Anti-racism delivery plan 2026-2030
This Plan sets a clear vision for an anti-racism Scotland: to build a Scotland that actively tackles racism, and where equity, justice, dignity, and respect are upheld for all communities. Systemic change will be led by government and shaped by communities.
5 Strategic Priorities for System Change
This Delivery Plan identifies five strategic priorities to strengthen systemic change across government. These were shaped directly by the evidence-gathering, engagement, and reflection described in the Introduction and Context section. These have been informed by the reflection and learning from previous action plans, insights from the Progress Review, engagement with stakeholders and communities, and the advice of the Interim Governance Group on Anti-Racism Infrastructure. Together, they set the direction for embedding anti-racism across Scottish Government systems, policy, and practice.
1. Deliver in partnership
The Scottish Government will prioritise inclusive engagement, lived experience, and co-production to ensure anti-racism efforts reflect community needs and drive meaningful change. Partnership working will be grounded in transparency, trust, and shared ownership with a clear focus on strengthening relationships across government, public bodies, and the third sector. Governance arrangements will support this by enabling joint problem-solving, consistent challenge, and alignment across portfolios.
To take this forward, we are establishing a coalition of partners to work collectively; supporting delivery of this Plan and shaping a governance model that prioritises meaningful community engagement and lived-experience leadership alongside high-level oversight, including ministerial decision-making. This coalition will be guided by collectively agreed shared principles that maintain trust including relationship-centred working, openness to learning, attention to power dynamics, distributed leadership, and reciprocal accountability. It will provide a collaborative space where partners can identify shared challenges, shape priorities, and work collectively to address systemic barriers.
Our model will be adaptive, recognising that successful partnership requires flexibility. It will evolve through continued engagement, reflection, and shared learning, ensuring that community insight, evidence, and lived experience influence decision-making at all levels.
Through this coalition-based approach, we will build the conditions for meaningful partnership; that relationships are sustained over time; that community insight shapes both operational activity and senior oversight; and that anti-racism work remains responsive to emerging issues, grounded in evidence, and accountable to the people it impacts upon. This collaborative approach will help drive long-term systemic change across government and beyond.
2. Coordinate and build capacity
We will strengthen coordination across government and improve collective capacity to embed anti-racism systemically. This includes developing a clear coordination framework that improves connections between policy areas; supports alignment of actions and priorities; and links policy development more directly with lived experience and analytical insight.
We will build capacity by providing training, guidance, and opportunities for opportunities for shared learning, across government and the wider coalition, to ensure consistent language, improved racial literacy, and a stronger understanding of what anti-racism requires in practice.
As part of this work, we will develop mechanisms to assist policy areas identify, set, and report on meaningful outcomes in an open and transparent way. Strengthened coordination and capacity will support more coherent, confident, and effective delivery over time.
3. Measure and Evaluate
We will develop robust approaches to track and evaluate the impact of anti-racism actions. This will include a shared measurement framework, co-designed with the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland, policy teams, analytical colleagues, and coalition partners. The framework will set out how outcomes, indicators, baselines, and evidence sources will be identified, interpreted, and reported.
This work will improve the quality and consistency of evidence across government and ensure accountability through clearer reporting on progress. It will also help us understand where change is happening, where gaps remain, and where further action or support is required.
4. Be accountable on the international stage
The Scottish Government will continue to align anti-racism efforts with international human rights obligations and contribute to treaty monitoring processes. We have launched the first phase of a Human Rights Tracker tool to map recommendations across treaties, including the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, to improve transparency and enhance implementation efforts.
International scrutiny will be used constructively to strengthen domestic accountability, support transparency, and demonstrate Scotland’s commitment to embedding human rights and anti-racism in all areas of public policy.
5. Work with Gypsy/Traveller communities
We will build on the progress made through previous Gypsy/Traveller Action Plans, ensuring that action on Gypsy/Traveller equality remains embedded as a core part of Scotland’s wider structural anti-racism agenda. We will work collaboratively with communities and partners to understand priorities, address barriers, and ensure lived experience shapes decisions relating to accommodation, planning, education, health, employment, and anti-discrimination.