Anti-racism delivery plan 2026-2030

6 Embedding Anti-Racism Across Government

This Delivery Plan does not set out detailed outcomes. Outcomes will be developed and reported by individual policy areas through the governance structure that will be developed to ensure accountability and transparency. Measuring and evaluating progress, alongside building capacity, are recognised as critical areas for development and are therefore embedded within the Strategic Priorities section of this Plan. Through the development of a governance structure and consistent reporting from policy areas supported by work to build capacity across government, we will ensure accountability and further embed anti-racism across government.

The following section brings together high-level commitments from across government portfolios that respond to specific inequalities – for example, gaps in representation, barriers to access, and unequal outcomes. These commitments will be reviewed and refined through the governance arrangements we will establish and ongoing engagement with communities, to ensure they remain relevant, impactful, and accountable. This adaptive stance affirms that anti-racism requires ongoing learning and improvement.

The commitments are grouped under the six themes of the Race Equality Framework (REF), with each theme introduced by its vision as set out in the REF to aid readability and coherence.

Furthermore, to strengthen consistency across government and support the Scottish Government’s Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy, each commitment in this Delivery Plan has also been aligned to one or more of the Strategy’s six mainstreaming drivers:

1. Strengthening Leadership.

2. Developing Accountability and Transparency.

3. Ensuring an Effective Regulatory and Policy Environment.

4. Utilising Evidence and Experience.

5. Enhancing Capability and Culture.

6. Improving Capacity.

These drivers provide a shared framework for understanding how change is delivered and ensure that anti-racism work is embedded within wider equality and human rights systems. Each commitment in this section is tagged to identify which of the six Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy drivers it contributes to.

Theme 1: Overarching Work

Vision: By 2030 Scotland is a place where people are healthier, happier, and treated with respect, and where opportunities, wealth and power are spread more equally for people from all communities, helping to build a Scotland where we all share a common sense of purpose and belonging.

This theme includes strategic work that is being undertaken to strengthen anti-racism and equalities work by the government, and by some other public bodies.

Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS)

The Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS) will contribute to strengthening accountability and scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s efforts to embed anti‑racism across government and the public sector.

• It will gather and share robust evidence on racial inequality, maintain a national record of historic and current issues, work collaboratively with stakeholders, and ensure that people most affected by racism lead and shape its work.
• As an independent body, AROS will provide the Scottish Government and the wider public sector with expert and constructive challenge to strengthen the design, delivery, and accountability of policy and practice across Scotland. We remain committed to listening to, and learning from, the anti‑racism expertise of those leading and contributing to AROS.
• Following the initial two‑year inception phase, the Scottish Government has committed to providing future funding for AROS, whether that involves continuing current or alternative hosting arrangements, or adopting a completely different operational model 1, 2, 4.

Mainstreaming Equality and Human Rights

We are driving an ambitious and progressive agenda to ensure that equality and human rights are embedded in all we do. To realise ambitions the materials below were launched in late December 2025:

• The Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy - providing a clear vision and framework for making lasting change in how we develop policy, deliver services, and allocate resources.
• The Mainstreaming Action Plan - setting out 61 actions to embed equality and human rights across government systems and processes.
• A Regulation 12 Report - publishes proposals for activity to support better performance of the Public Sector Equality Duty by listed authorities across Scotland between December 2025 and December 2029. 1, 2, 3, 5.

Furthermore, over the period of this delivery plan we will:

• Take focused action to improve the wider public sector’s understanding of, and engagement with, the “fostering good relations” element of the general equality duty. Fostering good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic (e.g. race) and those who do not is one of three needs of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) public sector organisations must pay due regard to. The purpose of the PSED is to make sure that public authorities and organisations carrying out public functions think about how they can improve society and promote equality in every aspect of their day-to-day business. Based on initial scoping we propose that this work includes learning from other devolved administrations about how they are supporting fostering good relations, as well as exploring opportunities to make more explicit links between this element and policy action on inclusion and community cohesion 1, 3, 5.
• Establish a governance framework to underpin the delivery of the Mainstreaming Action Plan. This framework will be published in Summer 2026, ensuring senior-level ownership and visible leadership. By embedding accountability at the highest levels, we will drive sustained momentum and ensure that the Action Plan remains a priority throughout its delivery 1, 2.
• Develop and launch an engagement and evaluation plan to underpin the uptake and measure the effectiveness of the Mainstreaming Strategy and toolkit across the public sector. We will publish this in Summer 2026 alongside the governance framework for the Action Plan highlighted above 2, 4.

Ethnicity Data

• Promote best practice in collecting, analysing, and presenting ethnicity data across policy areas. We will also actively engage with discussions and developments related to ethnicity data collection and publication, including producing analytical publications, organising workshops to understand data needs, and consider how Scottish Government may adopt changes to ethnicity data guidance based on National Records of Scotland (NRS) and Government Statistical Service (GSS) consultations 2, 4.

Human Rights Bill

• We will bring forward a new Human Rights Bill in the next Parliamentary session (subject to the outcome of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election) which aims to further advance a human rights culture in Scotland by giving domestic legal effect to a range of internationally-recognised human rights, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights International (ICESCR) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). The proposals intend to improve how law, policy and frontline services are developed and delivered by placing the human rights of everyone, including adversely racialised people, at the heart of decision-making.
• Under our proposals, for the first time in Scotland’s domestic legal framework, public authorities would be required to comply with the rights in ICESCR and actively consider the rights in ICERD when delivering services and making decisions. We are also proposing that Scottish public authorities must consider how to deliver the ICESCR rights without discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic or national origin.
• To support further development of the Bill, we have published a Discussion Paper on our proposals which aims to consolidate the extensive work undertaken to date and support further engagement with stakeholders 2, 3.

Empowered Children and Young People

• Uphold a wide range of children’s rights that apply to every child without discrimination, as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024. The Children’s Rights Scheme laid before Parliament in November 2025 includes commitments to support public authorities to understand children’s rights and take a children’s human rights approach; and for the Scottish Government to identify those groups of children and young people most at risk of rights breaches, which may include those from adversely racialised and Gypsy/Traveller communities, and to develop targeted awarenessraising about their rights 3, 4, 5.

Climate change

• The Scottish Government is committed to an anti-racism approach to international climate justice. Through our Climate Justice Fund, we will continue to challenge the structural inequalities that drive the climate crisis by shifting power and resources towards the communities who contribute least towards the crisis yet are impacted first and worst. Building on our existing partnerships, we will continue to provide critical support to impacted communities across the Global South.
• Ensure that adversely racialised communities are included in climate engagement activity to build understanding and take action on the impacts of climate change and the transition to net zero, in line with the statutory Climate Change Public Engagement Strategy (PES); and that racial inequality is highlighted as a consideration in the refreshed National Just Transition Planning Framework 2, 4, 5.

Theme 2: Community Cohesion and Safety

Vision: We build good race relations and community cohesion across all communities, and all minority ethnic individuals feel safe, protected, and included, and experience less racism.

Our longstanding commitment to community cohesion focuses on a rights-based approach, and the shared ambition that we live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe. To achieve this goal, we are taking the following actions:

Community Cohesion

• Continue working collaboratively with organisations across Scotland to sustain strong leadership, visibility, and further develop partnerships to strengthen social cohesion by bringing people and communities together to address shared issues and challenge exclusion 1, 5, 6.
• We will continue to ensure resources are focused where they can contribute most to meaningful and sustainable action to connect communities across Scotland, explicitly breaking cycles of poverty, strengthening social cohesion and promoting inclusion and dignity at a community level.
• Continue to focus on the importance of community connections, and ensuring the voices of interfaith and adversely racialised communities are heard in order to promote dialogue, tackle prejudice, and strengthen community cohesion, with a particular focus on tackling Islamophobia and antisemitism. 3, 5.

Hate Crime

• Develop the next iteration of Hate Crime Strategy delivery activity in partnership with Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group to improve victim support, strengthen data and evidence, and prevent hate crime by tackling the root causes, ensuring anti-racism is embedded throughout the development and delivery of the Hate Crime Strategy 2, 4, 5.

Violence Against Women and Girls

• Continue to implement Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls, which recognises the specific experiences of minority ethnic women and the barriers to support and services they face 3, 5, 6.
• Continue progress on deliverable 1 of the Equally Safe Delivery plan, which includes developing an approach to address honour based abuse and extended family abuse, and implementation of the Female Genital Mutilation (Protection and Guidance) (Scotland) Act 2020. This also includes an action to mitigate challenges associated with No Recourse for Public Funds conditions, led by the Asylum & Refugee Integration Unit. We will continue to work closely with our stakeholders and the Addressing Violence Against Minority Ethnic Women and Girls network, which includes members from the third, statutory and academic sectors, to deliver on these actions.

Policing

• Police Scotland is committed to building a welcoming, inclusive, and anti racist organisation by embedding equitable leadership, delivering robust anti racism training, strengthening trust with diverse communities, and ensuring transparent accountability in all policing practices. Examples of Police Scotland’s strategic approach include:
  • Delivering organisation wide anti racism training that strengthens awareness, challenges discriminatory attitudes, and supports long term cultural transformation.
  • Using transparent data through tools such as the Police Scotland Culture Dashboard to understand trends and drive meaningful cultural change where areas for improvement across Police workforce are identified.
  • Supporting the work of Community Relationship Specialists within the national Policing Together Division to proactively prevent harm, reduce discrimination, and respond effectively to community concerns.
  • Engaging with the Independent Policing Advisory Council as a critical friend and partner, ensuring Police Scotland policies, procedures, and practices are fair, equitable, and deliver sustainable outcomes across the service 1, 2, 5.

Justice

• Continue working with our justice partners and stakeholders to share learning, best practice and embed anti-racism across the justice system, including promoting best practice in collecting, analysing and presenting race and ethnicity data, and developing the evidence base on the experiences of racialised minorities in the justice system 4, 5.

Theme 3: Participation and Representation

Vision: Minority ethnic participation and representation is valued, effective, fair, and proportionate at all levels of political, community and public life.

Increasing community participation and reflecting lived experience within our work are key focuses for the Scottish Government. As part of progressing this work, we are taking the following actions:

Equality Strategy for Women and Girls

• The Scottish Government will produce an equality strategy for women and girls in 2026. As part of this work, it has engaged with adversely racialised communities to ensure the strategy will reflect the Scotland women and girls want to live in 1, 2, 4.

Fair and Equal Political Representation

• The Scottish Government is committed to achieving fair and equal political representation. We recognise the need to do better to ensure that our Parliament reflects the diversity of Scotland’s communities.
• We fund both Elect-Her and Engender’s Equal Representation Project, both of which encourage adversely racialised women to become involved in politics and stand for elected office 1, 5, 6.

Public Participation (Open Government)

• Establish a procurement process that helps the Scottish Government to involve the public more effectively in decisions that affect them – particularly those who are seldom heard, furthest from their rights, or vulnerable. This will include a focus to appoint suppliers that can support Scottish Government to deliver anti-racism work 2, 4, 6.

Theme 4: Education and Lifelong Learning

Vision: Everyone has the opportunity to learn in an inclusive environment without disadvantage in relation to racial inequality or racism.

Our ambition is to make Scotland the best place to grow up and make sure that everyone has the opportunity to learn in an inclusive environment that values anti-racism. To achieve this goal, we are taking the following actions:

Anti-Racism Education Programme

• The Anti-Racism in Education Programme seeks to fundamentally embed anti-racism within Scottish education, in line with the AREP commitments and accompanying guidance which was published in January 2025 by working closely with partners at a local and national level. The work will continue to be done through four interconnected workstreams populated by sectoral experts and those with lived experience of racism. The workstreams will continue to focus on:
  • Tackling racism and racist incidents, including through the delivery of a Whole School Approach to Tackling Racism in March 2026 1, 2, 4, 5;
  • Working to improve recruitment, retention and progression for teachers and staff from adversely racialised backgrounds, with the ambition of achieving a representative teaching workforce by 2030 1, 4, 5;
  • Developing and promoting professional learning for educators and leaders, with a focus on anti-racism and social justice, this includes ongoing delivery of the Building Racial Literacy Programme 1, 3, 4; and
  • Curriculum reform, including through engagement with the current Curriculum Improvement Cycle. 2, 4, 5.

Additional Support for Learners

• Uphold our commitment to supporting Gypsy/Traveller children and young people to realise their full potential through the education system. Many within these communities report experiencing prejudice and discrimination, which further hinders their ability to succeed. To further improve educational outcomes for Gypsy/Traveller children and young people, we will work in close partnership with relevant organisations to ensure inclusive, effective, and culturally responsive support is provided to these communities 3, 4, 6.

Theme 5: Employability, Employment, and Income

Vision: Minority ethnic people have equal, fair, and proportionate access to employment and representation at all levels, grades and occupation types in Scotland’s workforce and experience fewer labour market, workplace, and income inequalities.

We recognise that barriers to labour market access, workplace experience, and income for adversely racialised communities are interconnected and can drive poverty. We are taking the following action to remove these barriers, tackle discrimination, and advance anti-racism:

Anti Racism in Employment

• The Anti-Racist Employment Strategy was co-produced with stakeholders in response to an inquiry into race equality in employment by the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee and was published in December 2022.
• It contains actions for the Scottish Government and supports and encourages employers to improve outcomes for adversely racialised workers. In order to set it in a Fair Work and intersectional context, the strategy forms part of the wider Fair Work Action Plan which also incorporates actions on tackling the gender pay gap and the disability employment gap, recognising and seeking to address the intersectional barriers to fair work. In addition, the strategy seeks to deliver our commitments on employment in the Race Equality Framework.
• Delivery of the Action Plan is monitored through the Fair Work Oversight Group, comprising equality groups, trade unions, business, and academics, that provides an advisory and challenge function to drive progress. The impact of the plan’s actions is measured through the monitoring and evaluation approach set out in the Fair Work Evidence Plan. The Fair Work Evidence Plan also sets out activities which develop the evidence base around fair work in Scotland.
• Our work has led the remaining actions in the Strategy to evolve and we will continue to implement these including:
  • Developing how we will build anti-racist capability prior to creation of a network of senior leaders in the public sector;
  • Learning from our work with senior leaders to inform further development of the anti-racism workplace training framework;
  • Exploring what practical support employers need to increase their use of Positive Action;
  • Ensuring the interests and unique issues relevant to Gypsy/Travellers are embedded in all of our actions; and,
  • Engaging with stakeholders on what our priorities should be after completion of the actions in the Anti-Racist Employment Strategy, as part of activity to shape the future of Fair Work in Scotland 1, 3, 5, 6.
• In addition to the actions in the Anti-Racist Employment Strategy, we will continue to pursue two important priorities:
• Develop evidence around Fair Work in Scotland, as set out in the Fair Work Evidence Plan. This includes work in response to the challenges arising from falling response rates to Office for National Statistics Annual Population Survey.
• Work with the UK government and others to ensure that ethnicity pay gap reporting is implemented in a way that meets the needs of adversely racialised people in Scotland.

Tackling Child Poverty

• Ensure our approach to tackling child poverty takes an intersectional approach and focuses on the families and groups at greatest risk of poverty, including minority ethnic families, ensuring that we remain considerate of protected characteristics and the need to address the barriers and challenges certain groups face when designing our interventions 3, 4.

Benefit Take-Up and Income Maximisation

• We are also ensuring that barriers to take-up that impact adversely racialised communities are considered as part of the development of the next Benefit Take-Up Strategy, due by October 2026 3, 4, 6.

Theme 6: Health and Housing

Vision: Minority ethnic communities in Scotland have equality in physical and mental health as far as is achievable, have effective healthcare appropriate to their needs and experience fewer inequalities in housing and home life.

We understand that health and wellbeing are strongly linked with family life and the home environment, and equality in these areas of life is vital to improving life chances. To improve outcomes to meet the needs of minoritised communities, we are taking the following actions:

Racialised Health Inequalities and Health Workforce

• In collaboration with our partners and stakeholders, we will continue to advance the Health and Social Care Cabinet Secretary’s vision to improve healthcare access, experience and outcomes for adversely racialised communities through an anti-racism approach, building on the Scottish Government’s Framework for Action and the Improving the Lives of Scotland’s Gypsy/Travellers Action Plan (2024-2026).
• The Framework for Action sets out initial priorities NHS Boards in tackling racialised healthcare inequalities. These priorities reflect, and go beyond, the recommendations of the Expert Reference Group on Covid-19 and Ethnicity:
  • Leadership, governance, and accountability — to drive real change, with clear responsibility for progress;
  • Improving data and evidence — enabling the identification of inequalities, and measurement of progress;
  • Embedding equity and anti-racism in services – starting in areas where there is clear evidence of significant inequalities: perinatal care (the time from pregnancy up to a year after birth), type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevention, and mental health;
  • Workforce culture and wellbeing – fostering inclusive environments for staff and patients.
• In partnership with NHS Boards, Public Health Scotland, and the Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project (MECOPP), we will build on the success of the Gypsy Traveller Community Health Worker programme, integrating effective practice across mainstream services.
• Leadership on reducing racialised healthcare inequalities will be provided by a senior Steering Group, which has been set up to drive action on improving healthcare access, experiences, and outcomes for adversely racialised communities 1, 3, 4, 5.

Social Work

• Lead implementation of the Social Work Sector Anti-Racism Action Plan, which strengthens leadership, training, recruitment, reporting practice and organisational culture to address systemic racism within the profession. Our approach is informed by the published Statement of Intent on Anti-Racism, the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services National Survey on Racism in Social Work and the Scottish Social Services Council’s anti-racism learning modules. This programme will strengthen capability, accountability and cultural competence across the Social Work sector and improve experiences and outcomes for adversely racialised individuals, families, and communities 1, 5.

Distress Interventions and Suicide Prevention

• Take forward focused work to support the development and delivery of tailored and targeted suicide prevention support to Gypsy/Traveller communities 3, 4, 6.

Housing

• It is the Scottish Government’s ambition for everyone to have a safe, good quality and affordable home that meets their needs in the place they want to be. As part of continuing delivery of the strategy, we are taking the following action.

Homelessness and Tenants’ Rights

• Implement the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 to transform homelessness prevention, improve standards in rented housing and strengthen tenants’ rights. Provisions will enable improved housing quality by tackling unsafe conditions like damp and mould; the introduction of rent controls in the private rented sector where these are needed and greater rights to keep pets and for private tenants to personalise their home. The measures in the Act are in general expected to benefit all households at risk of losing their home and those living in the rented sector but may be particularly beneficial for people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds who are more likely to be housed in the private rented sector or impacted by the increasing unaffordability of housing. We will ensure that the guidance that accompanies the new prevention duties has a clear anti-racist message 3, 4.
• Continue with delivery of actions in our national strategy to end homelessness to address the root causes of homelessness, prevent homelessness wherever possible and respond quickly when homelessness does occur. We remain committed to reducing racial inequality in housing. Equality is at the heart of our homelessness strategy and of local authority housing and homelessness service delivery. We have prevention pathways for groups at particular risk of homelessness, and we will review these to ensure they take account of the experiences of the most marginalised in the housing system. This work to end homelessness is supported by our Housing Emergency Action Plan, published in September, which is the Scottish Government’s ambitious route map aimed at tackling the housing crisis in Scotland. We are committed to building more social homes to reduce homelessness and alleviate pressures in the system 2, 3, 4.

The Scottish Social Housing Charter

• The Scottish Social Housing Charter, which is monitored by the Scottish Housing Regulator, requires social landlords to provide fair access to housing in a way that recognises individual needs. We expect local authorities to pay due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty and reduce racial inequality as they carry out those functions 2, 3.
• As part of the review of the Scottish Social Housing Charter, we will engage with stakeholders from adversely racialised communities and the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Consideration will be given to the effectiveness of the current equalities outcome in ensuring that social landlords perform all aspects of their housing services so that they support the right to adequate housing, and every tenant and other customer has their individual needs and rights recognised, is treated fairly and with respect, and receives fair access to housing and housing services 2, 3.

Affordable Housing

• We will increase the supply of affordable housing by investing £808 million across Scotland this year. And over the next four years up to £4.9 billion will be invested, through a mixture of public and privately leveraged funding, to deliver around 36,000 affordable homes. This investment will help deliver local authority housing priorities identified through Local Housing Strategies and Strategic Housing Investment Plans, which are supported by Equality Impact Assessments, and includes meeting the housing needs of Gypsy/Traveller communities 3, 6.
• We will build on work completed under Improving the Lives of Scotland’s Gypsy/Travellers 2 to provide more and better accommodation for Gypsy/Travellers, in particular by making funding for publicly provided Gypsy/Traveller accommodation available alongside housing under the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) from April 2026 and continuing to drive good standards of accommodation and mechanisms for improvement 3, 6.

Planning, Architecture and Regeneration

• The National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4, published 2023) includes a new positive policy framework for development to meet the housing needs of the Gypsy/Traveller community. It was prepared in close collaboration with the community as the framework is clear that local development plans should allocate land to ensure provision of accommodation for Gypsy/Travellers where need is identified, ensuring a fair and inclusive planning system with early, collaborative, meaningful and proportionate engagement in development planning and decisions 3.