Communities Analysis Division: code of practice compliance

Public involvement and engagement strategy

CAD’s public involvement and engagement strategy is designed to ensure its statistical outputs serve the public good; both through informing the general public on the business of government and supporting the development of policy.

In order to understand user needs, CAD statisticians maintain a good understanding of the topic area and directly engage with stakeholders on their needs.

User engagement

Direct user engagement is undertaken using the ScotStat Register. Users must register with the ScotStat service and indicate which topics they are interested in receiving updates on. ScotStat emails are generally used in relation to sharing information on new publications, consultations, proposed changes and seeking user feedback.

The Homelessness Statistics Users Group (HSUG) is a well-established forum comprising of data providers and users of homelessness data in Scotland. This is used to communicate regular updates within Scottish Government homelessness statistics, bringing members together (approximately annually) to discuss these, and other related issues, in detail.

Equality Analysis

User feedback on our publications is welcomed and can be shared by e-mailing social-justice-analysis@gov.scot. Those with an interest in our statistics can receive e-mail updates via the ScotStat register by indicating an interest in the equality area. Use of our publications is monitored using the gov.scot Content Query Tool to understand page views by internal and external users over time.

We engage regularly with Equality Inclusion and Human Rights policy teams to better understand our user needs. This includes utilising policy’s existing stakeholder networks and meetings to improve the reach of our user engagement activities, for example by disseminating publications through presentations.

In addition to gathering input through these regular engagement channels, we will also undertake the following user engagement during 2026/27:

• Discrimination and Harassment in Scotland 2025: In June 2026, we conducted a user engagement survey via the ScotStat mailing list and other relevant user groups, such as Equality Inclusion and Human Rights policy teams. We intend to use the insights from this survey to improve upon the last iteration of this publication.
• The Equality Data Improvement Programme: Over 2026/27, the next Equality Evidence Strategy will be developed to continue progress towards strengthening the equality data landscape across Scottish Government and its agencies. Early engagement sessions were held in June 2025 which provided insights into user needs, data gaps, and stakeholder priorities. In 2026, we will collate information from previous data engagement activities and re-engage with internal and external stakeholders to develop priorities and actions for the strategy. Once the new strategy has been drafted, a public consultation will take place. This approach supports transparency around the continued improvement of equality data, allowing Scottish Government and its agencies to undertake actions to improve statistics which are relevant and responsive to user needs.
• Equality Evidence Finder: In 2025, we conducted a survey followed by in-depth interviews with users of the Equality Evidence Finder (EEF). We have analysed the findings from these activities to better understand the needs of users, including the creation of user personas. In 2026/27, we will be using insights from these activities to inform the strategic direction of the platform going forward.