Equality duty: mainstreaming report 2023-2025

Our Spotlight Mainstreaming Achievements

The case studies below represent a small element of the work we have undertaken to embed equality and human rights across the Scottish Government’s work.

Diversity and Inclusion Employer Strategy for the Scottish Government

The Diversity and Inclusion Employer Strategy was developed to systematically embed equality and human rights within our workforce. By addressing disparities in employee experience through a data-driven, co-production approach, this strategy moves beyond traditional diversity initiatives to mainstream equality as a core element of organisational design and business planning. It consolidates previous disability, race, and socio-economic diversity action plans into a single, impactful strategy, ensuring a more cohesive and intersectional approach to inclusion.

The strategy identified 14 key points in the employee journey where equality groups faced disadvantages, prompting the adoption of a multi-strand and intersectional approach. It introduced gamechanger themes, lead measures, and priority actions to drive meaningful change. Key elements included launching an Employee Experience Insights Series to enhance qualitative data collection, embedding change goals with associated key performance indicators and establishing a robust governance framework.

Aim 1: Ensure an inclusive and representative workforce by addressing workplace inequalities.

Aim 2: Move from single-group plans to a unified strategy that delivers measurable impact across equality groups.

Aim 3: Enhance data-driven decision-making through qualitative and quantitative workforce insights.

Aim 4: Embed intersectionality and lived experiences to create holistic solutions to tackle areas of poorer employee experience.

Aim 5: Develop a governance framework to ensure accountability and sustained impact.

The launch of the strategy generated significant engagement, with over 7,000 views of internal communications and 700 staff attending launch events. With positive feedback from diversity staff networks on being proactively involved and engaged throughout. These numbers indicate high levels of interest and awareness across the organisation. The focus on co-production led to the creation of 30 comprehensive data packs, combining qualitative and quantitative insights. These data packs have already been utilised by different teams within Scottish Government, demonstrating their value in informing policy and practice. This aligns with mainstreaming equality by embedding data-driven decision-making that is informed by lived experiences of diverse groups.

The Mutual Mentoring Programme saw a record 200 partnerships. This programme strengthens connections between senior leaders and staff from underrepresented backgrounds, fostering greater understanding and allyship. With 97% of 2023-24 programme participants who responded agreeing it helps them to consider their inclusive leadership practices. It ensures that diverse voices are directly influencing leadership perspectives, a key aspect of mainstreaming human rights and equality in workforce policies.

The co-production model established during the strategy’s development has been adopted by other policy areas. This demonstrates how mainstreaming equality extends beyond traditional diversity initiatives, embedding inclusive practices in core operational policies.

80% of core Scottish Government respondents in the 2024 Civil Service People Survey agreed that the Scottish Government is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, which is 2 percentage points higher than the UK Civil Service benchmark. This illustrates the Scottish Government’s commitment to workplace equality, ensuring human rights principles are actively promoted across workforce engagement efforts.

The introduction of a new Diversity and Inclusion Governance Group, chaired by the Director General Corporate, ensures sustained oversight and accountability. The group includes representatives from diversity staff networks and trade unions, ensuring that a broad spectrum of voices contribute to decision-making. This governance approach mainstreams equality by embedding diverse representation at the highest levels of decision-making, ensuring ongoing scrutiny and improvement.

The Employee Experience Insights Series provided a platform for 122 staff members to share a broad range of qualitative insights. This initiative has enhanced understanding of lived experiences and informed targeted interventions to improve workplace inclusivity. By systematically collecting and analysing employee insights, Scottish Government ensures equality and human rights considerations inform continuous improvements in workplace policies and practices. Eighty-eight diversity staff members co-produced lead measures for the strategy, directly linking the qualitative insights into strategy action plus upskilling all on data driven approaches. This knowledge-building supports mainstreaming equality by equipping employees with the tools to apply evidence-based equality-focused approaches across different organisational functions. Awareness of and engagement with diversity and inclusion initiatives has increased across the organisation. As an example, Employee Passport sessions for staff networks increased post-launch, with 11 sessions for staff diversity networks supporting tailored adjustments for diverse employee needs. This demonstrates mainstreaming in action by ensuring workplace policies accommodate different employee experiences, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

The Diversity and Inclusion Governance Group provides oversight, ensuring strategy implementation and impact assessment. This oversight mechanism helps embed accountability and continuous learning, reinforcing mainstreaming principles by making equality and human rights a permanent and evolving feature of the Scottish Government’s workforce strategy.

The development and implementation of this strategy has reinforced the importance of co-production, intersectionality, and data-driven approaches in mainstreaming equality. By integrating these elements, the strategy moves beyond compliance to proactive and systemic embedding of equality and human rights across Scottish Government operations.

Faith and Belief Engagement Strategy

In March 2023, the Scottish Government published the Faith and Belief Engagement Strategy with the key purpose to strengthen communication, engagement and collaboration between Scottish Government and Scotland’s diverse faith and belief communities.

This supports all three needs of the general equality duty and especially supports fostering good relations.

The strategy was developed in collaboration with the Faith and Belief Representatives Group, established during the pandemic, for stakeholders and officials to have regular and constructive engagement between faith and belief communities and government, and to build relationships based on trust and respect.

Whilst this work has a direct impact on the people of Scotland based on the protected characteristic of religion and belief, the impacts go beyond this due to the compounding nature of protected characteristics. This work is wide reaching across communities, with positive impacts on people across multiple intersecting characteristics, including age, sex and race.

The strategy sets out our vision that Scotland is a peaceful, resilient and inclusive society for people of all faiths, religious identities and spiritual beliefs:

• where regular and constructive engagement takes place between faith and belief communities;
• where government recognises and includes the diversity of Scotland’s faith and belief communities in policy development;
• where there is space for respectful discussion about beliefs and the essential right of every person to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is upheld; and
• where faith and belief communities are active partners with Scottish Government in meeting emerging societal challenges and working together for the common good.

The strategy focuses on six aims and outcomes and has an External Engagement Plan for Scottish Government to take forward working in partnership with faith and belief stakeholders. The principles which underpin engagement with faith and belief communities include recognising diversity; effective communication; encouraging collaboration and understanding representation.

The strategy’s six aims and outcomes are:

Aim 1: Gain a more accurate picture of faith and belief across Scotland.

Aim 2: Develop improved external engagement with faith and belief groups.

Aim 3: Develop internal engagement on faith and belief in Scottish Government.

Aim 4: Review funding for faith and belief groups.

Aim 5: Develop its interfaith and multi-faith approach to community cohesion.

Aim 6: Improve the EQIA process in assessing impacts for faith and belief communities in Scotland.

Protecting human rights and freedom of religion, the elimination of religious discrimination and the fostering good relations and inclusion is at the centre of this important work. Scottish Government has demonstrated significant progress and impact in this area where the diversity of Scotland’s faith and belief communities is recognised and included in policy development; there is space for respectful discussion about beliefs and the essential right of every person to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is upheld; faith and belief communities are active partners with Scottish Government in meeting emerging societal challenges and working together for the common good.

The strategy is crucial in fostering good relations between, and in, faith and belief communities to provide a peaceful, resilient and inclusive society for people of all faiths, religious identities and spiritual beliefs where everyone feels understood, respected and safe in these increasingly polarised times. It has already demonstrated significant progress in strengthening communication, engagement and collaboration between the Scottish Government and Scotland’s diverse faith and belief communities.

In the aftermath of the attack on 7th October 2023 in Israel, through the trusted relationships built with faith and belief communities, officials were quickly able to bring faith leaders together, who produced and published a statement of solidarity along with the Former First Minister, to reassure communities across Scotland. Further engagement to reinforce community cohesion and reduce tensions took place throughout 2024, when tensions were rising due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and specifically in the summer period when there were riots and disorder in other parts of the UK.

The First Minister and other Ministers carried out 26 engagements directly with faith and belief communities, and many directly related to those tensions, providing reassurance and listening to concerns. These were possible, often at short notice, due to the strong relationships built through the engagement strategy and mainstreaming across Scottish Government.

The inaugural Faith and Belief Conference in October 2024 brought together nearly 100 faith and belief leaders, stakeholders, Scottish Government officials and Ministers to focus on ‘Faith, belief and community cohesion: building a peaceful and inclusive Scotland’. The conference was addressed by the First Minister and Minister for Equalities. The event was built and designed in conjunction with faith and belief representatives.

A review of attendees showed that 78% rated the experience of the conference as either 4 out of 5 or 5 out of 5. 91% rated the event as either meeting or exceeding their expectations. When asked for the most important aspect, 50% responded that the opportunity to meet and speak with other faiths/beliefs and to network was most important. Further feedback has shown a desire for a similar conference to take place annually, due to the benefits of bringing people together.

"You can rest assured this programme was a major success! Thank you for listening to our working group and implementing many of our suggestions and for all of your hard work that meant so much to so many within very short planning time frame. Thanks to all of you, the faith and belief community is now much stronger and more cohesive today and for a long time to come.” – Attendee, Faith and Belief Conference

"We’d like to extend our thanks to you for the effort and meticulous planning that went into making the event so compelling. Delighted to have collaborated on this with yourselves from the outset…We are committing to helping prove the practical impact nurturing faith and interfaith relations has on society. We look forward to future collaborations and to supporting the important work you lead.” – Attendee, Faith and Belief Conference

Scottish Government continues to fund a number of Interfaith organisations to deliver projects building community cohesion and enhancing interfaith dialogue. These have included Interfaith Glasgow and Interfaith Scotland running a series of six ‘Courageous Conversations’ which brought together Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders to discuss their efforts to strengthen community relations and tackle Islamophobia and antisemitism.

Each session was attended by around 16 participants from interfaith organisations and invited supporters, due to the very sensitive nature of the discussions. An evaluation of the overall project is being completed. Edinburgh Interfaith Association continue to run Faith Roadshows, where faith and belief representatives go into Primary Schools to discuss their faiths and traditions with pupils, in a relaxed atmosphere. Over 2,000 pupils have participated over 35+ sessions. This has included participation by Police Scotland in relation to tackling hate crimes. Feedback has shown that 95% of pupils enjoyed the inputs. 55% of pupils said it was their first time speaking to people from the religions visiting their school. 95% of pupils said they learnt something new about faith and belief.

There is now regular early engagement between faith and belief communities and policy colleagues, on a wide variety of areas under development. Whereas early engagement was through faith and belief officials acting as a conduit, mainstreaming has now resulted in increasing direct engagement. Areas such as Abortion policy, Ending Conversion Practices and RME/Religious Observance in schools have all recently engaged directly with faith and belief communities, based on increased knowledge and strengthened relationships.

Feedback from faith and belief communities recognises the value of engaging in policy development and appreciates having a clear contact point within the government. They welcome involvement in policy discussions and early knowledge of developing policies and sensitive issues which informs internal discussions.

Implementing the Scottish Government Faith and Belief Engagement Strategy has increased the collaboration and engagement between Scottish Government and faith and belief communities. It operates through direct engagement, and building relationships, leading to enhanced trust and ability to reflect the needs and concerns of those communities when developing policy and reacting to emerging issues and crises.

Drugs Policy

Women affected by drug or alcohol use present unique, sex-related concerns that are often not addressed by services which were designed to support men and therefore may disadvantage women. These concerns are particularly acute for pregnant women and mothers.

The Scottish Government made more than £5.5 million available over this parliamentary term, to support the establishment of two houses run by Aberlour Childcare Trust specifically designed to support women and their children through recovery. The mixed model of abstinence-based and medication-assisted treatment offered at the houses allows women to have a choice around which form of recovery works best for them. Funding for the houses has been administered from the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund (WFWF) since 2022-23.

This work forms part of a package of initiatives which aim to ensure that high quality drug and alcohol services are available and accessible for women at any point in their recovery journey.

A core pillar of our National Mission is to increase access to and the provision of residential rehab. Our vision is that residential rehabilitation is available to everybody who wants it, and for whom it is deemed to be clinically appropriate, at the time that they ask for it and in every part of the country.

As part of this vision, we are investing in family-inclusive and women-specific services, to ensure that women and mothers are not excluded from residential treatment, and that they are given the best chance possible to keep their families together.

One of our overall aims is to increase the number of residential rehabilitation beds in Scotland from an estimated baseline of 425 as reported in 2021 to 650 by March 2026. Investment in the Mother and Child houses, which provide a total of 8 national beds for women going through recovery, is a direct contribution towards this aim.

Through consultation with mothers, staff and key stakeholders, Social Lab’s evaluation of Cowan Grove Recovery House, covering the first year of the house’s operation, outlines a range of outcomes for women:

• Increased parenting capacity
• Improved mental and physical wellbeing
• More awareness of trauma and impact on children
• Improved relationships with professionals and access to services
• Stronger attachment to child.

Each house has capacity for 4 women and their children, meaning both houses combined provide 8 national residential rehabilitation placements. The transformational model offered at the houses allows women to fully engage with their treatment and recovery, without the constant fear of having their children removed from their care.

"There were mums who are really, really good parents, but just struggling with substance use, who were separated from their babies. Because there wasn’t necessarily something like this where they could potentially be kept together.” – Cowan Grove Staff Member

"They’ve totally changed my life; their support is amazing – it’s honestly just a great opportunity. I can’t believe I’m sat here with my baby now.” – Mother

This work is vital in delivering on our priority of developing and upscaling women-specific services, to ensure that everyone struggling with their alcohol or drug use can access the treatment that is right for them.

Aberlour’s Mother and Child Recovery Houses highlight the value of providing trauma-informed support, which empowers women to take ownership of their recovery, and provides opportunities for families to stay together for as long as possible. This case study is a clear, small-scale example of delivering on The Promise, and mainstreaming equality in practice.

Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) Online

The Scottish Government’s review of the Disability Related Student Support in Further Education and Higher Education reported its findings and recommendations in 2022. The findings covered a wide range of areas but throughout there was a clear message from across the sector that the processes by which service users apply for Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) ought to be transformed to make it a more straightforward, supported service for a group or users who are potentially at risk of experiencing poverty.

Since then, the DSA Online project has developed a digital service to streamline the application process for eligible disabled students applying for DSA. The move from a paper-based process to a digital service has been designed to improve the funding experience for disabled students and make it more accessible and inclusive. The new system enables students to access features such as screen reader compatibility, adjustable text sizes, and voice-to-text options.

This aims to reduce barriers for individuals with mobility impairments, as they will be able to approve the submission online, and allow those with visual or cognitive disabilities to navigate the application process more independently with assistive technologies.

The provision of an online service should make our DSA students’ experience more consistent and coherent, removing the need for offline elements. It supports our aim to build trust with DSA students, Advisors, and Assessors by providing an application process that is easy to use, fast, and efficient. By embedding an inclusive and accessible approach across the system, this ensures that all service users, regardless of their needs or circumstances, can engage with the process, reducing barriers and promoting a more seamless and supportive experience.

DSA Online serves our vision for a Scotland where disabled people should have freedom, dignity, choice and control over their lives, through these three aims:

Aim 1: People with lived experience of inequality and exclusion are involved in informing and co-designing policy and practice that affects them, and their voices are better reflected in public policy across Scotland.

Aim 2: Inclusive communication is embedded in the approaches of public bodies, with an increased proportion of people in Scotland reporting that their communications needs are being met when accessing public services.

Aim 3: We offer an intuitive service that helps remove barriers which stop disabled students from enjoying equal access to higher education.

The DSA Online service was launched in October 2024 and it involves processing new DSA applications from full-time undergraduate students from three Scottish Universities. To date, SAAS has received over 153 applications for DSA funding through the online platform which have been processed without any recorded delays. We have already seen significant progress in streamlining and facilitating the DSA application process. What follows gives examples of direct impact.

The DSA Online project brought together 63 external users to inform the process as set out in the Digital Design Service Scotland. Disability Advisors were engaged through a mix of focus groups, interviews, and usability testing, and students with lived experience were engaged through interviews and usability testing. The focus of the sessions was on accessibility and service requirements and needs.

The feedback from users was incorporated at different phases to design a user-centred online service that meets the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.

In October 2024, an end-to-end accessibility review of the DSA Online service identified no material accessibility issues for the new online service.

In November 2024, a triage process was put in place to prioritise issues raised by end users, aiming for resolution within 2 business days.

In January 2025 feedback from a case worker workshop indicated that despite there being provision for telephony support of DSA Online users, there has been no uptake, and both students and disability advisors report an intuitive service. In addition, e-mail interaction of DSA applicants with SAAS has decreased from 50% to 10% as online applicants only need to interact with the student advisors, reducing stress and uncertainty for disabled students.

By March 2025, the DSA Online project aspires to deliver reduced processing times by over 25% for DSA applications submitted through the online portal. Delays due to incomplete applications or errors are expected to be reduced to zero for online applicants.

Research is ongoing and will continue as the system is rolled out more widely. This feedback will guide the next phases of development and will provide increased and improved functionality bringing in new user groups that can benefit from the service.

Quotes from disabled students / lived experience users who tested the service between November 2023 and October 2024:

"Feels very intuitive … I think it would be clear for someone doing it for the first time.”

"It is very accessible, easy to read and laid out.”

"It’s a pretty straightforward process. In reality, I would take more time.”

"It’s user-friendly and straightforward.”

"It looks much clearer than it is on paper.”

DSA Online highlights the importance of collaboration and inclusivity in mainstreaming equality and human rights. Its success stems from:

• Working closely with organisations and individuals with experience in the disability space for an aligned approach that meets the end users’ needs.
• Placing disabled students at the centre of decision-making and system development.
• Gathering and analysing data to inform evidence-based improvements.

Non-Binary Equality Action Plan

The Scottish Government’s Non-Binary Equality Action Plan 2023-2028 (the “Plan”) was published in November 2023 and is the first of its kind in the UK. It was developed in collaboration with LGBTQI+ equality organisations and non-binary people and was based on the recommendations of the Working Group on Non-Binary Equality.

The Plan sets out a range of actions to improve the lives of non-binary people and the wider trans community in Scotland by taking steps to address inequality and barriers that they face in their everyday lives. Whilst having a direct impact on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, this work also has positive impact on other intersecting characteristics. For example, trans and non-binary people are more likely to be younger, and have a disability.

A progress report was published in December 2024 marking the first year of this five-year plan. It summarised the achievements of the first year and also outlined next steps for 2025.

The Plan sets out our vision for Scotland to be a place where everyone’s identity is recognised, respected and celebrated. It should be a place where everybody can participate, access rights and opportunities and thrive in society.

The Plan works towards four national outcomes on Human Rights, Communities, Health and Children and Young People and six objectives for each theme.

• Participation in Decision-Making: Non-binary people feel more empowered and able to participate in decision-making regardless of their socio-economic background.
• Healthcare: non-binary people are increasingly able to access high-quality, person-centred healthcare they need, at a place and time that is appropriate for them.
• Legislation, Guidance, Access to Services and IT Systems: The development of legislation, guidance and policy takes into account the non-binary community and removes barriers to non-binary people accessing services.
• Data and Research: More robust and comprehensive data and evidence will be gathered on the characteristics and experiences of non-binary people in Scotland.
• Children and Young People: Schools and support services have more inclusive processes and practices that take into account the needs of non-binary children and young people.
• Sport: non-binary people increasingly feel able to take part in sport.

The 51 actions in the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan are a shared responsibility across the Scottish Government, public and third sectors.

So far 16 commitments and actions have been completed and 32 are in progress. Some of the key successes from year one are:

Publication of the Evidence Review on Non-Binary People’s Experiences in Scotland. which presented qualitative and quantitative evidence that can be used to develop evidence-based inclusive policies to improve the lives of non-binary people in Scotland. Existing evidence suggests that non-binary people face discrimination in multiple sectors of society such as education, health, communities, work, benefits and issues around homelessness. The Review also found that many non-binary people report disabilities and mental ill health, which demonstrates the need for greater intersectional approaches to policies and services. The Review also identified areas where limited data was found and that would benefit from further research, including experiences of services in which a gender binary is assumed, such as reproductive health and gender-based violence.

High level data from Scotland’s Census 2022 has been published, which includes information on the number of non-binary and trans people in Scotland for the first time. It found that 19,990 people in Scotland were trans or had a trans history. This is 0.44% of people aged 16 and over. Almost half (45.2%) of trans people identify as ‘non-binary’. This is 9,030 people in total. This data will help us, charities and other service providers to understand more about the needs of non-binary and trans people and consider how we can make changes to improve their lives.

Equality Impact Assessment Guidance and Training has been updated to explicitly reference non-binary people.

Additional training has been developed for healthcare providers including a Transgender Knowledge and Skills Framework and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training.

Guidance and a process for paying participant expenses and compensating participants for their time has been published.

Significant progress has also been made towards several pieces of guidance, including that on fertility preservation and changing your name in Scotland.

"It is really positive to see this Action Plan published, and to see that the Scottish Government has made public, concrete and measurable commitments to changes that will make non-binary people’s lives better.” – Vic Valentine, Manager of Scottish Trans

"This is an amazing piece of work that will change the lives of so many trans and non-binary people. I cannot express how proud I am of our community for getting this far and I hope that all parties involved take on the work laid out in the framework and then a bit more.” – Member of Scottish Trans Rights Youth Commission

The Non-Binary Equality Action Plan shows the importance of working collaboratively and mainstreaming equality and human rights across the public and third sector.

Working closely with LGBTQI+ equality organisations and former working group members has been intrinsic to the success of the Plan so far. It was especially important to work closely with those who have lived experience to ensure the policies and actions fully reflect the lives of non-binary and trans people in Scotland.

Equally Safe Strategy

Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls (VAWG), is co-owned by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). In 2023, the strategy and the development of the accompanying delivery plan was refreshed. Both were developed collaboratively with colleagues across the Scottish Government, COSLA, Improvement Service, and Public Health Scotland, informed by the lived experience of victims and the expertise of professionals.

A collaborative approach was vital, recognising that all spheres of government and all sectors of society have a role to play. We recognised that to drive meaningful change, VAWG must not be siloed. While specialist organisations remain crucial in supporting victims, the refreshed Equally Safe strategy underscores that addressing VAWG requires collective action across government and society.

The refresh allowed adaptation to evolving social and legislative landscapes while preserving the strategy’s core aims and objectives.

Aim 1: Strengthen and expand the Equally Safe strategy as a collective approach to tackling VAWG.

Aim 2: Embed primary prevention through a public health approach.

Aim 3: Enhance governance to ensure Equally Safe remains a cross-cutting policy priority.

It ensures that issues such as the digital world, diverse identities and experiences of women and girls, and children’s rights are central to the approach. Girls face specific barriers in realising their rights, and the strategy keeps them visible while also strengthening Equally Safe’s governance as a mainstreamed policy approach.

The Equally Safe delivery plan translates this commitment into action, outlining 14 key deliverables and 57 associated actions. These commitments, spanning local and national levels and involving public and third-sector partners, will guide efforts from summer 2024 to spring 2026. The plan focuses on preventing violence, building the capacity of support services, and strengthening the justice response for victims and perpetrators.

Monitoring of progress is well underway, with the first bi-annual update covering August 2024 to February 2025. This process involved engaging delivery partners for updates on actions, challenges faced, and future plans. A RAG (Red-Amber-Green) rating system provides a clear progress overview and identifies areas needing additional support. Future monitoring aims to be automated for efficiency, incorporating lessons learned from partners to improve evaluation.

A comprehensive engagement programme shaped the strategy and delivery plan. This began in 2022 during the 16 Days of Activism with a high-level summit and continued with targeted workshops involving over 120 stakeholders from sectors including Education and Justice. Engagement in 2023 included a Ministerial roundtable on prevention and workshops with specialist groups such as the GBV and Learning Disability Group and the Addressing Violence Against Minority Ethnic Women and Girls Network.

Key themes emerged from this process, including the need to maintain a strong focus on prevention, better reflect the needs of BME women, and address technology-enabled VAWG. Stakeholders and Scottish Government colleagues also reviewed draft documents to ensure clarity and accuracy.

To maximise accessibility, the Equally Safe strategy and delivery plan have been translated into multiple community languages, British Sign Language (BSL), and easy-read formats. These were developed in partnership with specialist third-sector organisations to ensure inclusivity.

To embed a whole-government approach, the Equality Team and Justice Unit established a VAWG Policy Forum. This quarterly forum, with around 100 members, facilitates cross-portfolio collaboration and shared learning. A dedicated Teams channel enables ongoing engagement between meetings. The forum’s diverse membership spans Education, Health and Social Care, Children and Families, Transport, Ukraine, and Strategy and External Affairs. Meetings feature expert presentations, such as a recent session on the Curriculum Improvement Cycle led by Education colleagues.

Recognising the cross-cutting nature of VAWG, an Equally Safe Ministerial Group has also been established, ensuring high-level oversight of delivery. As of January 2025, its membership includes ministers from health, education, housing, children and young people, employment, and drugs and alcohol. A key policy action from the December 2024 meeting was reinforcing the importance of Scottish Government staff completing the Equally Safe in Practice (ESiP) modules. Following this, the Minister issued a call to action encouraging uptake across government portfolios.

The refreshed Equally Safe strategy and delivery plan mark significant progress in mainstreaming VAWG as a collective responsibility across government and society. Through engagement, collaboration, and strengthened governance, Scotland is taking decisive steps toward eradicating VAWG. The journey continues, with a growing recognition that “VAWG is everyone’s business” – a mainstreamed approach that will drive sustained change.

Volunteer Support Fund

The Volunteer Support Fund is a procured fund that is delivered by Impact Funding Partners on behalf of the Scottish Government. The funding is for local community grass-roots organisations to support and promote volunteering among a variety of groups who experience disadvantage or barriers to volunteering. This includes supporting more volunteers who are Black and Minority Ethnic, disabled or with a long-term health condition. There is excellent evidence of positive impact from the Fund, particularly in relation to equality and diversity.

The VSF has recruited a total of 11,655 volunteers over the 2021-2024 funded period which including 8,223 from targeted priority groups and 3,423 from non-priority groups. The largest priority group consisted of individuals with low incomes. The second largest priority group was people with mental health conditions and third was people from minority ethnic backgrounds. However many volunteers belong to more than one priority group reflecting their intersectional experiences and identities.

The Fund plays a crucial role in mainstreaming equality and human rights across Scotland’s volunteer sector by ensuring that volunteering is accessible, inclusive, and representative of diverse communities. By supporting grassroots organisations, the Fund promotes equal opportunities and actively works to remove structural and societal barriers that often prevent participation. The Fund encourages organisations to embed inclusive policies, develop targeted outreach strategies, and adopt an intersectional approach to recruitment and volunteer management. This ensures that individuals who are marginalised, including those from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, disabled people, and those with long-term health conditions, are supported and empowered to contribute meaningfully. Furthermore, by fostering an environment where diverse volunteers and organisations can thrive, the Fund advances a rights-based approach to volunteering, aligning with Scotland’s broader commitments to equality, diversity, and human rights.

Many of the volunteers recruited and involved face intersectional disadvantages and other barriers that may make it harder for them to volunteer. Supported volunteering opportunities and the recruitment of a mix of key priority group volunteers and others that generally don’t face disadvantages has helped to increase diversity, skills, opportunity and experience within Scotland’s volunteering pool.

The Fund has helped to improve governance, leadership and financial knowledge of organisations through the recruitment of skilled volunteers to enhance the third sector’s capacity.

Additionally, the Volunteering Support Fund has helped organisations support people and communities through volunteering, making an impact on both society and to volunteers themselves. Benefits include reduced loneliness and social isolation, improved health and wellbeing as well as provision of support and care for others.

Four Pillars has strengthened its governance by prioritising continuous feedback, transparency, and inclusivity. Clearer volunteer roles, improved policies, and a more structured framework have enhanced engagement and accountability, creating a more positive volunteer experience.

Euan’s Guide is increasing volunteer diversity through its ‘Map the Gaps Volunteers’ project, which addresses accessibility issues across Scotland. Volunteer K actively encourages more disabled people to get involved, highlighting Euan’s Guide as a supportive and understanding community.

A Home-Start Renfrewshire and Inverclyde volunteer described their experience as life-changing, not only for the families they supported but also for fellow volunteers. They emphasised the inclusive and inspiring environment where people from all backgrounds come together to make a meaningful difference.

Positive Changes Scotland has seen a breakthrough in volunteer engagement, with five women with lived experience of the criminal justice system, joining as mentors—the first in the organisation’s history. Their training has not only equipped them to support others but has also boosted their confidence and sense of purpose.

Options in Life has empowered young adults with learning disabilities through volunteering, helping them build confidence, develop skills, and work as a team. Their involvement in projects such as Pilgrim Care and Fife Ecology Centre has fostered independence, self-esteem, and a sense of belonging.

Speech Language Communication Company has witnessed the transformative power of volunteering, exemplified by H, a Syrian refugee. Initially hesitant, she gradually took on an active role in a children’s story club, boosting her confidence and enriching the group with her cultural perspective.

Active Life Club continues to support volunteers in gaining college and university admissions, with hands-on experience strengthening CVs and developing leadership and teamwork skills. Volunteers have also built lasting friendships and support networks, enhancing their sense of belonging.

The Living Memory Association has deepened connections with the Ukrainian refugee community, with three Ukrainian women volunteering at the Kids Club. The organisation also supported an artist in holding his first exhibition, which he described as life-changing for his mental health. Another volunteer, a carer for her husband with dementia, has found purpose through giving back. The Volunteer Support Fund has been instrumental in fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment.

Positive Help is committed to increasing volunteer diversity and accessibility. J, an LGBT+ volunteer with a long-term health condition, has found a meaningful role in the Supportive Transport service, with the organisation accommodating their caring responsibilities. Positive Help also supports career development, with one volunteer now pursuing a PGDE in English Teaching and another gaining experience towards becoming a foster carer.

Education Scotland

Education Scotland is committed to embedding equality and human rights at the heart of Scotland’s education system. Through a comprehensive approach that integrates professional learning, practitioner networks, and practical resources, we are ensuring that inclusion, wellbeing, and equality are not treated as standalone topics but as fundamental aspects of everyday teaching and leadership. To drive this mainstreaming approach, our strategy focuses on:

• Delivering high-quality professional learning that empowers educators with the knowledge, confidence, and practical skills to create inclusive learning environments.
• Establishing specialised networks that connect educators, leaders, and key stakeholders to share best practice, address challenges, and sustain meaningful change.
• Developing resources, guidance, and case studies that provide tangible examples of effective practice, ensuring that equalities work is embedded into policy and daily teaching.

Through these initiatives, Education Scotland is supporting practitioners to deliver an inclusive curriculum, adopt appropriate teaching approaches, and address inequalities within education settings. Our evaluations demonstrate strong impact: the majority of participants in our professional learning sessions report increased confidence, greater awareness of equality and human rights issues, and a clear commitment to implementing inclusive practices in their schools and organisations. These outcomes contribute directly to creating a more equitable education system that benefits all learners. This will benefit children and young people with many intersecting protected characteristics.

A key initiative in mainstreaming equality and human rights is the Education Equalities Policy Guide, developed in partnership with Highland Council, schools, researchers, and specialist third-sector organisations. The guide serves as a national tool to support educational settings in reviewing and developing robust equalities policies that reflect the needs of learners and communities.

Aim 1: to support settings to review or develop an equalities policy.

Aim 2: to ensure that learners drive the policy design process in their education setting and their views and needs are incorporated in the policy.

Launched on 6 December 2024, the guide has already demonstrated significant impact:

• 79 practitioners attended the launch event, with 49 joining the newly formed Education Scotland Equalities Policy Guide Network, fostering long-term collaboration.
• 90% of practitioners who completed evaluations stated they were ‘very likely’ to implement their learning to inform policy and practice.
• 100% of respondents reported increased confidence and knowledge in developing and applying equalities policies.

The feedback from the Equalities Policy Guide launch was very positive. Feedback from practitioners included:

"I love how you’ve removed common barriers to participation to ensure your young people are included.”

"Having worked in equality and diversity for almost 30 years, it is great when you come across resources that provoke thoughts and makes you look at a number of issues in a new light. I also found the resources useful for future presentations I will be doing.”

"Very good to see how this process has been developed and piloted in different contexts. Especially the emphasis on learner participation and also bringing related strands of work (positive relationships, UNCRC etc.) together.”

Learner involvement has been central to this work. In four pilot settings, young people were directly engaged in shaping policies, ensuring that their lived experiences informed systemic change. In two settings, learners were asked why they believed this work was important, and their responses were used in a learner animation to engage other schools in the process. This approach not only fosters ownership among young people but also strengthens the real-world impact of policy development.

Furthermore, case studies from three pilot settings showcase how education institutions have successfully integrated equalities policies, providing a replicable model for other schools and authorities.