Information regarding NHS Scotland Pride Badge: FOI release

Information requested

Information related to the NHS Scotland Pride Badge initiative:

• Minutes/notes of meetings between NHS Scotland and Stonewall Scotland, and other bodies, covering all aspects of the design and implementation of the campaign, including what the aims are, how they were decided on and how success will be measured and when.
• An answer to whether the ‘central monitoring system’ collects the contact details of staff who have/have not signed the NHS Scotland Pride Badge pledge.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance exemptions under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA apply to some of the information requested. This includes personal data such as names of third party individuals. Disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.

This exemption is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

To clarify, The NHS Scotland Pride Badge is an initiative developed in partnership between the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland. It is not a Stonewall Scotland initiative. A Short Life Working Group (SLWG), consisting of stakeholders from NHS Boards and staff side, was established in early 2020, following a request from the NHS boards, to develop a new badge that was to be worn by colleagues across the national healthcare system to showcase their commitment to diversity and inclusion as well as determination to challenge inappropriate behaviours.

Stonewall Scotland were not directly involved with any of the sub-groups in charge of developing and implementing the Pride Badge documentation and communications. Stonewall Scotland were only consulted and engaged through the SLWG meetings, as such, all information on their involvement in the initiative can be found in the attached minutes. We continue to work with a wide range of third sector organisations, including Stonewall Scotland, to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience can help to shape policy and practice to improve outcomes for LGBTI communities across Scotland. Stonewall Scotland are a valued partner in our commitment to maintaining and advancing LGBTI rights and equality in Health Workforce.

Once the SLWG was formed in early 2020, the work was temporarily paused due to the pressures of the covid-19 pandemic. However, in November 2020 the SLWG was reconvened and the initiative was restarted. 

From November 2020 – June 2021 the SLWG had seven meetings that were minuted. These minutes cover the design and implementation of the campaign, the aims of the campaign, and how success will be measured. A copy of these minutes, as well as the minutes from the Documentation/Toolkit Sub-Group meeting from 29/04/2021, have been attached as per your request.

Additional, conversations took place with external stakeholders throughout this period, however they were not minuted. These included:

• Sub-groups: Two sub-groups were established from the wider SLWG. One group was responsible for the documentation/toolkit that supports the Pride Badge roll out, whereas, the other sub group led on the communication/design work associated with the initiative. While only one of these sub-group meetings were minuted, you will find summaries of the work these groups carried out in the SLWG minutes.
• National Education Scotland (NES), who completed all the design work for the NHS Scotland Pride Badge except the video. NES consulted the SLWG throughout the process to make sure it was aligned with the vision of the SLWG.
• The 2D Workshop made the NHS Scotland Pride Badge video. Again, all of their design work was agreed by members of the SLWG to ensure it aligned with their vision.

In relation to your question about a ‘central monitoring system’ collecting the contact details of staff, I can confirm that Scottish Government have only asked individual Health Boards to collect the number of staff who sign up to the initiative so that we can measure the success and impact of this initiative.

To conclude, The NHS Scotland Pride Badge showcases our commitment to foster an environment that is open, tolerant and inclusive for all. Staff and patients alike should be free to be their true selves, safe in the knowledge that they will be listened to and not judged. The initiative was developed by an NHS staff working group and has been presented to NHS Leadership and partnership boards who showed overwhelming support.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI - 202100213291 - Information Released

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23 page PDF

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1.2 MB