A fairer Scotland for all: race equality action plan and highlight report 2017-2021

Conclusion, Reporting and Next Steps

Reporting & Next Steps

We recognise the importance of being accountable to communities for our progress towards implementing the actions in this Plan. As noted in the narrative on Governance and Co-ordination, we will take a participatory and inclusive approach to implementation, building on the significant levels of participation and inclusion which characterised the original development of the Race Equality Framework.

Our Commitments

We will:

• Hold an annual Race Equality Summit to be attended by key organisations and individuals, at which we will report on progress to date against the actions.
• Hold a summit on minority ethnic employment and enterprise in 2018.
• Deliver a further series of themed roundtable events to bring together subject matter experts in each of the areas covered by this Action Plan. The roundtables will commence in early 2018.
• Using innovative community engagement approaches, link members of minority ethnic communities and grassroots organisations and groups across Scotland to the implementation of the Race Equality Action Plan [and its overarching framework]. This will enable us to identify where further progress is required or where there are other emerging issues for communities.
• Establish a Programme Board to oversee the implementation of the Action Plan with membership drawn from senior levels across the Scottish Government.
• Publish the minutes of the Race Equality Action Plan Programme Board online to provide transparency.
• Provide a progress report to Parliament in early 2021, setting out our early thinking about the focus for the next Race Equality Action Plan, which will cover the period 2021-2026.

Conclusion

As stated at the outset of this Action Plan, by 2030 we want all of Scotland's people to be healthier, happier and treated with respect, and a more equal spread of opportunities, wealth and power.

The actions set out in this Plan will take us towards that aspiration, but we know that further work will be required to make our vision a reality. We are extremely grateful to Kaliani Lyle, the Independent Race Equality Adviser, for her well-considered and thoughtful report, on which we have drawn heavily in the development of these actions. We are grateful too to the many organisations and individuals with whom we have worked and who have given so generously of their time, their knowledge and their expertise.

Our minority ethnic communities are part of the threads in the tartan of Scottish life. Their contributions to our economy, our culture and our social life, are vast. It is time for us to honour that, to make it a reality that everyone in Scotland is treated as anyone would wish to be treated, in all aspects of their lives.