event called "Let's Talk About It" to encourage colleagues to talk about cancer in the workplace and outwith.

The Scottish Government continues to make any reasonable adjustments to premises or employment arrangements if these place a disabled employee, or prospective employee, at a disadvantage due to their disability, to ensure that our disabled colleagues are able to work to their full ability and remain in employment.

Our Occupational Health and Safety ( OHS) team are responsible for ensuring that our people are able to access the equipment and environment required to allow them to contribute fully. The team has kept abreast of new adaptive technologies that allow disabled people and those with health conditions who cannot utilise standard pieces of furniture to access alternatives. For example, in 2014 the team initiated a trial on the use of desk equipment that easily allow people to stand at their desk. The user feedback has been collated and clearly demonstrates the health and performance benefits of encouraging postural changes. We are now looking to expand the use of these desks across the office including installing some in our shared spaces.

In 2013-14 members of the OHS Branch attended specialist ergonomic training to allow them to better understand the needs of individuals with disabilities and health issues. The training has ensured that appropriate specialist assessments are undertaken, equipment procured and offered for trial so as to minimise any barriers to retaining and rehabilitating colleagues with disabilities and/or health issues. Including - trialing alternative non-standard seating devices (Sitness stool, Sitfit cushion, Swopper 3Dee chair) and wheeled transportation chairs for individuals with unique medical conditions for use in emergency situations.

Since February 2014 workplace assessments have been completed on-line through a 'Display Screen Equipment Self-Assessment' module with support available from local trained Health and Safety Liaison Officers and the OHS Branch. Since the launch in February 2014, 1495 staff have undertaken these on-line assessments. In addition to identifying the need for replacement equipment ( e.g. chair, monitor riser, footrest, copy holder etc) to minimise risks to health, DSE risk assessment findings occasionally include recommendations for alternative styles of chair, for desks to be raised in height or for the trial of specialised items of equipment such as ergonomic keyboards, alternative styles of mice and telephone headsets.

We are also keen to fully understand the reasons for staff leaving the organisation so that we can address any factors leading to this. In early 2015 an exit interview for all senior civil servants and Non-Executive Directors leaving the Scottish Government was introduced. The interview covers a number of areas including the individuals reasons for leaving and whether they consider they have suffered from any unfair treatment during their employment. This will enable us to capture information on any policy or processes that may lead to someone leaving the organisation earlier than they would have chosen.

The Scottish Government has, over the past two years, allowed staff to leave under voluntary exit arrangements. We have considered whether an analysis of the protected characteristics of those who have left under the scheme would give us any meaningful data about trends or impacts on particular groups. To date, the small number of people who have left under the scheme means that the sample size is too small to give us any useful information. We will keep this under review and see whether any patterns emerge as the sample size increases over time.

Monitoring and evidence

To deliver our ambition to mainstream equality and achieve our Equality Outcomes, we use evidence from a range of sources, including our annual People Survey; workforce information from our electronic human resources ( eHR) system; equality impact assessments ( EQIAs); engagement and interaction with our diversity networks, diversity champions and expert external organisations; and through our partnership with our trade unions. For employees, we collect diversity information across the protected characteristics through our self-service e-HR system. Our detailed workforce information is included as part of this report at Annexes A to E.

Policies supporting our people

• Fairness at Work

To tackle harassment and victimisation, we have consistently good people management and well-being as core People Strategy priorities.

To ensure that staff understand how they can get issues resolved, we have a Fairness at Work policy which supports resolution of complaints fairly and quickly. In 2012-13 we undertook a light touch review of the policy to identify some policy changes that would improve its implementation. This included training a further tranche of Investigating Officers in 2013 to undertake robust and effective investigations. In further reviewing this policy during 2015, in conjunction with our trade unions, we will work to eliminate bullying, harassment and discrimination for all our people.

Each year we carry out a detailed analysis of our annual People Survey results. In 2014, 7% of respondents indicated that they personally experienced discrimination at work in the last 12 months (compared to 8% in 2013 and to 9% for the whole of the Civil Service in 2014). Eight per cent of respondents indicated that they personally experienced bullying or harassment at work in the last 12 months (which is the same level as in 2014 and compared to 10% for the whole of the Civil Service in 2014). Through this we are able to identify business areas with higher reported levels of bullying, harassment and discrimination (B,H&D) breaking down results by protected characteristic.

Appreciating how difficult it was to fully understand the issues behind the B,H&D statistics, in 2012-13 and 2013-14, our diversity adviser has offered dedicated support to such areas, including putting in place bespoke workshops to understand and address any practices or behaviours that have a disproportionate impact on any particular group. In addition, we have offered training sessions on bullying, harassment and discrimination, confidential drop-in sessions for colleagues and managers, and a mechanism for the anonymous reporting of unacceptable behaviour in addition to informal or formal action. Joint action has then been taken to address any cultural or behavioural issues that have been impacting on individuals in those areas. Whilst we have continued to implement this programme of work through 2014-15, we are now undertaking some analysis to see if the work has resulted in the staff in those areas reporting lower levels of unacceptable behaviour.

• Flexible Working

We understand fully and continue to promote to all our people the benefits of flexible working. We have used a variety of mechanisms to do this, including intranet guidance, best practice guides and case studies on our intranet, concentrating in particular on the groups least likely to work flexibly, i.e. our senior civil servants and younger men. Our People Survey 2014 indicated that 73% of our people are now able to enjoy a good work-life balance and 87% say that their manager is considerate of their life outside work.

We are committed to ensuring that we work to improve work life balance and also to ensuring that changes to the estate and workspace are representative and reflective of the views of all our people across the office and recognise the different groups' experience of the office environment. The Transforming Our Workplace Project has involved staff and has been informed by our diversity networks including the Disability Network.

The Disability Network was consulted on the shared flexible workspaces and touchdown centres to ensure that colleagues who use particular assistive technologies and aids can easily access those areas. In light of this consultation the workspaces are equipped with technologies (including assistive technology such are ergonomic keyboards and Zoomtext) to give all colleagues the right tools when working away from their main location.

Staff engagement and Diversity networks

The Diversity Team continues to work closely with our eight diversity networks, each of which is managed by a committee of volunteers. The networks cover a range of diversity issues and reflect protected characteristics. The following networks are now well established:

• Alternative Working Patterns;
• Carers;
• Disability;
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex ( LGBTI);
• ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ( CFS);
• Mental Health; and
• Race and Equality.

In late 2012, we launched our newest network - LGBTI Allies - for non- LGBTI colleagues who wish to champion and support LGBTI issues in and out of the workplace.

Our networks are a valuable resource in helping us understand the issues our under-represented groups face in joining and progressing through the organisation. In 2013 we noticed that there had been some loss of focus and direction in the networks and so they were less able to contribute to the work of the organisation. Throughout 2013-14 we worked to re-invigorate and re-establish each network to help them operate effectively. We also identified that these networks required senior level support to add value and champion their work across the organisation. We have now identified and appointed champions at senior Civil Service level to support and work with each network to identify the future direction, remit, role and strategy of their network.

"I was delighted to be asked to champion the work of the Race and Equality Network. They have already shown great energy and passion in promoting issues of race, religion and belief in the Scottish Government, and the programme for 2014-15 looks first class."
Joe Griffin, Champion of the Race and Equality Network

We recognise the importance of integrating plans to promote equality and diversity into our People Strategy, informed by the wider UK Civil Service Talent Action Plan, to ensure that our policies and processes are in line with best practice. We are keen that this reflects the specific reality for Scottish Government colleagues, so we are working with our diversity champions to identify the initiatives that will best support them, and in particular those in our under-represented groups.

We have continued to work with the Public Sector Employers' Diversity Network to ensure that best practice is shared. We do this through: regular meetings; online collaboration through the Knowledge Hub; our Public Sector Diversity Network; and practice sharing with organisations such as Standard Life and City of Edinburgh Council. We continue to be a Stonewall Diversity Champion and will work closely with the Stonewall Diversity Champions Network to ensure that our policies and practice reflect the highest standards of practice for our LGBT staff. We have also signed up with the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion to ensure that our policies are inclusive for all groups of staff.

Public Appointments

As well as the role we play as an employer, the Scottish Government has a key role to play advancing diversity at senior levels across the wider public service, through Ministerial public appointments to the boards of Scotland's public bodies. As set out in detail in our specific equality outcome for Ministerial Public Appointments, we have introduced a comprehensive programme of work encompassing three strands of activity: improving Board diversity in private, public and third sector organisations, making Ministerial public appointments more diverse, and improving the diversity of Scottish Government's own leadership.

The Programme for Government, published in November 2014, set out the key mechanisms that the Government intends to use to secure commitment to improved diversity, including a voluntary commitment to achieve gender balance on public boards by 2020. The Scottish Government has a programme board which is chaired at Director General level to drive this work forward.

Whilst we are giving some initial and particular focus to gender, with the aim of achieving gender balance by 2020, we will not lose sight of other groups who are underrepresented on Scotland's Boards. We will draw on the lessons we learn from our work on improving gender balance, recognising the potential benefits for a wide range of diversity groups. Furthermore increasing the number of women appointed has the potential to impact more broadly than gender as women bring with them other protected characteristics.

SECTION 3: EMPLOYEE INFORMATION AND GENDER PAY GAP

3.1 Summary of Scottish Government Employee Information

This summary refers to the tables for staffing within the Scottish Government (Annexes A - E). All data are for current staff as at 31 December 2014, unless otherwise stated. Data from the previous report (showing staff as at 31 January 2013) and for 31 January 2014 are included for comparison purposes. All data include Scottish Government Core Directorates and all Agencies, relevant Non-Departmental Public Bodies, and Other Bodies (including National Records of Scotland) for which the Scottish Government provides HR Shared Services. The term "Scottish Government employees" will be used to refer to all employees covered.

The list of bodies covered in this report is broadly consistent with that used previously. However, we are keen to review the range of bodies included in future to ensure that the statistics align better with the category of organisations included in other datasets. We will do this for the next report.

Age

The majority of Scottish Government employees are in the 30-39 and 40-49 age groups, with 56.4% of the workforce in these age groups, a drop of 2.0 percentage points since 2013. The younger age group (16-29 year olds) has not changed since 2013, making up 11.8% of Scottish Government employees.

The proportion of part-time staff in the 30-39 and 40-49 age groups is higher than that for full-time staff. Over two-thirds (67.4%) of part-time employees are in these age groups, compared with 54.3% of full-time employees.

Gender

51.9% of Scottish Government employees are female and 48.1% male.

When broken down by work pattern, there is a clear difference between full-time and part-time employees. Full-time employees are more likely to be male (54.6%), while part-time employees are much more likely to be female (85.3%).

There are 177 senior Civil Service staff in the Scottish Government (2.2% of the total workforce). Of these, 36.2% are female, compared with 36.3% in 2013.

Ethnic origin

Around a fifth of Scottish Government employees (20.9%) have not provided any information on ethnic origin. Of those whose ethnic origin has been recorded, 122 are from an ethnic minority, representing 1.5% of the total workforce (compared with 1.4% in 2013).

Sexual orientation

In 2013, 80.6 % of Scottish Government employees had not provided any information on sexual orientation. This figure has now fallen to 55.1%.

Of those whose sexual orientation has been recorded, 139 are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or another non-heterosexual orientation, representing 1.8% of the total workforce (compared with 0.8% in 2013).

Disability

Over two-fifths (41.7%) of Scottish Government employees have not provided any information on disability status, an increase of nearly 5 percentage points since 2013. We are currently unaware of the reason for this and expect that this may have been due, in part, to the transfer of data across our systems. It is of concern to us and we will aim to identify reasons by undertaking a further analysis of the information and will work closely with our disability network to identify any areas of concern.

Of those whose disability category has been recorded, 385 have one or more disabilities, representing 4.9% of the total workforce (compared with 3.9% in 2013).

Part-time employees are slightly more likely to have registered a disability than full-time employees, with 5.4% of part-timers and 4.8% of full-timers registering a disability.

Marital/Civil Partnership Status

Over a quarter (27.7%) of all Scottish Government employees have not provided any information on marital status, compared with 22.7% in 2013.

Scottish Government employees are more likely to be married than the general adult population of Scotland. Although 42.6% of Scottish Government employees have declared that they are married, compared with the slightly higher proportion of the Scottish population aged 16-64 from the 2011 Census (43.2%), we know that the Scottish Government figure is an under-estimate because of the incomplete data (see previous paragraph). Single people make up a further 16.3% of Scottish Government employees (compared with 18.7% in 2013), while the other marital status categories each account for 3% or less of the total workforce.

Religion or belief

In 2013, 80.5% of Scottish Government employees had not provided any information on religion or belief. This figure has now fallen to 55.7%.

Those who have declared a religion or belief is roughly the same as those who declared they had no religion or belief (19.9% of Scottish Government employees compared with 21.6%, respectively).

3.2 Scottish Government - Gender Pay Gap

Summary

The Scottish Government defines the gender pay gap as the difference in mean full-time equivalent earnings for men and women. The mean is the sum of hourly rates for each person divided by the number of people.

The national ( UK) figure for the gender pay gap is 9.4% in 2014 and in Scotland the figure is 9.0% for 2014 (source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2014, Office of National Statistics, median full-time hourly earnings excluding overtime).

Within the Scottish Government, where men and women are undertaking work of an equal value ( i.e. within the same pay range) they are paid a similar hourly rate and consequently the pay gap is low as can be seen in the table below. However, the overall pay gap is 6.3%. ^[9] The reason for that is that the Scottish Government has more women in lower pay ranges which lowers the overall hourly rate. Thus, the overall pay gap is at least partly a function of the gender distribution across our grade structure.

The Scottish Government ensures that all policies that support the employment of staff are free from gender bias and that equal work attracts equal pay. Gender distribution across our grade structure can be influenced to some degree through promotion, talent development and recruitment activity.

Between 2013 and 2014, the gender pay gap reduced by 0.9 percentage points. ^[10]

Coverage

The Scottish Government has three groups of staff each with separate sets of remuneration arrangements. The three pay groups are:

• Scottish Government Main bargaining unit ( SGM)
• Scottish Government Marine bargaining unit (SGMarine)
• Senior Civil Service ( SCS)

(Further information on the make-up of the pay groups is supplied below)

The Senior Civil Service is reserved to the UK Government. While the members of the SCS are Scottish Government employees, their remuneration is in line with UK Cabinet Office pay and performance management framework.

In addition there are a small number of staff (individuals and small groups) who have retained the terms and conditions of previous employers under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations ( TUPE). These staff have not been included in this report.

Details of SGMarine have not been included in gender pay gap information. Within this group there are a very small number of female members of staff and such a small number does not lead to statistically robust results.

The table below details gender pay gap information of the mean hourly rate of pay (excluding overtime) for men and women within each pay bargaining unit (except SGMarine - see above). This information has been withheld (*) where the total number of staff within any grade is less than 5 to ensure that individual rates of pay cannot be calculated.

Mean gender pay gap

	2013			2014
	Hourly Rate		Gender Pay Gap	Hourly Rate		Gender Pay Gap
Pay Range	Female	Male		Female	Male
A3	£8.32	£8.32	0.0%	£8.41	£8.39	-0.2%
A4	£9.44	£9.46	0.1%	£9.67	£9.64	-0.4%
B1	£11.26	£11.23	-0.2%	£11.32	£11.35	0.2%
B2	£13.41	£13.47	0.5%	£13.52	£13.55	0.2%
B3	£17.60	£17.65	0.3%	£17.71	£17.89	1.0%
BF	£13.96	£14.09	0.9%	£14.15	£13.80	-2.5%
C1	£23.06	£23.01	-0.2%	£23.13	£23.30	0.7%
C2	£27.75	£27.99	0.9%	£27.83	£28.14	1.1%
C3	£29.58	£29.99	1.4%	£30.06	£30.43	1.2%
SCS - Deputy Director 1	£32.40	£32.01	-1.2%	£32.62	£32.53	-0.2%
SCS - Deputy Director 1A	£39.09	£36.62	-6.7%	£39.95	£39.11	-2.2%
SCS - Director	£42.65	£44.86	4.9%	£43.01	£45.14	4.7%
SCS - Director General	*	*	-10.2%	*	*	-0.6%
SCS - Permanent Secretary	n/a	*	n/a	n/a	*	n/a
All Staff	£14.82	£15.97	7.2%	£15.03	£16.04	6.3%

Notes:

- Gender pay gap calculated as the female hourly rate divided by male hourly rate, subtracted from 1.
- Values of zero indicate no gender pay gap, negative values indicate women earn more than men, and positive values indicate men earn more than women.

Breakdown of pay groups

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT MAIN ( SGM) & SCS

Core Directorates of the Scottish Government falling within the responsibility of:

• Permanent Secretary
• Directorate General - Enterprise, Environment and Innovation
• Directorate General - Finance
• Directorate General - Communities
• Directorate General - Health & Social Care
• Directorate General - Learning & Justice
• Directorate General - Strategy and External Affairs

Agencies and Non-Ministerial Offices:

• Scottish Public Pensions Agency
• Student Awards Agency for Scotland
• National Records of Scotland
• Education Scotland
• Accountant in Bankruptcy
• Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
• Transport Scotland
• Scottish Housing Regulator
• Disclosure Scotland

Staff serving elsewhere on assignment, loan or secondment are regarded as being part of SGM except where provision has been agreed for other terms and conditions to apply.

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT MARINE (SGMARINE)

• Officers and crew of three Fishery Protection Vessels
• Officers and crew of two Fishery Research Vessels
• Marine, Engineer and Safety Superintendents

SECTION 4: HISTORIC SCOTLAND AS AN EMPLOYER

Historic Scotland has a separate HR function from the Scottish Government.

This section covers Historic Scotland's HR policies and the organisation's gender pay gap.

Historic Scotland's staff diversity information is provided at Annex G .

4.1 HR policies

Historic Scotland understands that offering equality of opportunity across our workforce is one of the most important investments that we can make as a responsible and caring employer. In addition, we are committed to developing a working environment and practices which support and develop our diverse workforce.

Recruitment

Historic Scotland requests diversity monitoring information from all candidates and uses this information to help ensure that resourcing policy and procedures have no detrimental impact on applicants. Most diversity information is not seen by recruiting managers, however they are provided with relevant information, for example reasonable adjustments requested by a disabled applicant. In addition, Historic Scotland operates a Guaranteed Interview Scheme, whereby candidates with disabilities are automatically invited to interview for a post if they meet the defined minimum criteria.

Advancing equality of opportunity

Staffing information shows that our employee profile does not yet reflect the wider communities that we serve. However, with 50% of our Band G Directors (Scottish Government equivalent - C2/3) and 44% of our Band F senior managers (Scottish Government equivalent - C1) being women, we are making good progress to meeting the wider UK Civil Service target of 34% for top management posts. The representation of women in traditional skills apprenticeships has continued to improve since 2013, with 14% of our apprentices being female, however we continue to strive to go beyond this. Our data on sexual orientation and religion or belief have significant gaps, making it difficult to understand and address issues in these particular areas. Currently, 28.7% of staff have not yet recorded their ethnic background and 48% have not recorded their religion or belief and their sexual orientation. It is our priority to enhance the accuracy of staff data. To do this, we will continue to raise staff awareness of the need for the information - particularly for the establishment of Historic Environment Scotland in October 2015 - and to explain why this is important.

Apprenticeships

One of Historic Scotland's key performance indicators was to recruit an additional 10 apprentices in 2012-13 and a further 10 in 2013-14. Moreover, in 2013 it was noted that only 5% of our workforce was under 25 and there was a Government Social Agenda to tackle youth unemployment. In response, Historic Scotland ran targeted recruitment campaigns for traditional skills apprentices between the ages of 18 and 25. In 2013 this campaign was run in conjunction with Young Scot, who advertised on our behalf through their own website, and Apprenticeship Scotland. The campaign was successful in recruiting 16 new apprentices and, following a further campaign in 2014, another 11 apprentices under the age of 25 were recruited. The campaign was managed across the whole of Scotland and we were able to recruit from areas outside of the central belt.

Flexible working

Historic Scotland is committed to supporting the health, well-being and flexibility of our staff. We have introduced a shared parental leave policy, which gives both parents more choice and flexibility in how they share the care of their child in the early stages of its life. Whereas previously fathers were entitled to just two weeks' paternity leave, the new policy will allow both parents and adopters to share leave for a year after their child is born, in the same way that maternity leave works for mums. We have also reviewed our Flexible Working Policy so that all employees have the right to request flexible working, not just parents and carers. We hope that this will enable all our staff to enjoy a positive work/life balance.

Training & development

As a leader in the commercial tourism industry and a public sector employer, we recognise the importance of ensuring our staff are fully educated and aware of the standards and expectations of service placed on them when interacting with both customers and prospective employees. Each year, all new customer-facing visitor operations staff must undertake mandatory diversity training as part of their seasonal induction process. This provides both a general understanding and awareness of diversity issues, and also consideration of how to interact with members of the public.

All recruiting managers within Historic Scotland are expected to undergo formal recruitment training. Equalities and diversity play a pivotal role in this training, incorporating elements such as legal requirements and the need to ensure discrimination and stereotyping play no part in the recruitment and selection process. It emphasises the importance of valuing differences between people and understanding the positive benefits for the Agency of employing a diverse range of talented people. Successful candidates are appointed on the grounds of merit, irrespective of their sex, marital status, age, race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief, working pattern, gender identity or caring responsibility.

4.2 Gender pay gap

Historic Scotland ( HS) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. Its purpose is to safeguard the nation's built heritage and promote its understanding and enjoyment on behalf of Scottish Ministers. Its functions include managing and presenting to the public over 340 monuments in its own care, and helping other owners to preserve and maintain their properties. Approximately 73 sites charge for admission and have a retail outlet, providing an important source of income for the Agency.

To undertake its function, HS employs over 1,000 core staff, which increases to around 1,200 during the summer season. Staff are employed in a wide variety of occupational disciplines, ranging from stonemasons and other traditional crafts to professional and technical specialists such as architects and inspectors, as well as front-line stewarding staff and behind-the-scenes support and administration staff.

During 2012-13 a number of employees transferred to HS from Aberdeenshire Council under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations ( TUPE). Of the original 22 who transferred, nine employees remain employed on the terms and conditions of previous employers under TUPE arrangements. These staff have not been included in this report.

Pay Bands and Working Patterns

In line with the various occupational disciplines and functions, there are a variety of grades and associated rates of pay. There are eight pay bands incorporating some 16 different occupational groups, and this includes the introduction of an Apprentice pay band in 2013. There are also a variety of working patterns, including standard full-time arrangements, five out of seven day rotas, part-time arrangements (ranging from 40 hours per month to 35 hours per week and any number in between), permanent part year, temporary fixed‑term and annualised hours. Details of the pay bands and the occupational disciplines are shown at Table 1, Appendix A.

Gender Mix

Overall, there is a higher proportion of males than females (60:40). This can be accounted for, in part, by the group of those employed in traditional craft and labouring grades being almost exclusively male. However, we are seeing a gradual increase in the number of females working in this area through Apprentice recruitment campaigns in recent years.

Pay Progression

Of the eight pay bands, one has a progression time of three years, and one a progression time of five years. The remaining five pay bands have progression times of four years. Progression times, and respective minima and maxima for each of the Bands are detailed at Table 2, Appendix A.

Pay on Promotion

All staff are placed at the minimum of the pay band on promotion irrespective of position in previous pay band or length of service.

ANALYSIS

The tables below detail gender pay gap information of both the mean and median hourly rate of pay for men and women within each pay band. Analysis of hourly rate of pay was based on Basic FTE Salary / 52 / 37 as at 31 December 2014.

	Gender
	Female	Male	Female/Male
Pay Band	Mean Salary	Median Salary	Mean Salary	Median Salary	Mean	Median
Apprentice	£6.17	£6.30	£6.08	£6.30	+1.5%	0.0%
Key keeper	£7.80	£7.80	£7.80	£7.80	0.0%	0.0%
Pay Band A	£8.46	£8.71	£8.53	£8.71	-0.8%	0.0%
Pay Band B	£10.42	£10.90	£10.58	£10.90	-1.5%	0.0%
Pay Band C	£13.54	£14.79	£13.96	£14.79	-3.1%	0.0%
Pay Band D	£17.17	£17.41	£17.68	£18.22	-3.0%	-4.7%
Pay Band E	£21.22	£22.17	£21.68	£22.17	-2.2%	0.0%
Pay Band F	£26.15	£27.21	£26.61	£27.21	-1.8%	0.0%
Pay Band G	£31.86	£31.92	£33.15	£33.15	-4.1%	-3.9%
All Staff	£12.13	£10.90	£12.11	£10.90	-0.2%	0.0%

CONCLUSIONS

Within Historic Scotland where men and women are undertaking work of equal value they are paid a similar hourly rate and consequently the gender pay gap is low, with an overall pay gap of 0.2% and 0.0% (mean and median respectively). This sits comfortably below the national ( UK) figure for the gender pay gap, which was 9.4% in 2014; in Scotland in 2014 the figure was 9.0% (source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2014, ONS). The Office for National Statistics bases the headline gender pay gap calculation on the median full-time hourly earnings excluding overtime.

Historic Scotland experiences gaps in median pay within two of the higher grades. Again, these sit comfortably below national averages. Within these grades there are a higher proportion of longer serving men who have reached their maximum salary for the grade, for example Pay Band D has 68% of men on the maximum salary compared to only 43% of woman. This is similar to those at Pay Band G where, although the gender balance is equal, 100% of males are on the maximum salary compared to only 33.3% of females.

As the mechanism for eliminating/reducing equal pay gaps will be dealt with under the pay negotiations, the affordability factors will be explored as part of the pay remit.

Appendix A Historic Scotland

Table 1: Pay Band Description and Occupational Disciplines

PAY BAND	OCCUPATIONAL TYPES
Apprentice	Apprentice Stonemasons Apprentice Electricians Apprentice Gardeners Apprentice Joiners Apprentice Painters
Keykeepers	Keykeepers
BAND A	Stewards Labourers Apprentices Retail Assistants Administrators
BAND B	Senior Stewards Plumbers Stonemasons Painters Joiners Electricians Administrators
BAND C	HR Managers Works Managers Regional Tourism & Community Manager Senior Heritage Management Officers Architectural Technicians Photographers Retail Supervisors
BAND D	District Works Managers Inspector of Historic Buildings Senior Heritage Management Officers HR Business Partners Conservators Commecial Business Managers Retail & Admissions Manager Administrators
BAND E	Senior Conservators Regional Works Managers District Architects Heritage Management Team Leaders Head of HR Teams Head of Training & Development Health & Safety Advisors Branch Heads
BAND F	Regional Architects Castle Executive Manager Heads of Groups
BAND G	Directors

Table 2: Pay Band Progression Times (1 August 2014)

PAY PROGRESSION
PAY BAND	MIN	MAX	PROGRESSION TIME (YRS)
Apprentice	£11,110	£15,655	4-year programme
BAND A (Keykeepers stay on min)	£15,000	£16,764	3
BAND B	£18,213	£20,973	4
BAND C	£22,022	£28,448	5
BAND D	£29,870	£35,061	4
BAND E	£36,815	£42,662	4
BAND F	£44,796	£51,344	4
BAND G	£54,961	£63,775	4