Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP) Project Board minutes: April 2026

Scottish Government:

AMcA welcomed attendees to the meeting and brief introductions were made.

AMcA summarised the agenda for the meeting: an update on the ongoing/delayed actions from the Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025; discussion on the new EDIP Terms of Reference/Remit; a presentation summarising the Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025 Evaluation and brief update on work for the next Equality Evidence Strategy; and to share updates from external Project Board members.

AMcA invited MH to provide an update on going and delayed actions from the Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025.

MH noted that

• 16 actions were still ongoing, delayed or no longer feasible at the end of the Strategy. At the point of evaluation, 5 actions were ongoing, 9 were delayed and 2 no longer feasible.
• By March 2026, of the 16 remaining actions, 3 are now complete, 3 are ongoing, 9 are still delayed, and only 1 is now no longer feasible.
• The three completed actions include action 26 (housing analysis), action 29 (women’s health), and action 42 (agricultural statistics).
• One ‘no longer feasible’ action at the end of the Strategy was able to resume (now marked as ongoing) as this was related to the publication of the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (SSAS) Discrimination module, which was paused during 2025 but will now be published in 2026.
• All ongoing and delayed actions plan to continue work related to their actions.

AMcA welcomed the work on the Agriculture stats, especially, for example, on disability given the ageing profession. AMcA also noted that this expanded analysis allows for more understanding of shifts in data.

AMcA also highlighted the benefits of the Flexible Table Builder (FTB) from NRS and it’s use in housing statistics. AMcA commented on the FTB resulting in a huge improvement on access to Census data for data users while still ensuring that individual records are protected.

Attendee echoed praise for FTB. They commented that this level of access makes it easier for users as they no longer have to approach NRS for particular data breakdowns.

Attendee asked about publication timing for SSAS Discrimination Module.

BC responded that it is expected to be published in June 2026.

AMcA invited EDIP members to bring forward any points they would like to raise in relation to the new EDIP Terms of Reference (ToRs)/Remit shared in advance of the meeting.

Attendee queried overarching process for the next Strategy and Action Plan now EDIP is in the third stage. They asked whether there will be an Action Plan that comes after the publication of the next Strategy?

MH responded that the current expectation is that the next Strategy will have similar set up to the previous Strategy, so actions will be part of the Strategy. The revised EDIP ToR/remit focuses on overseeing the completion of the remaining actions from the Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025 and development of the next Strategy. At the publication of the next Strategy, the ToRs will be updated again to align activities of the EDIP Board with the needs of the new Strategy.

AMcA asked that this explanation be added to the ToRs under ‘Purpose’ for clarity.

Attendee queried the EDIP Board membership breadth and noted that key stakeholders may be missing, for example Research Data Scotland (RDS) and NRS.

AMcA welcomed expansion of the membership and asks that the EDIP Board members consider who else should be represented.

MH agreed that proposals for new members are welcome and noted that reviewing membership and recommending new members is in the EDIP ToRs.

BC noted that, at a previous EDIP meeting, the Board agreed that membership of EDIP includes organisations who are involved in a broad, strategic view of equality data improvement. This would not include members or organisations focused on singular characteristics as the group size would be too big. However, EDIP plans to engage with these organisations in a different way throughout the development of the Strategy.

AMcA asked that this be added to the ToRs, with a note there will be other ways to engage with these stakeholders.

AMcA also noted that he has contacts at RDS and he will reach out to them. The Equality Analysis team can decide whether they are full members or participate in another way, but it would be good for them to be aware of discussions here.

AMcA concluded that with these minor changes, the Board is in agreement that we can adopt these TOR for this period.

All attending members agreed.

AMcA invited MH to deliver a presentation on the progress of the evaluation, the next Equality Evidence Strategy, and the role of EDIP in 2026.

This presentation included:

• A final update on the status of the 2023-2025 strategy actions. Feedback from some action holders highlighted that they have taken forward further work beyond the life of the Strategy to improve equality evidence.
• A summary of the evaluation approach and findings. This included highlighting progress against the Principles, key successes and challenges for the Strategy actions, identifying other supporting and influencing factors, and pulling out transferable lessons which can benefit further work, including the next Equality Evidence Strategy.
• A data audit of Scottish Government datasets is currently underway as part of the development of the next Equality Evidence Strategy. This data audit will assess progress in the equalities data landscape (since the previous data audit in 2021) and identify remaining data gaps.
• The next phase of work, to be carried out over Spring/Summer 2026, will involve engagement with government analysts, policymakers and external organisations to explore valuable improvements to equality evidence and help shape priorities for the next Equality Evidence Strategy.

AMcA noted the fantastic work ongoing in data improvement.

AMcA referred to the slide on challenges which covered barriers to completion, including staffing and resourcing. AMcA noted these barriers are unlikely to go away any time soon and asked Board members to consider how they want to challenge the next strategy to respond to this?

AMcA also noted changes to quality may happen with changes to mode in data collection [referring to a slide in the presentation which highlighted that changes from in-person to online data collection can cause delays while reviews take place to understand the impact this has on data outputs]. AMcA asked Board Members what they think EDIP’s response to this should be? Do we, for instance, need a set of principles to set a direction? How do we balance these challenges with monitoring progress?

AMcA invited EDIP Board members to comment.

Attendee noted they did not have any comments to make on the survey mode point. On the barriers, the attendee agreed it is not going away and asked what resource does EDIP have? They noted an example in PHS where there’s activity which would be relatively easy to do but the barrier is a lack of money which limits access to the data, in particular access to an extended protected characteristics dataset which could be very valuable to their work. The attendee noted that this dataset is not being used, and there could be a risk of it not being maintained and ultimately lost due to a perceived lack of need, whereas actually it’s a lack of resources. Could the EDIP Board and new Strategy have a role to support access?

Another attendee responded to barriers, noted there are also the potential of worsening in some areas to consider, for example response rates falling meaning that collection across equality characteristics could get worse. What do we want to do about this within EDIP?

The attendee also suggested that EDIP should have a role in communicating the ‘So what?’. They recognised that EDIP need senior buy in and support, but also need people who are less data literate to be convinced about pursuing more equality data collection. The attendee highlighted that they can see a role for this Group and for the wider strategy in doing this.

The attendee added that they have some key concerns about the loss of explicit focus on equalities and human rights in the reform of NPF with the removal of the Equality and Human Rights National Outcome. Will there be any plans for EDIP to be involved in the NPF restructure to ensure that equality and human rights considerations are properly embedded?

AMcA noted that the NPF partly sits in his remit as Chief Statistician but also under AMacDs area. AMcA highlighted that the issue with the NPF is that its purpose was lost to some extent as indicators were looking at individual areas, rather than presenting a view of the whole of society. He noted this does put an emphasis on what we do within EDIP and strengthens our hand in the space of equality data improvement. However, NPF is a parliamentary decision and we do not have control over that. AMcA stated that the Board should focus on what we do here within our control and with tools like the Equality Evidence Finder.

Attendee highlighted that they sit on the NPF Advisory Group, so appreciated all of the points being made. They noted that this discussion links back to the ‘so what?’ point raised by another attendee. They considered what the narrative around this should look like? What do we do collectively – what is the collective narrative? How do we ensure everyone understands what we are doing. And that this also brings us back to resourcing – if people understand that it’s part of their day job and not someone else’s role, then the resourcing issue changes.

AMcA reflected on the earlier point made about buy in and support. He highlighted that we are waiting for the incoming government and a new set of ministers. We don’t know who will be the equalities minister. OCS is looking at a round of engagement with new ministers once government is in place and we should consider the introduction they receive to EDIP and their involvement.

Attendee raised a point about the value of equality data improvement for the whole sector. It is clear from the presentation that so much has been achieved, but how can we ensure that others learn from this? The attendee pointed out that they understand that capturing the details of what works in case studies may be difficult, but they are very helpful. Attendee hoped that this comes through in the Evaluation report.

AMcA suggested the Equality Analysis team speak with a colleague from OCS regarding work on hard to reach groups, as there may be insights to pick up on and feed in from that piece.

Attendee, a new member to the group, stated that they have found value in hearing about the new datasets [discussed in the presentation] and opportunities to be involved just from this conversation today. Attendee agreed with the questions raised about how we show people what’s available and noted that there may be a link into the Mainstreaming Toolkit.

Another attendee had nothing new to add, but wanted to build on other points. They believed in the transformational opportunities the NPF has the potential to bring. However, disappearance of human rights and equality is concerning as this will have an impact on the narrative. The attendee agreed with other points raised about explaining the value of all data improvement work to others.

AMcA asked the Equality Analysis team to invite NPF Reform leads to a future meeting at an appropriate time.

BC acknowledged this and thanked all members for their input and recognised that a lot of work is currently being pulled together, including the Scottish Government equalities data audit.

AMcA briefly mentioned the internal project, Move2, which will be very valuable in allowing Scottish Government to assess gaps in equalities data. However, timing of developing this platform did not align with the development of the next Strategy.

AMcA invited attendees to provide updates on their work related to equality data improvement via email [as of publication of these minutes, no updates from Board members were provided].

No other business was raised.

The next meeting will be held 30th June 2026 to discuss updates and the development of the next strategy.

AMcA thanked all for attending and for their input in the meeting.

• MH to make amendments to the ToRs from points raised in the meeting
• All members to consider if they have any other suggestions or views to provide to the Equality Analysis team on:
  • the new EDIP remit and ToRS
  • the draft of the Evaluation of the Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025
• All members to consider the membership of the Board and what representation may be missing.
• AMcA to reach out to contacts at RDS.
• Equality Analysis to contact colleague in OCS for information on research with hard to reach groups.
• Equality Analysis to follow up with NPF Reform team and invite them to a future meeting.
• Equality Analysis team to consider representatives from NRS for the EDIP Board membership.