Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming: Governance Framework
Sets out the Scottish Government’s approach to delivery of the Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Action Plan and how we will ensure senior-level ownership and visible leadership.
Background
In December 2025 we published our Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Strategy, setting a clear vision for how we intend to embed equality and human rights across everything we do as a Government. The Strategy is structured around six key drivers that help us to make lasting change in how we develop policy, deliver services and allocate resources.
To support the Strategy, we published an Equality and Human Rights Mainstreaming Action Plan, which includes 61 actions outlining the practical steps we are taking to embed equality and human rights across our systems and processes. The Action Plan focuses on Scottish Government actions so we can lead by example and demonstrate how a systematic approach to mainstreaming can drive change across Government and society.
The first action within the plan states:
“We will establish a governance framework to underpin the delivery of the Mainstreaming Action Plan. This framework will be published in Summer 2026, ensuring senior-level ownership and visible leadership. By embedding accountability at the highest levels, we will drive sustained momentum and ensure that the Action Plan remains a priority throughout its delivery.”