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

Overarching Theme

Our Vision for a fairer Scotland is that by 2030 Scotland is a place where people are healthier, happier and treated with respect, and where opportunities, wealth and power are spread more equally.

Race Equality Framework Implementation Approach

We committed to developing an overarching approach to implementation and monitoring of the Framework and have continued with our ongoing engagement throughout the implementation of the Race Equality Framework ( REF). We are doing this collaboratively with key stakeholders and published details of our implementation approach on 23 February 2017.

Fairer Future

Launched on 1 March 2017, Fairer Future has involved working collaboratively with young people and with partner organisations including BEMIS and the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights ( CRER), to support young people to gather their insights, experiences and views of the six themes of the Race Equality Framework. Using Young Scot's co-design process, participants have identified issues of importance to the young people to begin to shape ideas, solutions and recommendations for the Scottish Government, and to create a young people's vision for race equality in Scotland for 2030. An Ideas Gathering Event was held on 29 June 2017 feeding into a final "Creating a Fairer Future" report that was published on 30 November 2017.

Minority Ethnic Women's Network

A minority ethnic women's network has been established with events being held in 2017 to link into the REF actions. The first event was held on 22 February 2017 with over 90 women attending. As well as looking at the vision, purpose and structure of the network, employability issues were discussed which will feed into the ongoing implementation of the Framework. Further events were held on 22 May 2017 and 20 September 2017, with the latter of these focusing on violence against women.

Themed Roundtables

Over the course of 2017 we organised a series of Themed Roundtables linked to REF themes involving policy officials with key experts from a range of statutory and third sector organisations and academia. Three Roundtables have been held so far focusing on Housing, Participation and Representation and Community Cohesion, with the next series planned for spring 2018.

Equal Scotland Live

The 2016 Scottish National Equality Improvement Project ( SNEIP) work plan concentrated on the development of a conference for public authorities to provide them with an opportunity to share ideas, knowledge and best practice. The event was held on 21 November 2016. Race equality partners delivered learning sessions to help build the capacity of public sector organisations.

Equality Evidence Strategy

Scotland's Equality Evidence Strategy was published in July 2017: High quality equality evidence and analysis is vital to underpin effective and inclusive policy making in Scotland. However, despite improvements in recent years, there remain gaps in Scotland's equality evidence base. This report sets out a four year strategy (2017-21) describing the equality evidence gaps we have identified in concert with our partner organisations and academic colleagues, and details a strategic approach to strengthening Scotland's equality evidence base. A stronger evidence base on ethnicity will help inform the actions in the Race Equality Framework.

The Scottish Government carried out a survey of Equality Evidence Finder users in summer 2017, and will use the findings from this, and the data gaps identified in the Equality Evidence Strategy, to further develop the website and its content.