Resource Spending Review: Equality and Fairer Scotland Statement

Next steps

The Resource Spending Review sets out the high-level parameters for resource spend within future Scottish Budgets and provides a long-term plan focused on outcomes. It also sets out the case for innovation and efficiency in the delivery of public services and a range of initial proposals to achieve this.

This EFSS, and the ongoing gathering and use of relevant evidence, will provide a framework to support the development of specific Equality Impact Assessments and Fairer Scotland Duty Assessments. It also supports the consideration of human rights as we take forward impact assessments. We will continue to use, build and understand the evidence as we develop the proposals for reform and efficiency outlined in the spending review. Impact assessments will be progressed for proposals and considered as an integral part of the design, decision-making process and, where taken forward, implementation. Given the potential impact of the public service reform proposals, it is vital that impact assessments are fully integrated to ensure we can understand the potential impact of any decisions and how to best mitigate any adverse impacts.

The Scottish Government plans to provide an update on progress against the commitments in the spending review, alongside more detailed financial information, as part of Scottish Budget 2023-24. As such, we plan to use the accompanying EFSBS as a milestone where we set out progress on impact assessments related to the proposals outlined within the spending review. This will provide stakeholders with an opportunity for fuller scrutiny within the current financial year.

Further to this, we will use our learning from the spending review process and the production of this EFSS to improve our processes around equality, fairness and human rights assessment. We will integrate this improvement piece with our work to take forward the recommendations made by the EBAG.