Human Rights Capability Building Working Group minutes: November 2025

Attendees and apologies

Members and Deputies

• Black Ethnic Minority Infrastructure in Scotland (BEMIS)
• Care Inspectorate (CI)
• Equality Network
• Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE)
• Improvement Service
• NHS Education for Scotland (NES)
• Scottish Council Equality Network
• Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC)
• Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
• Third Sector Human Rights and Equalities (THRE)
• University of Edinburgh (UoE)
• University of Glasgow (UoG)

Scottish Government

• Deputy Director, Human Rights Division
• Officials from the Human Rights Division
• Officials from the Mainstreaming and Inclusion Division
• Scottish Government Legal Department

Apologies

• Amnesty International
• Audit Scotland
• COSLA
• Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS)
• Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS)
• NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Poverty Alliance
• Public Health Scotland
• Society of Local Authority Lawyers and Administrators in Scotland (SOLAR)
• Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights)
• University of Strathclyde
• Who Cares? Scotland

Items and actions

Welcome

The Chair welcomed attendees and noted apologies. The meeting objectives were outlined including:

• to provide an opportunity for the group to hear about the work being taken forward on Mainstreaming and give members the chance to ask questions

• to provide an update on and discuss capability building work in the public sector

• to provide an update on and discuss human rights capability building work with the third sector

The next meeting of the group is likely to be March next year and the Chair welcomed open communication between meetings for any questions or suggestions on the capability building projects.

Update from Mainstreaming

Scottish Government Officials in the Mainstreaming Division gave a presentation on the suite of resources (Strategy, Action plan and Toolkit) to be published early December. The Strategy provides a framework for embedding equality and human rights across the Scottish Government and the public sector. The Toolkit features include a self-assessment tool, resource library, and accessibility options with an aim to meet users equality and human rights needs, whatever level they start at. Members welcomed the resource and discussed links to inclusive communications and governance. The ALLIANCE highlighted Scottish Government’s work on the long-term conditions framework and suggested links should be made between this work and the Mainstreaming work. NHS Education for Scotland (NES) commented that the self-assessment tool could be adapted for use by the NHS non-executive board members.

Update on Third Sector Capability Building

Scottish Government officials gave an update on progress made since the August Capability Building Working Gorup meeting. This includes plans for a session at The Gathering on 10 February with an exhibition stand to complement the session, a survey to be facilitated by Inspiring Scotland in January, a roundtable in March to discuss the draft findings from the survey then a final report following the roundtable. Officials highlighted recent engagement with Third Sector Interfaces and welcomed any further connections to networks that members can suggest. Comments focused on reaching less-engaged groups beyond the Equality & Human Rights Fund organisations as well as the need to ensure survey inclusivity and to engage across SG policy areas on their links with third sector stakeholders and indirectly engage with wider areas of the third sector. Officials noted that the Minister’s attendance at The Gathering will be subject to parliamentary business.

Update from Improvement Service and NHS Education for Scotland (NES)

NES outlined their project to build the health and social care workforce capability on human rights. The focus is on raising awareness, identifying learning needs, and embedding human rights principles into practice, particularly those outlined in international treaties and Scotland’s proposed Human Rights Bill. Progress has been made in building connections across NHS boards, partnerships, third sector organisations, and academia, alongside trial learning sessions and needs assessments. Themes include strong alignment with care values and the need for practical tools.

The ALLIANCE praised progress and highlighted resources developed with Public Health Scotland, including a rights-based decision-making flowchart and mapping exercises. NES stressed the need to build foundational knowledge alongside practical tools, noting that capability-building and decision-making frameworks should complement each other.

The Improvement Service highlighted efforts on embedding human rights within local authority practice through extensive engagement at officer, chief executive, and elected member levels, with plans for practical resources and addressing implementation gaps. Over 20 councils are now actively involved, with discussions on considering human rights in practical implementation tools, such as impact assessments and mainstreaming reports. The Improvement Service reported a strong appetite for collaboration but noted challenges including limited capacity and the complexity of concepts. Planned work includes producing practical guides, case studies, and standardised approaches for monitoring and reporting. Members signposted to good practice examples of embedding rights into existing processes like procurement, referencing a peer research project the ALLIANCE completed with employability services in Fife.

Members called on the Scottish Government to consider the extension of the capability building project and work being undertaken by both the Improvement Service and NES beyond March 2026 and highlighted that there is a strong demand for continued support among the Scottish Council Equality Network.

Any Other Business

The next meeting is scheduled for March 2026 to consolidate learning and consider longer-term implementation priorities. Members were reminded of the Oversight Board meeting on 2 December.