Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP) Project Board minutes: May 2025

Attendees and apologies

Scottish Government:

• Audrey MacDougall, Chief Social Researcher (co-chair)
• Alastair McAlpine, Chief Statistician (co-chair)
• Beth Cocker, Principal Researcher – Equality Analysis Team, Communities Analysis Division
• Molly Halligan, Senior Social Researcher – Equality Analysis Team, Communities Analysis Division

• Amanda Gordon, Head of Strategic Anti Racism and Disability Equality
• Jonathan Wright, Senior Principal Researcher & Head of Equality and Social Justice, CAD

• Morag Pavich, Policy and Engagement Team Leader, Mainstreaming (presenter)
• Philip Heritage-Vivers Policy Official, Mainstreaming

External:

• Ali Hosie, Scottish Human Rights Commission
• Jennifer England Non-Departmental Public Bodies Equality Forum (NDPB)
• Rishma Maini, Public Health Scotland
• Hannah Telling, Equality and Human Rights (EHRC)

Apologies:

• Amy Tucker, Social Researcher – Equality Analysis Team, Communities Analysis Division
• Maria Bayer, Assistant Statistician – Equality Analysis Team, Communities Analysis Division
• Brianna Fletcher, COSLA
• Nick Cassidy, Improvement Service
• Manira Ahmad, Public Health Scotland
• Gill McCrum, Mainstreaming, Scottish Government (Deputising for Rob Priestley)
• Lesley Crozier, Scottish Council's Equality Network (SCEN)
• David Holmes, Head of Wellbeing Economy and Capability Unit, Directorate for Jobs and Wellbeing Economy

Items and actions

AMacD welcomed attendees to the meeting.

AMacD summarised the agenda for the meeting: to provide an update on progress against the actions in the Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025; a presentation on the new Equality Outcomes Report; a presentation continuing the discussion of next steps for the Equality Evidence Strategy; and to share updates from external Project Board members.

MH provided an overview of the Highlight Report.

MH asked how we can make reporting more transparent for actions which are long-term ‘on course’ and ‘delayed’. MH suggested that some solutions may include: inviting action analysts to EDIP meetings to discuss the challenges they are facing; providing an update via email on these specific actions; or continuing to monitor progress but include a reflection on these actions in the final evaluation.

AMacD invited attendees to provide their thoughts.

Attendee felt inviting analysts along to speak in meeting would be valuable for the Project Board and would provide a public audit trail through the minutes and highlight reports. This should also benefit the lead analyst  even if we cannot reach a solution during the meeting.

AMacD agreed that short, sharp presentations from analysts would be useful to discuss and gather expertise from the EDIP board. This will allow the EDIP Board, as a collective, to offer decisions about what happens next. AMacD accepted there wouldn’t be solutions for all actions.

MH agreed.

AMacD noted that there has been good progress made with the Strategy and that she is pleased to see things moving ahead with more actions being completed into the final year.

AMacD invited MP to talk about the new Mainstreaming 2023-2025 and Equality Outcomes 2025-2029 reports.

The presentation included:

• Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming reports were published on 25 April 2025 and will run to March 2029.
• Background: Monitoring equality outcomes is part of the PSED Legal Requirement, and the previous set of Equality Outcomes ran from 2021-2025.
• Methodology to producing themes to progress towards equality included: focusing on underpinning enablers of system change, outcomes that cut across multiple policy issues and inequalities, and consideration of what can make the biggest impact.
• The Mainstreaming team worked collaboratively across different groups to gather information to inform the new Equality Outcomes; policy networks, EHRC, and PSED duty-bearers and equality advocacy groups representing lived experience.
• The new three overarching Equality Outcomes to drive meaningful change are equality evidence, lived experience and participation, and equality and other impact assessments.
• Initial actions have been set and over the next 6–9 months, these will be finalised with the specific actions that will contribute to delivering these outcomes. These will be published alongside our reporting under Regulation 12 later this year Nov/Dec 2025 and will complement wider mainstreaming efforts (e.g. Equality and Mainstreaming Strategy and toolkit).

Attendee highlighted that the way EDIP has taken its approach to measuring impact and progress in terms of setting action plans and reporting through quarterly Highlight Reports may be useful for the Mainstreaming team to learn from while developing their own action plan. EHRC are keen to have outcomes as measurable as possible, and perhaps adopting a similar approach to EDIP where publication of highlight reports allow people to see progress over time and have some real world impact. Attendee asked whether there are plans within Scottish Government to look towards national equality outcomes? The attendee highlighted joint work between EHRC and Scottish Funding Council that is relevant to this approach and wondered how we could avoid duplication of efforts.

MP responded that national equality outcomes is not where they are going at this moment, but that they are keen to stay engaged with work happening in this space and work with colleagues in the higher education sector.

AMacD highlighted that there is a review of the National Performance Framework (NPF). That team are looking at how this framework can be broken down and relate to the Equality Outcomes, firstly to have a manageable amount of outcomes and to support mainstreaming. The likely approach will be to provide equality breakdowns for each NPF area, rather than have a large amount of separate equality indicators. It will be the responsibility of each policy area to utilise this information further. AMacD asked MP about upcoming work across the organisation to support the mainstreaming of using equality data?

MP responded that the concentration remains on the reports and the action plans for the time being, but that they recognise the need to understand, and respond to intersectional requirements across SG.

BC said that the next Equality Evidence Strategy will support and be aligned with the Equality Outcomes report, and particularly with the ‘Equality Evidence’ Outcome.

AMacD invited MH to continue discussions from the previous meeting about the next steps for the Equality Evidence Strategy Roadshows and future Strategy.

The presentation began with:

• an overview of the objectives informing the Equality Evidence Strategy Roadshows due to take place possibly early June.
• key questions for attendees around finalising the approach to the Roadshows.

Attendee asked about how the Roadshow sessions will handle sensitivities, especially around the recent sex and gender Supreme Court ruling, which could overwhelm other topics of conversation.

MH agreed that this is a sensitivity which has been noted. MH also highlighted advice from colleagues to offer open invitations to allow attendees to choose which session to attend, but that this may mean opposing views and ideologies in the room may distract from the overall purpose of the Roadshows. MH noted that the team are keen to hear from EDIP members to understand more about what potential sensitivities may arise and any advice they have to mitigate these risks.

AMcA highlighted that recent Roadshow activities among the statistics profession had challenges around handling sensitivities. AMcA suggested that the team in charge of the Roadshows speak with a colleague in the Office of the Chief Statistician to learn from others’ experiences.

Attendee suggested that the Scottish Youth Parliament, Information Commissioners Office, Audit Scotland, and colleagues working on intersectionality in the Fraser of Allander Institute may be interested in attending these Roadshows.

Attendee highlighted the Leave No One Behind report [The Health Foundation] where young men were highlighted as vulnerable for reasons such as substance use and mental health. The attendee asked how do we hear their views too in the Roadshows when most external organisations may be focused on other characteristics?

MH agreed that hearing all voices is important and that perhaps this will not be the first Roadshow or engagement event that happens, especially considering one of the overall aims of the Roadshows is to improve communication and relationships with external stakeholders which will be ongoing. MH stated that the team did consider in-person sessions for these Roadshows but given the time and accessibility limitations they decided not to take this approach. The team are now considering whether to have an in-person reflection session later in the year to continue communication with stakeholders and show what we have done with the outcomes of the June Roadshows. Between the Roadshows and this reflection session, we would have the opportunity to understand which voices we have and haven’t heard in the process.

AMacD asked whether it would be helpful if representatives from EDIP Board participated?

MH agreed that this would increase the effectiveness of the Roadshows. She asked attendees to consider what potential role they would be interested in and what availability they have.

AMacD suggested sending round potential roles and timing to attendees to inform their decision.

MH noted this as an action to take after the meeting.

MH continued the presentation to discuss how the next Equality Evidence Strategy can be more agile. The key question MH asked attendees was about their focused priorities for the next Strategy. MH noted that the team have been mindful of previous conversations which highlight that the current Strategy is analytically driven, which might limit wider impact. The next Strategy has the potential to focus more on policy impact, intersectionality or improved communication about equality evidence generally, but that the team are keen to understand the views of EDIP members.

Attendee suggested that coherence and harmonisation across equality data across the UK which they felt could be strengthened. In addition, they wondered whether there is a role for Strategy to increase the confidence of data users, and address institutional hesitancy, with the use of certain types of equality data especially qualitative data.

Another attendee agreed with the point about increasing confidence among equality data users. They noted they face on-going questioning about the value of qualitative data.

AMacD also reflected that there is a limit users will reach with quantitative data, for example sample sizes, so increasing the confidence around and use of qualitative research seems meaningful.

Another attendee agreed on improving the use of mixed method data approaches. They made another point that this conversation around priorities would benefit from other researchers’ input. They suggested that think tanks, such as SHERU [Scottish Health Equity Research Unit] at the Strathclyde and the Fraser of Allander Institute, are doing good work on equity. The attendee suggested it would be beneficial to consider their input into the Strategy and increase how we can be more comprehensive and mindful of similar work happening in this space.

BC agreed that it would be beneficial to draw in other research units outside of EDIP and Scottish Government.

JW highlighted that the NACWG are keen to embed intersectional data across policymaking and suggested that the team give thought to this.

AMacD noted that we do have a job to do to enhance understanding of intersectionality generally across Scottish Government, however, sometimes more granular data might not be what we actually need.

JW agreed.

The following attendees provided an update:

• Jennifer NBPD Equalities Forum: Her team had a session with Minister Stewart which they found really useful and inspiring to hear about the Minister’s priorities. She noted that the Forum has been running for about 15 years and that this is the first time that they have had the opportunity to speak to someone at that seniority and who is passionate about this space.

No other attendees provided an update.

No other business was raised.

The next meeting will be held in 6 weeks on 29 July 2025, 14:00-15:00.

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

• Invite EES analysts to future meetings to discuss challenges with their actions
• MH to circulate questions from the presentation to allow attendees to provide further feedback
• MH to send potential Roadshow roles and timing to attendees
• EDIP board members to provide feedback on these questions, volunteer to support with the Roadshows, or get in touch with the Equality Analysis team to discuss any topics raised in this meeting further
• Invite Morag Pavich to a future EDIP meeting to discuss the Equality Outcomes progress