Non-binary equality action plan
The actions we will take to improve equality and bring about real, positive and lasting change to the lives of non-binary people in Scotland
Section 6 - 4. Data and Research
Objective
More robust and comprehensive data and evidence will be gathered on the characteristics and experiences of non-binary people in Scotland.
Context
The Scottish Government is aware that there are many costs and challenges to collecting, analysing and reporting equality data and there remain significant gaps in Scotland’s evidence base on non-binary people in Scotland.
We need to improve how we collect data and evidence so that we gather better insights into the experiences of the non-binary population. This will allow us to develop more inclusive evidence-based policies, which will improve service delivery and outcomes for non-binary people in Scotland. This work must be informed by third sector equality organisations and non-binary people, who can help to identify gaps and co-design subsequent research, as required.
Following the conclusion of the Equality Evidence Strategy 2017-2021, the Equality Data Improvement Programme (EDIP) was launched in April 2021 to lay the groundwork for the development of an ambitious cross-professional data improvement plan for the future. The EDIP built on the work being taken forward by individual analytical areas to produce evidence, guidance, best practice and enhanced networks to improve equality data in the short term.
The first phase of the EDIP concluded with the publication of Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy, covering the period March 2023 to December 2025. The strategy includes a refreshed vision and principles and a comprehensive action plan for strengthening the equality evidence base across all ministerial portfolios of the Scottish Government and in National Records of Scotland (NRS). The strategy was developed with stakeholder views and feedback at its heart. In July 2022 we launched a public consultation on a draft improvement plan that sets out key milestones and priorities to filling equality gaps by the end of 2025, which will form the basis of the new strategy, and carried out a series of stakeholder engagement events.
We need to make improvements to when and how services collect data on trans and non-binary people. This includes supporting services to understand when it is appropriate to ask questions on sex and gender and how to do this. This will ensure that public services are not creating barriers to people accessing services and are responding appropriately to the needs of non-binary people.
The Chief Statistician’s guidance on the collection of data on sex, gender identity and trans status was published in September 2021. We will monitor and review this guidance on an ongoing basis. The guidance does, however, provide flexibility for organisations to decide which data to collect depending on their particular circumstances.
Publication of this guidance followed an announcement from the then Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People in 2019 that the Scottish Government would establish a working group on sex and gender in data. The group was led by the Chief Statistician and considered what guidance should be offered to public bodies on the collection and publication of data on sex and gender.
The Chief Statistician consulted widely in the development of the guidance. More than 20 meetings were held with external stakeholders, public facing events were held in early 2020, and around 80 organisations and individuals responded to a public consultation on draft guidance published in December 2020.
During this engagement the Chief Statistician met with representatives from several stakeholder organisations, individually, to hear their views and evidence. This included Scottish Trans, LGBT Youth Scotland, Stonewall Scotland, Engender, Close the Gap and others.
We know that the genderisation of facilities within public buildings can limit the accessibility, useability and safety of such facilities for non-binary people. We will explore how we can make sure that public buildings are accessible for non-binary people, as well as for other marginalised groups. It is important that work to improve this begins with gathering data and evidence on the barriers faced in this area, which will inform our work to review this issue.
We know that non-binary people face specific barriers when accessing crisis and support services but have little data on their specific needs and experiences. We will improve the data collected by crisis services so that we get a better understanding of this.
Commitments
Our commitments reflect the recommendations of the Working Group on Non-Binary Equality. Where we accepted a recommendation, the wording of the commitment relating to that recommendation remains the same. Where we partially accepted a recommendation, our commitment reflects the aspects of the recommendation that we accepted. The numbering of the commitments reflects that of the recommendations. The commitments used to develop this section of the plan are as follows:
Commitment 17
Develop a plan to use the data from the trans status question used in Scottish Government core surveys and the Scottish Census to produce evidence on non-binary people in Scotland that can better inform policymaking, where possible.
Commitment 18
Support specific research and evidence-gathering with non-binary people in the absence of high enough response rates from non-binary people in population-level surveys.
Commitment 20
Produce clear guidance for service providers on the gathering of sex/gender information.
Commitment 23
Review the Chief Statistician’s Sex and Gender in Data Guidance regularly, and ensure better inclusion of trans and non-binary people in the review process.
Commitment 24
Commission expert research on non-binary legal recognition.
Commitment 27
Gather evidence on the specific challenges and barriers trans and non-binary people face when accessing public spaces and the key regulatory levers to address this. Use this data to inform our approach to making buildings useable and accessible for all.
Commitment 31
Improve data collection on sex/gender, sexual orientation and trans status within support and crisis services.
Data and Research
Actions
7.1 Analysts in Scottish Government (SG) and National Records of Scotland (NRS) will work collaboratively to evaluate the emerging data from SG surveys that include the trans status question and develop a draft coding framework that can be used to analyse the outputs from the free text responses collected via the trans status question.
Commitment
17
Timescales
Short Term
Impact
This will improve our understanding of the lives of non-binary and trans people through evidence and research so that we can improve our evidence-based policy making for non-binary and trans people. There is an increasing awareness that taking an intersectional approach to research, policy making and operational decisions is important, as intersectionality can give insight into the experiences of different groups in society, and how particular characteristics can combine to impact on an individual’s experiences.
Partners
National Records of Scotland
Actions
7.2 NRS to publish outputs on the trans status or history question from the 2022 Scotland’s Census. This will include publishing an analytical report. This report will include more detailed analysis on this topic which may not be possible through the Flexible Table Builder due to Statistical Disclosure Control.
Commitment
17
Timescales
Short Term
Impact
This will improve our understanding of the lives of non-binary and trans people through evidence and research so that we can improve our evidence-based policy making for non-binary and trans people. There is an increasing awareness that taking an intersectional approach to research, policy making and operational decisions is important, as intersectionality can give insight into the experiences of different groups in society, and how particular characteristics can combine to impact on an individual’s experiences.
Partners
National Records of Scotland
Actions
7.3 The Office of the Chief Statistician (OCS) will promote the framework across teams that collect data using the trans status question to ensure a consistent approach to analysis and reporting.
Commitment
17
Timescales
Short Term
Actions
7.4 OCS and NRS will monitor the use and effectiveness of the framework and the value of associated outputs.
Commitment
17
Timescales
Long Term
Actions
7.5 We will carry out and publish a review of available quantitative and qualitative evidence on the experiences of non-binary people in Scotland.
Commitment
18
Timescales
Short Term
Impact
This will improve our understanding of the lives of non-binary and trans people through evidence and research so that we can improve our evidence-based policy making for non-binary and trans people.
Partners
Academics
Third sector equality organisations
Actions
7.6 Following 7.5, we will expand the range of evidence on non-binary people’s experiences presented on the Equality Evidence Finder to include third sector and academic research.[14]
Commitment
18
Timescales
Long Term
Impact
This will improve our understanding of the lives of non-binary and trans people through evidence and research so that we can improve our evidence-based policy making for non-binary and trans people.
Partners
Academics
Third sector equality organisations
Actions
7.7 Following 7.5, we will engage with stakeholders to identify and agree priorities for filling evidence gaps.
Commitment
18
Timescales
Short Term
Impact
This will improve our understanding of the lives of non-binary and trans people through evidence and research so that we can improve our evidence-based policy making for non-binary and trans people.
Partners
Academics
Third sector equality organisations
Actions
7.8 Alongside 7.7, we will work with stakeholders to co-design research to fill priority gaps, working within available budget and other resource constraints.
Commitment
18
Timescales
Short Term
Impact
This will improve our understanding of the lives of non-binary and trans people through evidence and research so that we can improve our evidence-based policy making for non-binary and trans people.
Partners
Academics
Third sector equality organisations
Actions
7.9 We will publish a report of findings from the commissioned research in 7.8.
Commitment
18
Timescales
Medium Term
Impact
This will improve our understanding of the lives of non-binary and trans people through evidence and research so that we can improve our evidence-based policy making for non-binary and trans people.
Partners
Academics
Third sector equality organisations
Actions
7.10 We will publish guidance for public bodies, including recommended questions to ask, to gather information on sex and gender. This will include a question on trans status, where individuals are invited to complete a free response question to share their identity in their own words (including, for example, ‘trans’ or ‘non-binary’).
Commitment
20
Timescales
Complete
Impact
This will support the collection of data on non-binary and trans people so that we can improve our evidence-base for policy making and delivery of public services.
Actions
7.11 We will monitor and review the guidance from 7.10 on an ongoing basis, allowing time for the guidance to be implemented before considering any changes.
Commitment
20
Timescales
Medium Term
Impact
This will support the collection of data on non-binary and trans people so that we can improve our evidence-base for policy making and delivery of public services.
Actions
7.12 We will review how well the Chief Statistician’s Sex and Gender in Data Guidance has been adopted and user engagement with stakeholders.
Commitment
23
Timescales
Short Term
Impact
This will improve our understanding of how public bodies are using the guidance and its impact on data being collected and published on non-binary and trans people.
Partners
National Records of Scotland
Public bodies who routinely collect data for research or service delivery
Actions
7.13 We will then plan to potentially update the Chief Statistician’s Sex and Gender in Data Guidance and conduct further stakeholder feedback, if applicable.
Commitment
23
Timescales
Medium Term
Partners
Public Bodies who routinely collect data for research or service delivery
Academics
Third sector equality organisations
Actions
7.14 We will procure an external supplier to research legal recognition of non-binary people.
Commitment
24
Timescales
Short Term
Impact
This will enable us to understand how non-binary legal recognition could work in Scotland.
Partners
External researcher
Actions
7.15 As explained in the Scottish Government response to Recommendation 27, we recognise that this recommendation needs to be considered far beyond the cited regulations.
Accordingly, we will launch a ‘Call for Evidence’ seeking evidence and examples of barriers to accessing public buildings, including sport and leisure facilities, which will consider the accessibility, safety and dignity of non-binary people.
Commitment
27
Timescales
Medium Term
Impact
This will enable any barriers to the provision and/or operation of usable and accessible public buildings in Scotland, to be identified and, if appropriate, removed (as far as is within our devolved competence).
Partners
Local Authorities
NHS Scotland
Education Scotland
Sportscotland
UK Active
Royal Institution of Architects in Scotland
Scottish Property Federation
Federation of Small Businesses
Actions
7.16 We will commission research to identify and critically assess the current regulations, standards and guidance which act to influence the provision and/or operation of Scotland’s public buildings in a way that impacts trans and non-binary people.
Commitment
27
Timescales
Medium Term
Impact
This will enable any barriers to the provision and/or operation of usable and accessible public buildings in Scotland, to be identified and, if appropriate, removed (as far as is within our devolved competence).
Partners
Local Authorities
NHS Scotland
Education Scotland
Sportscotland
UK Active
Royal Institution of Architects in Scotland
Scottish Property Federation
Federation of Small Businesses
Actions
7.17 Based on the outcomes of actions 7.15 and 7.16, we will review the relevant regulations, standards and guidance, that are within our devolved competence, to remove (as appropriate) identified barriers to accessing and using public buildings.
Commitment
27
Timescales
Medium Term
Impact
This will enable any barriers to the provision and/or operation of usable and accessible public buildings in Scotland, to be identified and, if appropriate, removed (as far as is within our devolved competence).
Partners
Local Authorities
NHS Scotland
Education Scotland
Sportscotland
UK Active
Royal Institution of Architects in Scotland
Scottish Property Federation
Federation of Small Businesses
Actions
7.18 We will review the homelessness data collections to identify changes required to bring them up to date and address any gaps. This project will consider the feasibility of collecting sufficiently high quality data on sex/gender, sexual orientation and trans status.[15]
Commitment
31
Timescales
Short Term
Impact
This will improve the data collected by crisis services in order to fully understand the needs and experience of individuals and groups.
Partners
Inspiring Scotland
Local authority data providers
Third sector organisations
Actions
7.19 We will work with Inspiring Scotland on their data capture project. As a first step, we will gather a range of data on people accessing Delivering Equally Safe (DES) and Equality and Human Rights (EHRF) funded services via a survey including data on sex, sexual orientation, trans status and non-binary status.
Commitment
31
Timescales
Short Term
Impact
This will improve the data collected by crisis services in order to fully understand the needs and experience of individuals and groups.
Partners
Inspiring Scotland
Local authority data providers
Third sector organisations
Contact
Email: lgbtipolicy@gov.scot
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