Equality and human rights mainstreaming action plan

Actions: Utilising evidence and experience

Action 23:

We will deliver the final year (2025) of the Equality Evidence Strategy by implementing the findings and lessons learned from the Interim Review, along with input from the Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP) Project Board.

Source: Equality Outcome 1 - Equality Evidence

Action 24:

By February 2026, we will publish an evaluation of the Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-25 which identifies the impact of the 45 individual actions and overarching strategy.

Source: Equality Outcome 1 - Equality Evidence

Action 25:

Through the development of the next Equality Evidence Strategy, policy areas and analysts across the Scottish Government will be taken through a process to: identify their need for evidence on equalities including intersectionality; strategically prioritise which evidence gaps to focus on; and set a workplan to fill the prioritised gaps. We will engage with lead analysts and policy teams by end of Spring 2026.

Source: Equality Evidence Strategy

Action 26:

Through the delivery and governance of the next Equality Evidence Strategy, ‘action owners’ from across Scottish Government will clearly understand their roles in delivering improvement to the equality evidence base and its use. Progress will be tracked and reported, and support offered where challenges arise. We aim to publish the final strategy in Autumn 2026 and work to deliver this will be ongoing.

Source: Equality Evidence Strategy

Action 27:

We will create and begin to implement a roadmap for the long-term development of the Equality Evidence Finder. This roadmap will focus on improving the utility and sustainability of the platform and making sure it is fit for purpose. The first iteration of the roadmap will be developed by Summer 2026.

Source: Equality Outcome 1 - Equality Evidence

Action 28:

We will carry out baseline engagement with equality, diversity and inclusion leads in public bodies, e.g. through the Non Departmental Public Bodies Equality Forum and the Scottish Councils’ Equality Network, to understand their needs and challenges in terms of accessing and using the Equality Evidence Finder.

Source: Equality Outcome 1 - Equality Evidence

Action 29:

We will take account of emergent stakeholder requests on evidence usage in delivering our Equality Outcome on improving use of equality data to inform the medium- and longer-term actions.

Source: Equality Outcome 1 - Equality Evidence

Action 30:

We will carry out collection and analysis of data on faith and belief by Summer 2026, to gain a more accurate picture of faith and belief in Scotland and inform our approach to supporting those communities.

Source: Faith and Belief Engagement Strategy

Action 31:

Self-reported race and ethnicity data will be uploaded to and stored in the Community Health Index by summer 2026. Data will be updated through GP registration, the vaccine management tool and MyCare.Scot, with discovery underway on how people in Scotland will be able to update their race and ethnicity through MyCare.Scot as a starting point. We will measure the completeness of high quality data available in Community Health Index, and explore whether this model can be replicated for other protected characteristics.

Source: Digital Health and Care Strategy

Action 32:

In December 2025, we will carry out an evaluation of the Primary Care Phased Investment Programme. This will explore the impact on people through qualitative interviews with primary care services and a survey of a citizen panel.

This will help inform policy development on the next steps for multidisciplinary teams working in primary care.

Source : Primary Care Risk Register

Action 33:

We will publish the results of our new Agricultural Household Survey (AHS) in early 2026.

This survey of farming and crofting households will improve our understanding of child poverty, protected characteristics and gendered attitudes and behaviours across the agricultural sector in Scotland.

The data from this survey will help us to establish an evidence base on protected characteristics regarding farming and crofting households.

Source: Agricultural Gender Strategy; Eradicating Child Poverty Strategy; Agriculture Reform Programme

Action 34:

We will conduct research with colleagues with lived experience within the Scottish Government to inform People Directorate’s work to embed use of Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) and subsequent development of Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

This will ensure that voices of lived experience are embedded into our organisational response to changing corporate priorities.

Phase Three of the Employee Insights Series research is due for delivery by early April 2026.

Source: Diversity and Inclusion Employer Strategy

Action 35:

We will continue and expand our Employee Experience Insights series to capture views of equality groups where there are data gaps. We will broaden our approach to include the experience of line managers by May 2026.

Source: Equality Outcome 2 – Lived Experience & Participation

Action 36:

By April 2026, we will analyse the findings of the Equal Pay Audit against our Diversity and Inclusion Employer Strategy hot topics to identify any additional layers of disadvantage. We will report on the delivery and impact of this action to the Diversity and Inclusion Governance Group and to the Executive Team via the Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard.

Source: Equality Outcome 3 – Equality & Other Relevant Impact Assessments