Fair Work Action Plan 2022 and Anti-Racist Employment Strategy 2022: Fairer Scotland duty assessment

6. Assessment of Anti-Racist Employment Strategy

Action 1: Establish a platform for exchanging learning and good operational practice among employers - practice that is anti-racist and intersectional in its approach.

This action sits within RAP action 3.1

Local authorities hold significant stores of data that is localised and disaggregated, the potential for its application is therefore significant. A centralised platform to exchange this data with employers, which can help them to make better informed decisions during recruitment, retention, and training practices, has the potential to benefit socio-economic disadvantaged people. Given the action has specified the intersectional nature of the platform, it should identify the connection between certain racialised minorities and overrepresentation across socio-economic disadvantage dimensions.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 2: Undertake evaluation of the 'Minority Ethnic Recruitment Toolkit' to ensure it remains fit for purpose (anti-racist and intersectional) and is applied across the public sector. Consider augmenting the toolkit to include other accessible support sources, including those for retention and progression.

This action sits within RAP action 3.1

The Minority Ethnic Recruitment Toolkit supports employers in recruiting racialised minorities. As the action has specified the toolkit will have an intersectional approach, this action may have a positive impact on socio-economic disadvantaged groups. Given barriers socio-economic disadvantaged people often face in the labour market, integrating accessible support sources for retention and progression could be highly beneficial. Retention can be an issue for disadvantaged people who face multi-responsibility issues (i.e., childcare commitments, working multiple jobs), and progression is a barrier that can arise due to lack of networking capabilities, or training opportunities. Resources to target these factors would improve the impact of the toolkit.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 3: Promote and disseminate learning and practice that shows positive change in employers' end to end processes to increase representation of racialised minorities.

This action sits within RAP action 3.1

This action has the potential to benefit socio-economic disadvantaged groups if employers choose to act on the learning and best practice and consequently hire more racialised minorities, moreover, these racialised minorities will have to coincidentally be from a socio-economic disadvantaged background as the action does not specify this.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is neutral.

Action 4: Develop an intersectional and anti-racist training framework for public and private sector employers by which to assess their training needs and improve the quality of training offered in the organisation.

This action sits within RAP action 3.7

Lack of professional training opportunities frequently pose a barrier to progression for socio-economic disadvantaged people, it may occur due to lack of wealth to afford training, or due to systemic barriers that prevent access. The intersectional specification in this action should mean that socio-economic disadvantage is captured when developing the training framework, and therefore employers and fellow employees can gain an understanding of socio-economic disadvantage and the issues that may arise from it in the workplace. Increased understanding and better training on offer should facilitate career progression and more income gain for socio-economic disadvantaged people.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 5: Produce guidance on positive action to support employers across the public sector and promote this guidance through a series of engagement sessions.

This action sits within RAP action 3.5

Guidance on positive action and the equality benefits this can have for employers and employees has the potential to benefit socio-economic disadvantaged people. If inequality of outcome is captured in the guidance, then this may support employers to address labour market inequalities. To maximise the benefit of this action, guidance could be extended to private and third sector organisations.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 6: By the end of 2025 we will review and disseminate learning and best practice on the conclusion of the 2024 Workplace Equality Fund.

This action sits within RAP action 3.4

The impacts of the RAP action 3.4 are reflected here as the action is the same;

Dissemination of learning and best practice from the 2024 Workplace Equality Fund has the potential to benefit socio-economic deprived people by supporting employers to diminish longstanding barriers that face certain groups in entering and progressing in the labour market.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is neutral.

Action 7: Oversee pilot to improve engagement of employers and employability services with racialised minority communities. Includes work to support EQIA process among employers., improving the quality of assessments and how the practice can be embedded at the start of a process or policy development.

This action sits within RAP action 4.3

Although this action doesn't specify intersectionality, there are intersections between socio-economic disadvantage and racialised minority communities in Scotland. Median household incomes for those of Pakistani ethnicity, for example, have been some of the lowest in Scotland over the past decade, showing little signs of progression. Further development, application, and engagement with the EQIA process has the potential to overlap with, or at least consider, socio-economic issues facing racialised minority communities. Furthermore, if the pilot is successful then there is potential it can be extended to FSDA's.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 8: We will work with Labour Market Analysis colleagues to run a series of dissemination sessions when labour market statistics on ethnicity are published to make employers (and stakeholders) aware of data that is available and to support them to use national data to help inform their practice.

This action sits within RAP action 1.5

If dissemination sessions incorporate intersectional analysis on the relationship between certain ethnic groups and socio-economic disadvantage, then this action has the potential to benefit those trying to enter or progress through the labour market.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 9: We will continue to press the UK Government to mandate ethnicity pay gap reporting, legislate for the prohibition of caste discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

This action sits within the aggregated action narrative of RAP as follows: "We will also lobby the UK Parliament for key changes to reserved legislation to address racialised systemic inequity, including mandating employers to report their ethnicity pay gap."

Where there is intersectionality between the two, the ethnicity pay gap reinforces certain dimensions of socio-economic disadvantage such as low income, low wealth, and material deprivation. If ethnicity pay gap reporting means that lessons are learnt by employers, and changes enacted as a result, then this action has the potential to benefit socio-economic disadvantaged groups.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 10: Work with partners to establish senior leadership networks to build capability and understanding of racism and racial inequality in the workplace by the end of 2023.

This action sits within RAP action 1.4

The impacts of the RAP action 3.4 are reflected here as the action is the same;

Establishing senior leadership networks (bearing in mind the decision-making authority they possess), with an understating of racism and racial inequality opens opportunity for ethnicity pay gaps and consequent socio-economic disadvantage to be targeted.

The timeframe for this action raises doubt on the scale that it can likely be implemented successfully. Establishing senior leadership networks that are knowledgeable, and crucially trusted by their fellow workers will take time, and the end of 2023 does not present a significant window to achieve this

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 11: Co-deliver a series of engagements with the public sector by end of 2023 to support employers to address the recommendations of the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Right's Committee's inquiry report into race equality, employment and skills which recommended employers assess their organisations' understanding of racism and structural barriers; and those subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty as a minimum, voluntarily record and publish their ethnicity pay gap and produce an action plan to deliver identified outcomes.

This action sits within RAP action 1.2

The impacts of the RAP action 3.4 are reflected here as the action is the same;

Engagement with public sector employers and supporting them to voluntarily record and publish their ethnicity pay gap could reduce socio-economic disadvantage. There is intersectionality of race, structural barriers and socio-economic disadvantage in Scottish society^[67], however, the number or proportion of employees working in the public sector and who belong to all three categories is difficult to calculate.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 12: Ensure messaging around anti-racism and intersectionality is taken account of in Fair Work First guidance as used in procurement and grand funding processes.

This action sits within RAP action 2.2

Including anti-racist messaging that includes intersectionality in procurement and grant funding processes has the potential to significantly benefit socio-economic disadvantaged groups. This action has the benefit to minimise racism and socio-economic discrimination in the labour market, removing barriers to racialised minorities who experience difficulties when in or trying to enter employment.

The significance of the positive impact this action could have is dependent on the nature of intersectionality considered, whether it takes an inter-protected characteristic approach, or whether socio-economic disadvantage is focused on as well.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.

Action 13: The Scottish Government to undertake an equal pay audit examining pay gaps by gender, disability, race and age by March 2024. We will act on findings to review and refresh our recruitment and retention policies to address workplace inequalities by end of 2025.

This action sits within RAP action 1.1

The impacts of the RAP action 3.4 are reflected here as the action is the same;

The impact of this action depends on the scale of coincidence between people who have one or more of the protected characteristics above, are from a low socio-economic background, and work for the Scottish Government. Although this action does not specifically target socio-economic disadvantage and there is limited data on the Scottish Government's employees socio-economic background^[68], there is intersectionality between gender, disability, race, and age, and being from a low socio-economic background as outlined in the evidence base. An equal pay audit and consequent successful implementation and targeted changes to the Scottish Government's recruitment and retention policies has the potential to benefit people who are socio-economic disadvantaged.

The provisional FSDA score for this action is minor positive.