Fair Work action plan: evidence plan

4. Summary and next steps

Summary

4.1 The Evidence Plan has set out the activity the Scottish Government intends to take to monitor Scotland’s progress around Fair Work overall, and to monitor and evaluate the actions set out in the Fair Work Action Plan. It also covers further work the Scottish Government will undertake to address data and wider evidence gaps across the different dimensions of Fair Work to inform further policy actions. These activities are summarised in table 2:

Table 2: Summary of activities in Fair Work Evidence Plan

Evidence Plan objective: Monitor Fair Work context and Scotland’s progress towards being a leading Fair Work nation

Analytical activity

• Support updates of Fair Work Convention measurement framework
• Collaborate with Fair Work Convention on describing Scotland’s Fair Work progress
• Support development of Fair Work Convention’s international measurement framework

Evidence Plan objective: Monitor and evaluate delivery of Fair Work Action Plan activities

Analytical activity

• Monitoring outcome progress indicators
• Development of additional outcome progress indicators
• Impact analysis through Management Information and narrative reporting
• Evaluations of:
  • Fair Work Conditionality
  • RLW and RLH Accreditation
  • Employability Support
  • Workplace Equality Fund
  • Disability Public Social Partnership
  • Flexible Working Support
  • Minority Ethnic Recruitment Toolkit

Evidence Plan objective: Develop and enhance data and evidence around Fair Work in Scotland

Analytical activity

• Analysis of ONS Annual Population Survey and Transformed Labour Force Survey
• Evidence reviews on Fair Work impacts
  • Impacts of workplace practices on outcomes
  • International practice on skills utilisation
• Evidence reviews of how people are supported
  • Contribution of unpaid care to gender pay gap
  • Actions to support people from racialised minorities
  • International practice on supporting employment for disabled people

4.2 The monitoring, evaluation, and evidence development activities in table 2 align with the medium term outcomes set out in Figure 2. Visual summaries of these are set out in Annex 5.

Implementation and reporting

4.3 Implementation of the evidence plan is expected to take place over several years. Development of indicators for monitoring outcomes, and broader data development through the Transformed Labour Force Survey, are ongoing. The timing of evaluation activities will be influenced by the characteristics of the activities being evaluated, and by the need to allow sufficient time for policies to be implemented and impacts observed. The additional research activities will be taken forward in the coming years, with detailed scoping and development of specific projects being developed with involvement from policy practitioners and stakeholders.

4.4 Approaches to reporting will also vary according to the type of activity being undertaken. Specific evaluation reports and research reports will be published on the Scottish Government website once completed. Statistics and data developments in relation to the TLFS will be published on an ongoing basis. Progress against indicators will be reported in the Fair Work Annual Report, while broader developments and new findings will be summarised as part of the reporting process.