Scotland's National Strategy for Economic Transformation – Programme 3: Productive Businesses and Regions Equality Impact Assessment (Record and Results)

Recommendations and Conclusion

This EQIA concludes it is unlikely that the actions in Programme 3 of the NSET will have a negative impact on people with protected characteristics. Where it does have impact in certain fields such as connectivity (both transport and digital) it is likely to be positive through improving accessibility for many. Steps will also be taken to ensure that any potential negative impacts – such as those noted above in terms of access to and use of technology for certain groups – are identified and mitigated against.

Many of the initiatives currently being undertaken in Programme 3 of the NSET remain in the design phase, as such further EQIAs will be carried out on a more focused level to assure that the Programme 3 as a whole offers the greatest positive impact for individuals with protected characteristics.

As the Programme 3 expands over the NSET's lifecycle, this EQIA will require further consideration and efforts will be made to assure that the Programme Delivery Board overseeing its development allows the voices of those with protected characteristics to be heard through continued stakeholder consultation.

To deliver NSET's transformational Programmes in a way that maximises opportunities to advance equality and human rights, we are undertaking work on improving our equality evidence base. Economy analysts are contributing to the Scottish Government Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP),^[12] to improve the quality of equality data that is available to use in policy development, implementation and monitoring.

To address some of the known gaps in equality evidence, we launched the first phase of EDIP in April 2021. A written stakeholder consultation^[13] was held from July until October 2022 on a draft plan to improve and strengthen Scotland's equality evidence base. This consultation was supplemented by stakeholder engagement workshops held throughout September 2022. The responses received from stakeholders will help shape the improvement plan, which will form the basis of Scotland's new Equality Evidence Strategy. It is anticipated that the strategy will be launched by the end of February 2023 and will run to 2025. It will help identify gaps in equality evidence and improve our equality evidence base.