Scottish Government high level action plan in response to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

22: Other

Thematic tags

Implementation; Accountability; Human rights indicators

Concluding Observation 68

The Committee recommends that the State Party take steps to progressively develop and apply appropriate indicators on the implementation of economic, social and cultural rights in order to facilitate the assessment of progress achieved by the State Party in complying with its obligations under the Covenant for various segments of the population. In that context, the Committee refers the State Party to […] the human rights indicators developed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Context

The National Performance Framework (NPF) is our high level strategic framework that sets out a vision for collective wellbeing for all of Scotland. One of the 11 National Outcomes describes Human Rights: We respect, protect, and fulfil human rights and live free from discrimination. Four national indicators measure progress on this outcome: access to justice, influence over local decisions, ensuring that public services treat people with dignity and respect, and the quality of public services.

We have established a dedicated Tracker Design Group comprising members from across civil society, Scottish Parliament and the public sector to support the development of a Human Rights Tracker Tool. The Tracker will be developed in a phased approach. The Tracker aims to consolidate treaty body Concluding Observations into a single, accessible online platform and is intended ultimately to provide information on action taken and outcomes.

Key Actions

We are taking forward work to reform the National Performance Framework and plan to launch the next iteration around the start of the new government and parliamentary session following the Scottish Parliament elections.

We will aim to launch a first phase of the Human Rights Tracker Tool in March 2026 as a repository of recommendations in relation to devolved areas, from the seven UN core treaties to which the UK is a signatory. Subject to the outcome of the Scottish Parliament elections, we will continue to work with the Tracker Design Group to inform the development of an implementation methodology that will underpin the delivery of Phase 2. Following this, we will review the operation of the Tracker and consider options for expanding the scope, introducing advanced functionality and longer-term ownership arrangements.

Concluding Observation 69

The Committee requests that the State Party, along with the devolved governments […] disseminate the present concluding observations widely at all levels of society, in particular among parliamentarians, public officials and judicial authorities, and that it inform the Committee in its next periodic report about the steps taken to implement them. The Committee emphasizes the crucial role that Parliament plays in implementing the present concluding observations and encourages the State Party to ensure its involvement in future reporting and follow-up procedures. The Committee encourages the State Party to continue to engage with the […] Scottish Human Rights Commission […] as well as with non-governmental organizations and other members of civil society, in the follow-up to the present concluding observations and in the process of consultation at the national level prior to the submission of its next periodic report.

Context

The ICESCR Concluding Observations align with our ambition for a fairer more inclusive Scotland and our key priorities such as eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, tackling the climate emergency, and ensuring high quality and sustainable public services.

Key Actions

This High Level Action Plan sets out the current and future action that we are taking and plan to take to implement the ICESCR Concluding Observations in devolved policy areas. This response provides a basis upon which to further develop an implementation methodology that can inform future phases of the Human Rights Tracker Tool and our wider approach to the consideration, reporting on and implementation of international human rights treaty body recommendations. Our longer term ambition with regard to treaty reporting follow-up is to have a robust approach, which can ultimately be supported by the Tracker Tool.

We continue to engage with the Scottish Parliament Committee on Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice on the monitoring, reporting and implementation of human rights in Scotland. The Minister for Equalities gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament in May 2025 on our approach to economic, social and cultural rights and provided a further update in writing in September 2025.

Engagement with civil society, the Scottish Human Rights Commission and the Scottish Parliament has informed the development of this High Level Action Plan. We will continue to engage with stakeholders on the development of the Tracker Tool and the development of our approach to reporting and implementation through the Tracker Design Group.