Committee
Equalities and Human Rights Committee 18 March 2021
18 Mar 2021 · S5 · Equalities and Human Rights Committee
Item of business
Human Rights
Again, the transparency of our budget is an area in which I think that the Scottish Government is doing well in comparison with other parts of the UK and other countries. An example of that is the publication of the equality and fairer Scotland budget statement. However, it is an area in which we have to continuously challenge ourselves to do better. Earlier this week, Kate Forbes and I met the equality budget advisory group, which is looking at a number of issues around making the Government’s budget work much more transparent and responsive. I completely take the point that it is a complex area, and that includes—Inaudible.—within Government and Parliament, and stakeholders, in trying to analyse the budget. 10:00 We had a limited amount of time to discuss things with members of the group earlier this week, but I took a lot of hope from what they were saying, which was that they will come forward with suggestions and recommendations that the Government might want to look at for improving things in future years. We have not stayed still on the equality and fairer Scotland budget statement; it has changed over the years. It cannot stay as it is, because there is, absolutely, room for improvement. The other aspect is that the Scottish Human Rights Commission has done a lot of work on budget transparency, assessing the Scottish approach against international comparators. That is where we need to be. We have done well, but it is an area that we can definitely improve on. We want to be at the forefront of analysing budgets in terms of equalities and human rights. There will certainly not be a static approach in which we accept what we are doing at the moment. I am looking forward keenly to seeing what the equality budget advisory group will recommend, as I said when I met it, but that will again be something for the next session of Parliament.
In the same item of business
The Convener (Ruth Maguire)
SNP
Good morning and welcome to the Equalities and Human Rights Committee’s eighth meeting in 2021. This is our final meeting in the current session of Parliamen...
The Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People (Shirley-Anne Somerville)
SNP
Good morning, convener. It is a real pleasure to give evidence to the Equalities and Human Rights Committee today. The Scottish Government is committed to e...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you, cabinet secretary. We move straight to questions.
Alison Harris (Central Scotland) (Con)
Con
Good morning. The subject of human rights has officially been added to the committee’s remit. What impact, if any, will that have on the scrutiny of human ri...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
That decision, which the Scottish Government has supported, is to be warmly welcomed. It is not only correct in principle—in addition, the committee’s work d...
Alison Harris
Con
Will you commit to create and resource a human rights tracker tool for Scotland, which would benefit all stakeholders, officials, public authorities and righ...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
Our response to the committee’s report, “Getting Rights Right: Human Rights and the Scottish Parliament”, and the recommendations that it set out, showed tha...
The Convener
SNP
Alison, are you content with that?
Alison Harris
Con
I am content with those responses. Thank you, cabinet secretary.
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
Good morning, cabinet secretary. I would like to touch on the human rights framework. In your opening statement, you talked about the task force report. We a...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
It is to be expected, when there is a large group of passionate people around the table, that there will be a range of views during the process. What is rema...
Alexander Stewart
Con
It is good to hear that there was a shared ambition for what we are trying to achieve on human rights. You touched on the fact that the proposed human right...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
It is partly a case of ensuring that we continue to work in a collaborative manner. The task force might have reached its conclusion, but the issue will not ...
Joe FitzPatrick (Dundee City West) (SNP)
SNP
I will follow on from Alexander Stewart’s question. It is proposed that the bill will contain a section on equality that aligns with the Equality Act 2010. T...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
Absolutely—we need to analyse all our policies to ensure that human rights are dealt with. As the committee will be well aware, we already have a variety of ...
Joe FitzPatrick
SNP
That is really important. In your opening statement, you made the point that human rights is not just the responsibility of equalities ministers. The impact ...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
First, I pay tribute to the work that Mary Fee has done on issues around Gypsy Travellers during her entire time in Parliament. She has challenged the Govern...
Joe FitzPatrick
SNP
Thank you. That was helpful.
Mary Fee (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Good morning, cabinet secretary. I will ask you to say a bit more about mainstreaming human rights. First, I will pick up on Joe FitzPatrick’s point about Gy...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
I absolutely take on board Mary Fee’s first point; that is why we will miss her in Parliament. We have moved forward on Gypsy Traveller issues, but there is ...
Mary Fee
Lab
That is very helpful. I welcome your commitment to keep pushing on Gypsy Travellers—I really appreciate it. One issue that we hear about every time that we ...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
Again, the transparency of our budget is an area in which I think that the Scottish Government is doing well in comparison with other parts of the UK and oth...
Mary Fee
Lab
That is very helpful. Finally, can you give us a timetable or an estimated timescale for the introduction of the human rights bill?
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
I am not able to give a firm time for introduction. However, I can assure the committee that we will need to look at it very early in the new session. I have...
Mary Fee
Lab
That is helpful. Thank you.
The Convener
SNP
I ask the cabinet secretary about the UK Government review of the Human Rights Act 1998. The committee has responded to the consultation, as has the Scottish...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
As you said, our response made very clear our view that no changes should be made to the 1998 act without the consent of the Scottish Parliament. That is in ...
Duncan Isles (Scottish Government)
It is a difficult question to answer in the abstract, as the cabinet secretary has said. At this point, we really do not have a clear indication of what the ...
The Convener
SNP
Cabinet secretary, in your opening statement, you mentioned that it has been a good week for human rights in Scotland, with the passing of the United Nations...
Shirley-Anne Somerville
SNP
There will be no conflict between the Human Rights Act 1998 and the proposed framework bill. The future bill will incorporate a wide range of new rights into...