Equally Safe Ministerial Group minutes: May 2025

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• Minister for Equalities, Kaukab Stewart MSP (Chair)
• Minister for Employment and Investment, Tom Arthur MSP
• Minister for Victims and Community Safety, Siobhian Brown MSP
• Minister for Higher and Further Education and Veterans, Graeme Dey MSP
• Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto MSP
• Homelessness Unit Head, Janine Kellet (Deputising for Minister for Housing, Paul McLennan MSP)
• Deputy Director Deputy Director for Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice, Brian Taylor (Deputising for Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, Natalie Don-Innes MSP)

Apologies

• Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise, Natalie Don-Innes MSP
• Minister for Housing, Paul McLennan MSP

Items and actions

Item 1 - Welcome

The Minister for Equalities welcomed and thanked the Ministers and officials for attending the third meeting of the Equally Safe Ministerial Group (ESMG). She noted apologies and highlighted membership changes since the previous meeting.

Item 2 - Actions from Previous Meeting

Actions from the last meeting were reviewed.

The Minister for Equalities invited the Permanent Secretary to the meeting to discuss embedding VAWG in early policy making. While he could not attend on this occasion, he has expressed interest in attending a future meeting.

The Minister for Equalities also shared that she had written to all Ministers, encouraging them to promote the VAWG learning modules, Equally Safe in Practice. A note was issued in November as part of the 16 Days of Activism campaign, marking this action as complete.

This meeting was scheduled to align with the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board (ESJSB), and future ESMG meetings will be scheduled similarly where possible.

The Minister for Higher and Further Education and Veterans provided an update on ongoing work to streamline VAWG programmes in Higher Education settings.

The Minister for Equalities provided further details on specialist legal aid, to which the Minister for Victims and Community Safety responded, acknowledging the challenges around legal aid provision.

Finally, the group agreed that the minutes from the November 2024 meeting accurately reflected discussions at that meeting.

Item 3 – Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board Update

The Minister for Equalities provided a brief overview of the key points discussed at the last ESJSB meeting on 6 March 2025. She also highlighted the JSB request that  ESMG’s minutes and Terms of Reference with the ESJSB be shared with the JSB.

Members agreed that sharing ESMG records would support the overall governance arrangements of Equally Safe.

ACTION 1: VAWG Equalities officials to follow up on sharing  the ESMG meeting minutes and terms of reference with JSB. This will mean these are published with the JSB minutes.

Item 4 - Istanbul Baseline Evaluation GREVIO Report Update

Nel Whiting provided an overview of the Istanbul Convention Baseline Evaluation process, including a summary of the recommendations, the timeline for publishing the final report and key areas of the Scottish Government’s response.

Members discussed the draft recommendations, noting key issues for consideration, and suggested that internal work should be undertaken to support implementation by mapping recommendations to relevant portfolio areas.

The group also considered the involvement of the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) and their role in addressing VAWG in education settings.

ACTION 2: VAWG Equalities officials will review how the final Istanbul Baseline Evaluation GREVIO Report’s recommendations impacts upon each ESMG members’ portfolio area.

ACTION 3: VAWG Equalities officials will consider how STUC can be encompassed as part of our wider network of stakeholders working to tackle VAWG in education settings and support the delivery of Equally Safe across a range of portfolio deliverables.

Item 5 - Online Safety Taskforce

The Minister for Victims and Community Safety provided an update on the early activity of the Online Safety Taskforce, noting that initial work has focused on developing a strategic narrative and identifying opportunities for greater cross-government coordination.

The Minister also highlighted the Taskforce’s role in shaping a cohesive approach to preventing online harm to children and young people, including violence against women and girls. While internet regulation is reserved to the UK Government, the taskforce continues to engage constructively with UK Government Ministers as well as working closely with a range of statutory and third-sector stakeholders.

The ESMG discussed the importance of ensuring that the lived experiences and voices of those most affected by online harm, particularly children and young people, remain central to the development and delivery of the Taskforce’s work, and emphasised the need to continue to consider how best to support parents and carers in this context.

Item 6 - Equally Safe Delivery Plan Progress Update

The Minister for Equalities provided an overview of the Equally Safe delivery plan bi-annual progress report, outlining key findings and the red, amber, green (RAG) status assigned to actions. This first progress report offers insight into the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of Equally Safe.

Members acknowledged that some actions could not yet be fully assessed, as the timeline for monitoring some activity does not fully align with the progress timeframe (deliverable 6). However, there may be other strands of work in education settings that could be captured before the end of the academic reporting year.

It was also noted that further updates on some areas of activity, including those relating to action 3.5 (work in the social housing sector to embed gender equality, in preparation for the introduction of a new legal duty to develop and implement a domestic abuse policy), will only be available as work continues.

ACTION 4: VAWG Equalities officials will continue to coordinate with Education policy officials and relevant stakeholders to seek delivery plan updates in education settings.

Item 7 – Summary of Actions

Officials provided a summary of the meetings actions (see table below).

Item 8 - AOB          

The Minister for Equalities requested that members agree on a provisional timescale for the next meeting of the ESMG and emphasised the group’s agreement to aim to align with JSB meeting dates. It was suggested that it would be beneficial to meet near the start of the 2025 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign.

ACTION 5: VAWG policy officials to the arrange the next ESMG meeting to take place near the start of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign (November 2025).

Actions

• VAWG Equalities officials to follow up on sharing  the ESMG meeting minutes and terms of reference with JSB. This will mean these are published with the JSB minutes.
• VAWG Equalities policy officials will review how the final Istanbul Baseline Evaluation GREVIO Report impacts upon each ESMG members’ portfolio area.
• Officials will consider how STUC can be encompassed as part of our wider network of stakeholders working to tackle VAWG in education settings and support the delivery of Equally Safe.
• VAWG Equalities officials will continue to coordinate with Education policy officials to align on reporting timelines.
• VAWG policy officials to the arrange the next ESMG meeting to take place near the start of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign (November 2025).