Race Equality Action Plan programme board minutes: November 2018
Minutes from the second meeting of Race Equality Action Plan (REAP) programme board, held on 12 November 2018.
Attendees and apologies
Attendees
- Paul Johnston, Director General Education, Communities and Justice (Chair)
- Lesley Fraser, Director for Social Housing and Skills
- Dominic Munro, Director for Fair Work, Employability and Skills
- Stephen Gallagher, Director for Local Government and Communities
- Nicola Richards, Director, People Directorate
- Lisa Bird, Deputy Director Equalities, Human Rights and Third Sector
- Murray McVicar, Head of Senior Phase Unit (representing Fiona Robertson, Director for Learning)
- Joe Griffin, Director for Early Learning and Childcare (dialling in)
- Joanne Streeter, Head of Diversity and Inclusion
In attendance
- Harry Dozier, Equality Unit
- Shahid Khan, Diversity and Inclusion
- Hilary Third, Equality Policy Manager (Gypsy/Travellers and BSL)
Apologies
- Sean Neill, Deputy Director, Health Workforce (replacing Christine McLaughlin, Director of Health Finance)
- Fiona Robertson, Director for Learning
- Gillian Russell, Director for Safer Communities
- Kaliani Lyle, Independent Race Equality Adviser
- George Ritchie, Equality Unit
Items and actions
1. Welcome
Paul Johnston welcomed everyone to the Race Equality Action Plan (REAP) Programme Board meeting. He asked that Directors continue to prioritise these meetings.
2. Minutes
The Board approved the minutes of the previous meeting and agreed to sign off the remit by email ahead of the next meeting.
3. Reflection
Joanne Streeter gave an overview of Scottish Government’s performance as an equal opportunity employer.
Current equality outcomes for the government are to increase diversity of Scottish Government workforce and foster inclusive workplace culture. These outcomes are monitored by the People Board. There is also a statutory duty to publish progress which will be done in April 2019.
Joanne also highlighted that staff networks at the core of delivery because of the importance of lived experience. They had recently recruited a full time strategic development officer to support the work of the Race Equality Network (REN). This was the first funded resource for staff network. REN also recently held their annual staff conference.
For the recent recruitment of B band members of staff there they worked with race and disability networks to shape outreach to connect to communities, assess Scottish Government adverts, and embed increased diversity in assessment panels. 8% of applicants identified as coming from an ME background with a 7% successful intake. They are investigating patterns during stages of recruitment to help inform future action, embed learning into policy and influences recruitment across the Scottish Government
The Board thanked Joanne and the People Directorate for their progress and excellent partnership working. Paul Johnston noted that it was important to have a line of sight between all of this activity and what recommendations are in the REAP and other recruitment initiatives, including public appointments and pay gap work.
4. Delivery Group
The Board discussed the remit of the Delivery Group. Paul Johnston stressed the importance of making nominations for the Delivery Group to ensure progress on actions. The Board agreed that the delivery group was necessary to focus on delivery. This will enable the Board to focus on impact and advise on what should be prioritised.
The Board noted that some of the actions within their portfolio would require more than one Delivery Group representative because of the size and scope, for example Social Security and Economy.
It was agreed that Lisa Bird, Deputy Director Equalities, Human Rights and Third Sector would chair the Delivery Group. The Board will expect a contribution from the Delivery Group at every meeting.
5. Programme updates
The Board reviewed update on the work being carried out in their areas, noting areas of progress and where further input is needed.
There was agreement that the actions relating to Gypsy/Travellers were a good example of where initiatives were working successfully and making a difference.
It was agreed that, while it was important to ensure delivery of individual actions, it’s critical that the Board also take a strategic view of Race Equality, taking the opportunity to review how our efforts are contributing to making a difference and any particular issues that may require more focused attention by the Board.
6. REAP Conference
The Board were reminded about the Race Equality Conference would take place on 11 Dec. Members were encouraged to attend and an invitation should be extended to nominated Delivery Group members.
The Board asked for an update on outcomes and feedback from the conference.
7. Future meetings
The Board discussed topics for future reflection. Some subjects included:
- broader situation with racism in Scotland and it’s measurement/evaluation
- race employment and pay gap
- child poverty measures around minority ethnic groups
- approach to engagement with stakeholders
The first Delivery Group meeting would be scheduled before the next Board meeting in 3 months’ time.
8. Actions
- Harry Dozier to update and recirculate drafts of the Programme Board remit for sign off
- Paul Johnston to work with Safer Communities Directorate to confirm nominations for Programme Board and Delivery Group
- All Directors to send nominations for Delivery Group to Harry and George Ritchie by end of November 2018
- Harry Dozier to send invitation for REAP Conference to Delivery Group members.
- Harry Dozier to collate outcomes and feedback from Conference to be tabled at next Board meeting
- George Ritchie to schedule all Board meeting dates for 2019
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