Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No.2) Act 2020 - proposed extension: statement of reasons

2. Rights and equality considerations

2.1 The Scottish Government has acknowledged in its two-monthly reporting on the Coronavirus Acts, that some provisions have more significant impacts on rights and equality than others. As part of the assessment of continued necessity of the provisions beyond the 30 September 2020 expiry date of Part 1 of both Scottish Acts, an assessment of the rights and equality impacts of extension has been undertaken. 

2.2 Equality Impact Assessments (EQIA) and Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments (CRWIA) were undertaken for both of the Scottish Acts as part of the development of the Bills which were introduced to Parliament on 31 March and 11 May 2020 respectively. The human rights impacts were summarised in the Policy Memorandums for each of the Acts. For some provisions, there have been no significant changes since this time and no additional rights or equality impacts are expected in the proposed extension of the provisions. Further information has been provided, where relevant and/or helpful, later in this Statement. Examples of this include:

• Information at section 5.1 below, which sets out consideration that has been given to the rights and equality implications of extending the provisions relating to eviction from dwelling houses under the first Scottish Act; and 
• Section 5.5 below sets out the human rights impacts that have been taken into account in the consideration of the extension of paragraphs 11(2) and 11(3) of schedule 3 of the first Scottish Act relating to vulnerable adults. These considerations were a relevant factor in proposing that the provisions are extended but suspended at this time. This protection of suspending these provisions provides additional assurance that they will not be used unless necessary, and they would require to be revived through regulations. 

2.3 In setting out the proposals for the extension of the provisions under both Scottish Acts which are covered in this note, as with all legislation, the Acts were assessed for compliance with Convention rights before introduction and a similar assessment remains valid for the extension period.