Equality outcomes and mainstreaming report 2017

Structure of the Report

Part 1 - Mainstreaming Equality

Our last report on how we are mainstreaming equality was published in April 2015. This report provides an update on the activities we are undertaking and progress we are making to incorporate equality into our activities and to improve the experiences and outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Section 1 of the report covers the Scottish Government's role in making and delivering policy and legislation for the people of Scotland. It includes our overall approach to developing and using equality data, our engagement with equality communities, and how we use the evidence from data and engagement to inform our work on equality impact assessment. We provide a number of examples of recent legislation and policies that help to advance equality. We also refer to equality within corporate systems and practices, and in our budget-making process, and we report on equality within our procurement activities.

Examples of mainstreaming equality from a number of Agencies covered by this report are also provided.

At Section 2 we discuss the actions we are taking as an employer - to support staff and to promote equality and diversity, including how the employee diversity information is being used to help the organisation inform our employment policies and practices. This section also highlights the work on staff engagement, including the diversity networks.

At Section 3 we provide a summary of the Scottish Government employee diversity information and our gender, race and disability pay gaps.

Part 2 - Equality Outcomes

In 2013, the Scottish Government set a suite of equality outcomes to cover the period to 2017. In Part 2 we report on the progress made on these outcomes and we set out our new suite of outcomes for 2017 - 2021, also providing details of the process we have gone through to develop them.

Coverage of the Report

The work of the Scottish Government is carried out by Directorates and Agencies.

This report covers all Scottish Government Directorates and the following Agencies:

• Accountant in Bankruptcy
• Disclosure Scotland
• Education Scotland
• Historic Scotland
• Scottish Public Pensions Agency
• Transport Scotland

The Scottish Prison Service, an Agency, is producing its own report, and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, a distinct part of the Scottish Government, has also chosen to produce its own report.