Fair Work Oversight Group minutes: December 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Tom Arthur MSP, Minister for Employment and Investment, Chair
• Lewis Hedge, Scottish Government
• Councillor Katie Hagmann, COSLA
• Suzanne McLeod, Support for Councillor Hagmann
• Anna Ritchie Allan, Close the Gap
• Clare Alexander, Scottish Enterprise (subbing for Rhona Allison)
• Clare Reid, Prosper
• Dave Moxham, Scottish Trade Unions Congress
• David Lonsdale, Scottish Retail Consortium
• Heather Fisken,  Inclusion Scotland
• Kimberley Wong, Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights
• Lewis Hedge, Deputy Director Fair Work, Scottish Government
• Marek Zemanik, CIPD
• Professor Patricia Findlay, Fair Work Convention
• Sophie Lawson, Equality and Human Rights Commission

Apologies

• Andrew Carter, Public Sector Employer (NHS)
• Charandeep Singh, Scottish Chambers of Commerce
• David Taylor, ACAS
• Dr Ima Jackson, Glasgow Caledonian University
• Emma Congreve, Fraser of Allander Institute, Strathclyde University

 

Items and actions

Welcome 

The Minister opened the meeting and welcomed the input and challenge members provided as part of the group. He stated how since the last meeting, the 2024-25 Programme for Government has been introduced alongside there being significant and sustained progress on Scotland’s commitment to be a leading Fair Work nation for 2025.  He commented on the continued investment in Fair Work in the wake of the most recent budget.

He also drew the group’s attention to the Scottish Government’s response to the Economy and Fair Work Committee following the publication of their recent inquiry into the disability employment gap.

An action was taken to share the response on the Disability Employment Gap inquiry with the group when published.

Action log

An update was provided on the progress towards action from previous meetings. 

It was confirmed that Mr Arthur and Professor Findlay will be presenting to the Industry Leadership Group (ILG) Chairs Roundtable as part of the commitment to engage more widely with Industry Leadership Groups. 

Progress and reporting

A presentation was shared outlining the progress highlights since the last Fair Work Action Plan meeting. An overview of progress was provided with 16 actions now being marked complete across the Scottish Government, five since the last progress update in May 2024. 40 actions are currently in progress with one action yet to be started and five actions closed.

There was a discussion around how Fair Work First is applied, what happens to the 5% of organisations not adhering to Fair Work First and whether organisations were failing to be given contracts if they did not adhere to Fair Work First principles.  Questions were also asked around how Fair Work First Conditionality in procurement is applied to organisations who are outsourcing work or using imported contracts. It was confirmed that exemptions to Fair Work First are examined on a case-by-case basis and that the Scottish Government are in the process of evaluating Fair Work First to fully understand the impact of the policy. 

An action was taken to provide clarity over the 5% of organisations who are not committed to real Living Wage and how Fair Work First is being applied in these cases. A further action was also taken to provide clarity on how Fair Work First in procurement was applied to organisation with outsourced workers. 

Members discussed challenges among their member organisations around a lack of understanding over how the real Living Wage is calculated and whether it assumed a shorter working week. It was clarified that the real Living Wage was calculated using the Resolution Foundation’s methodology.

An action was taken to provide clarity on how the real Living Wage is calculated. 

A question was asked on whether Fair Work First was still due to be expanded to include other levers such as rates relief and licencing . It was confirmed that the focus is on embedding existing conditionality and evaluating impact before considering extending conditionality further.

The group discussed the reporting mechanisms of the Fair Work Action Plan including a proposed draft of the Fair Work Action Plan Impact Report. It was agreed that the line-by-line progress report was a useful tool for the group. There was a desire to include a streamlined line-by-line report into the new format for the impact report to provide information on action status, detail and next steps. It was also agreed that reporting on the intersectional nature of actions needed to improve.

An action was taken to explore how intersectional impact could be better captured by reporting mechanisms especially in the absence of reliable disaggregated data. 

There was a discussion over whether it would be possible to capture context around labour market challenges and challenges for works in the impact report, this could include non-statistical measures. There were differing views on this point and consideration needs to be given for whether the wider labour market context can be reflected in subsequent impact reports.  

An update was provided on the Transformed Labour Force Survey (TLFS) and the robustness of the Annual Population Survey (APS) data. It was confirmed that the Office of National Statistics are taking measures to increase sample sizes to allow for effective disaggregation of data: however, in the meantime there are challenges with the quality of data available and the level of disaggregation possible. 

Fair Work and women in the labour market

Officials provided a presentation on Fair Work and women in the labour market. This included current data relating to gender pay gaps, occupational segregation, inactivity and barriers faced by women in the labour market.

There was a discussion around occupational segregation and what can be done to increase the flow of women into STEM careers while also addressing high rates of attrition in those sectors. Reviewing skills policies and programmes and addressing the undervaluation of women’s work were suggested as possible areas where progress could be made against occupational segregation. Concerns were raised around ‘new industries’, such as renewable energy, mirroring some of the same patterns as established industries and the need to disrupt these existing patterns from the outset. 

An action was taken to provide more information to the group around how the Green Industrial Strategy was taking account of barriers faced by women and occupational segregation.

While economic inactivity was identified as a challenge for women entering the labour market, especially in relation to caring responsibilities, it was acknowledged that not all inactivity should be considered negative. The Minister confirmed that the Scottish Government’s approach was to work with those who want to be active and consider how best to reduce their barriers to employment rather than stigmatising inactivity or pushing people into work. 

Members raised the risk of the Scottish Government’s progress on Fair Work being outstripped by upcoming legislation in the UK Employment Rights Bill. In particular, it was suggested that the Scottish Government needed to implement mandatory gender pay gap action plans as a matter of importance. The minister spoke about the need to think about what is next for Fair Work within the wider changing landscape. 

A further point was raised around disabled women in the workplace and their differing experiences to disabled men. Members requested more analysis and also suggested that within employment disabled people faced further barriers with organisations often dictating employment terms, such as what constitutes a ‘safe job’ for a disabled people, without communicating with individuals on their capabilities. An action was taken to explore these points in more depth with Inclusion Scotland.

Fair Work Resource Subgroup update

The Scottish Government provided a brief update on the progress of the Fair Work Resource Subgroup. The update focused on the collaborative nature on the work to take forward a network of resources that was jointly owned and promoted. Members of the Fair Work Oversight Group were encouraged to engage with the subgroup on specific issues as necessary. The subgroup proposed a comms focal point in summer 2025 to promote Fair Work as widely as possible, the subgroup welcomed support from the wider membership of the Oversight Group on this point. 

Any other business

Members requested an update on the work of the Retail ILG fair work subgroup. The minister confirmed that the subgroup had now ended with progress on Fair Work being taken back into the body of the Retail ILG. He offered continued engagement with subgroup members at an individual level if requested. 

Actions

• share response to Disability Employment Gap inquiry
• provide clarity over the 5% of organisations who are not committed to real Living Wage and how Fair Work First is being applied in these cases
• provide clarity on how Fair Work First in procurement was applied to organisations with outsourced workers
• provide clarity on how the real Living Wage is calculated
• explore how intersectional impact can be better captured through reporting mechanisms
• consider how labour market context can be reflected in future impact reports
• provide information on how the Green Industrial Strategy is taking account of women and occupational segregation
• explore specific issues faced by disabled women in the workplace with Inclusion Scotland
• members of the Retail ILG subgroup to request further engagement on the progress of the Retail ILG towards Fair Work aims as needed