Equality Data Improvement Programme project board - highlight report: July 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: 29/07/2025
Period covering: 30/06/2025-15/07/2025
Report date: 16/07/2025
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 until the end of 2025. Action leads provided an update on progress in July 2025.

Of the 45 actions in the strategy:

• 17 are complete, in the previous April 2025 progress update 16 were complete
• 20 are on course, in the previous April 2025 progress update 21 were on course
• 6 are delayed, in the previous April 2025 progress update 6 were delayed
• 0 are not yet started, in the previous April 2025 progress update 0 were not yet started
• 2 are no longer feasible, in the previous April 2025 progress update 2 were no longer feasible (EDIP Board approval is required)

Project achievements for this period

• Equality Analysis Team completed four of the ‘Equality Evidence Strategy Collaboration Sessions’ with external stakeholders interested in improvements to equality evidence. Learnings from these sessions, and future engagement opportunities, will be taken forward as part of the evaluation of the current Strategy and development of the next Equality Evidence Strategy.
• Action 22: Work related to understanding and improving the evidence base for non-binary people, as part of the Non-Binary Action Plan, is now marked as complete with the publication of Scotland’s Census analysis of the non-binary population (14th July 2025). Discussions will continue with policy teams and external stakeholders to consider whether new research is required.
• Action 21: The Equality Analysis team published a statistical report analysing Scotland’s Census data on the Gypsy/Traveller population (21st July 2025). This report includes intersectional analysis across a number of other demographics and outcomes.

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 44:

Achieving the broader aim of improving the availability of ethnicity data for our mortality statistics is still on the team’s long term aims but due to the change from in-person registrations to online and limitations on resource within the team, means progress has been delayed and it is likely it won’t be achieved by the end of 2025.

Plans for next period

• The Equality Analysis Team will continue planning for the evaluation of the current Equality Evidence Strategy and begin development of a draft proposal for the next Equality Evidence Strategy.
• Action 3: Findings from Sweep 11 of Growing Up in Scotland are being written up currently and will be published in the second half of 2025. This will include analysis across equalities characteristics (sex, disability, SIMD)where there is sufficient base size.

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