Equally Safe Ministerial Group Minutes: November 2024

Attendees and apologies

Attendees

• Minister for Equalities, Kaukab Stewart MSP (Chair)
• Minister for Victims and Community Safety, Siobhian Brown MSP
• Minister for Employment and Investment, Tom Arthur MSP
• Minister for Housing, Paul McLennan MSP
• Minister for Higher and Further Education and Veterans, Graeme Dey MSP
• CEO Transport Scotland, Alison Irvine (Deputising for Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop MSP)
• Head of the Chief Medical Officer Policy Division, Grieg Chalmers (Deputising for Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto MSP)
• Deputy Director Deputy Director for Children’s Rights, Protection and Justice, Brian Taylor  (Deputising for Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise, Natalie Don MSP)

Apologies

• Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Fiona Hyslop MSP
• Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, Jenni Minto MSP
• Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise, Natalie Don MSP

Items and actions

Item 1 - Welcome

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

The ESMG’s revised Terms of Reference (ToR) was reviewed and agreed upon.

Item 2 - Actions from Previous Meeting

Actions from the last meeting were reviewed, and Ms. Stewart noted the inclusion of Minister for Employment and Investment, Tom Arthur to the group.

The group agreed to extend an invitation to the next meeting of the ESMG to the Permanent Secretary to discuss how VAWG could be better integrated in Scottish Government policy making. Violence against women and girls (VAWG) being integrated as part of officials’ contributions to Ministerial Submissions was as a changeable way of doing so.  

Ms. Stewart urged all group members to encourage officials to complete the Scottish Government’s VAWG training modules ‘Equally Safe in Practice’. Group members agreed that Ms. Stewart should write to all Ministers, requesting they encourage officials to complete the training.

The group agreed to hold bi-annual meetings, aligning where possible with the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board (ESJSB), ensuring consistency of discussions with ESMG.

Ms. Stewart raised the minutes of the previous meeting and asked if there were any further amendments, that they are sent to the VAWG Equalities team.

ACTION 1: Officials will extend an invitation to the Permanent Secretary to attend the next meeting of the ESMG with a full explanation of purpose to enable the Permanent Secretary to come prepared with a range of options for Ministers to consider.

ACTION 2: Ms. Stewart will issue a note to all Ministers to request that officials across SG complete the VAWG training package to their staff.

Item 3 - Equally Safe Governance

Ms. Stewart stated that the ESMG will play an important role in progressing the commitments of Equally Safe, in particular the deliverables in the ESDP. She asked members to consider opportunities within their portfolio that would link with Equally Safe.

Mr. Dey raised that there is a large amount of pressure on further education institutions to commit to competing actions in relation to VAWG.  A related action within the ESDP to streamline the provision of, and relationship between, existing education programmes was noted.

ACTION 3: Officials to ensure future meetings of ESMG align with ESJSB meetings.

ACTION 4: VAWG Equality Officials to liaise with Mr Dey’s Officials to consider streamlining VAWG related programmes in the Higher Education setting.

Item 4 - Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board (ESJSB) Update

Ms. Stewart updated the group, noting that the ESJSB last convened in September, with the next meeting scheduled for 18 December 2024.

Ms. Stewart shared that the ESJSB’s meetings have been very helpful in advancing the Equally Safe Strategy, serving as a valuable forum for discussion and oversight. No immediate concerns were raised at the recent ESJSB meeting that require attention at this time.

Item 5 - Delivering Equally Safe (DES): Bi-Annual Impact Report: Oct 2023- April 2024

The draft version of the latest DES Impact report was shared with the group. Ms Stewart noted that the report focusses primarily on Children and Young people (CYP).

Ms. Stewart expressed concern about the rising instances of GBV in schools and the issue of school non-attendance. An update was provided on Bairn’s Hoose, emphasising its preventive role in tackling VAWG in educational settings.

A range of points were raised in relation to the findings of the report including the limits of education in preventing GBV when children witness it at home, the role of housing and the ‘Fund to Leave’, the intention to expand Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) beyond forensic support, gender budgeting, and ongoing efforts to integrate equality impact assessments in budget decisions across all portfolios.

Ms. Stewart emphasised the Scottish Government's on-going partnership work with COSLA through the co-ownership of the Equally Safe strategy.

Ms. Brown inquired about the statistics regarding organisations providing specialist legal advice, as noted in the report.

ACTION 5 – Officials to provide Ms. Brown with further detail on DES funded specialist legal aid organisations.

Item 6 - Equally Safe Delivery Plan and Portfolio Deliverables

An overview of the ESDP was noted as this is a delivery plan with actions spanning various Ministerial portfolios. It was also highlighted that it is important to think about the ways in which the 14 deliverables intersect. Ms Stewart asked attendees to note the deliverables.

Ministers and attendees updated on portfolio actions, including the ‘Sextortion’ campaign, support for exiting Commercial Sexual Exploitation, spiking prevention, Fair Work First guidance, the SARCs awareness campaign, and the Child Exploitation and Sexual Abuse Group. Members also the highlighted that recommendations from the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) will play a key role in shaping portfolio action on the deliverables.

Item 7 - 16 Days Collective Approaches

Ms Stewart provided a brief overview of 16 Days of Activism campaign and informed the group of the calendar of events she will be engaged in.

Ms. Stewart shared that she had contributed Scottish Youth Parliament 'takeover' event on 2 November, which highlighted the important role young people play in challenging VAWG.

Ms. Stewart called upon members to encourage colleagues to attend and engage with the calendar of events.

Item 8 - AOB

No additional items were raised under Any Other Business.

Actions

• Ms. Stewart will extend an invitation to the Permanent Secretary to attend the next meeting of the ESMG and will include a background note outlining the reasons for the invitation.

• Ms. Stewart to write to all ministers across SG to request them to encourage senior officials to promote SG’s VAWG training package to their staff.

• Officials to ensure future meetings of ESMG align with ESJSB meetings as far as practical.

• Officials to liaise with Mr Dey’s Officials to consider streamlining VAWG related programmes in the Higher Education setting.

• Officials to provide Ms. Brown with further detail on specialist legal aid.