Equality Data Improvement Programme project board - highlight report: January 2025

Project name: Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP)
Senior Responsible Officer: Mick Wilson, Head of Communities Analysis Division
Project Manager: Beth Cocker /Molly Halligan
Next project meeting: TBC
Period covering: 13/01/2025-30/01/2025
Report date: 30/01/25
RAG last period: Green
RAG this period: Green

Summary of overall progress 

Analysts across the Scottish Government and NRS are continuing to progress the agreed equality data improvement actions, set from now until the end of 2025. Action leads provided an update on progress in January 2025.

Of the 45 actions in the strategy:

• 13 are complete,  in the previous Oct 2024 progress update 14 were complete
• 24 are on course, in the previous Oct 2024 progress update 23 were on course
• 6 are delayed, in the previous Oct 2024 progress update 7 were delayed
• 0 are not yet started, in the previous Oct 2024 progress update 1 was not yet started
• 2 are no longer feasible, in the previous Oct 2024 update one of these actions was marked as complete due to lack of appropriate status

Project achievements for this period

• general - The Equality Evidence Strategy Interim Review was published in December 2024
• action 21 (on course) -  ‘Intersectional Evidence Review: Minority Ethnic Women’s experiences in Scotland’ was published in December 2024. The purpose of this report is to draw together new and existing evidence from Scottish Government, other public sector organisations, third sector organisations, and academia to highlight learnings in relation to analysis and publication of intersectional equalities data.
• action 22 (on course) -  ‘Evidence Review of Non-binary People’s Experiences in Scotland’ was published in November.
• action 29 - analysts working on the Women’s Health plan published their report on publicly available data on the health of women and girls in Scotland.
• Action 43 -  NRS Flexible table builder is now available with the first set of variables

Delayed milestones/tasks

Actions 1 and 2

Development of disability data is being explored in the context of child protection Joint Investigative Interview data, in work being led by CELCIS. Learning from this will be considered and applied in future updates to Child Protection and Looked After Children datasets.

Actions 28 and 30

Previously marked as ‘not yet started’, these actions relate to Health and Social Care improving response rates which includes developing an easier system to input data year round, as well as plans to explore how links can be made to NPCCD for smoother data collection. The new approach aims to be in place for in-hours in 2024 and out-of-hours by 2025 onwards. A working group for the 2024 survey discussed the collection of more equality data, but suggested the surveys were not the best approach as individuals do not have access to their own data. Other approaches to obtain this data are now being considered.

Action 31

Previously marked as ‘not yet started’, this action relates to improvements to equality data for Core Dataset for Tier 2 and Tier 3 Weight Management Services for Children/Young People and Adults in Scotland. The team are reviewing this dataset with PHS and exploring what progress can be made in light of resourcing issues.

Action 45

Exploration of potential for more granular data on hold due to staffing redeployment.

Plans for next period

Action 24

The Equality Analysis team will be showcasing best practice in collecting, analysing and presenting equality evidence through a number of presentations across Scottish Government.

Action 43

The next and final release of the Flexible Table Builder will be released March/April 2025. This will include any outstanding variables and all remaining geographies down to output area.

Key risks

Risk no. 1

Some actions within the Equality Evidence Strategy are not taken forward by analysts, for example some action leads have indicated that their completion date will go beyond 2025 due to lack of available data.
Severity (1-5): 4 
Probability (1-5): 2
Actions: Equality Analysis Team has gained buy-in from a network of analysts to help drive the work forward and continue to monitor progress. The EDIP programme also has senior buy in from ALG, along with the Chief Statistician and Chief Social Researcher.
The Interim Review (2024) suggested a next step of offering individual meetings with action leads to identify which programmes of work require more support and how this can be done. This includes thinking about how to encourage and support action leads increasing policy engagement with their actions to extend wider impact over the course of the Strategy’s final year.
Impact of Actions on Risks: Regular review of actions ensuring progress and relevance.

Risk no. 2

Staff changes within project board and network leads responsible for actions
Severity (1-5): 1
Probability (1-5): 3
Actions: The Interim Review (2024) concluded that regular communication will be maintained and a handover note will be developed for any new members to the EDIP board and analysts taking over actions to ensure better understanding of the Strategy and EDIP.
Impact of Actions on Risks: Project Board are more informed of EDIPs progress to date. Analytical network leads are able to take actions forward and maintain progress updates. 

Project RAG status key

Red: some risks/issues require immediate attention from the Programme Manager/Challenge Owner/Lead
Amber: some risks/issues are self contained within tolerances
Green: project is proceeding on schedule