Committee
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee 13 January 2026
13 Jan 2026 · S6 · Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee
Item of business
Public Sector Equality Duty
John Wilkes (Equality and Human Rights Commission)
Watch on SPTV
Thank you very much, convener. Happy new year to the committee.We thank the committee for the opportunity to comment on your report on the effectiveness of the public sector equality duty in Scotland and to share our thoughts on the report’s recommendations and the Scottish Government’s response.The written submissions, the oral evidence sessions and the committee’s final report highlighted many issues with which we agree, and we hope that that was reflected in our contributions to the committee last year. The evidence that the committee heard chimes with the commission’s decade-long experience of regulating and monitoring the effectiveness of the current Scotland-specific duties. Our evidence base has been built up through our 2013 to 2017 “Measuring Up?” project, which monitored the PSED in Scotland, and our on-going regulatory work, which takes a more project-focused approach around themes and sectors. That work provides valuable insight into the work that public sector bodies still have to do to understand and meet their public sector equality duty obligations and how improvements can be made.We agree with the committee that there is a need for reform of the PSED. In 2022, we used our experience to develop a clear set of recommendations on how, in our opinion, the duties could be changed to improve the performance of public authorities. That work informs our on-going engagement with the Scottish Government on its work to reform the Scotland-specific duties.Regulation is not an end in itself but a framework to enable public bodies and services to achieve the three main goals of the general duty, which are worth restating: eliminating discrimination, advancing equal opportunities and fostering good relations between people with and without protected characteristics.We are clear that targeted improvements to the existing regulations are key to enabling us to better consider equality issues, foster good relations and place more focus on the importance of setting clear equality outcomes. The key recommendations that we made to the Government included amending the regulations to require that equality outcomes be accompanied by published evidence-informed action plans, ensuring that regulatory inspection bodies in Scotland play a clearer role through their inspections and on-going engagement in monitoring and improving public sector equality performance, ensuring that public body reporting cycles are better aligned and ensuring that the Government uses its leadership role in considering setting national and sectoral equality outcomes.We are clear that strong leadership and clear guidance will assist public bodies in understanding and meeting the requirements of the duties. We welcome some of the initiatives that the Government has put in place recently, including its first use of regulation 11 and its mainstreaming guidance and toolkits. However, we share the committee’s view that, although the regulatory reforms that the Government has proposed represent a step in the right direction, they will not achieve the full potential that could be achieved by public authorities utilising the PSED requirements.As the regulator of the duties, the commission remains committed to continuing to play our part through providing guidance and support, working with public bodies to improve their performance and, when necessary, using our enforcement powers to ensure that public bodies meet their obligations under the duties. A more effective framework will help the public sector to achieve improvements to the performance of public services in Scotland, and we remain committed to working with the Government, the Parliament and other key stakeholders to achieve that aim.
In the same item of business
The Convener (Karen Adam)
SNP
Good morning, and welcome to the first meeting in 2026, in session 6, of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. We have received apologies...
John Wilkes (Equality and Human Rights Commission)
Thank you very much, convener. Happy new year to the committee.We thank the committee for the opportunity to comment on your report on the effectiveness of t...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you very much.We will move to questions. The committee found that the PSED is not delivering its aim to improve outcomes for people with protected char...
John Wilkes
Gosh—there are a number of reasons. In many public bodies, there is still a fundamental lack of understanding about what the public duties are there to do. S...
Jennifer Laughland (Equality and Human Rights Commission)
I do not think so. That was quite a comprehensive answer.
The Convener
SNP
Tess White will ask the next questions.
Tess White (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
John, should I address you as John or as Mr Wilkes?
John Wilkes
John.
Tess White
Con
Thank you. Is it the same for you, Jennifer?
Jennifer Laughland
Yes.
Tess White
Con
Thank you.This has been a long-awaited evidence session—we have been waiting for almost a year—so thank you for coming this morning.What is the EHRC doing to...
John Wilkes
On your question about what we are doing, we recognise that many stakeholders think that we are not doing enough, but a lot of what we do is done behind the ...
Tess White
Con
We are pressed for time.
John Wilkes
Sorry.
Tess White
Con
Jennifer, we will cover the outcomes later, so perhaps we can focus on the immediate question for now. As a region MSP, I cover several educational authoriti...
John Wilkes
In response to the Supreme Court judgment of last year, which is what I think you are referring to—
Tess White
Con
I am referring to the short-life working group.
John Wilkes
The Government has stated that it accepts the outcome of the judgment, and that, to address it, it has set up a short-life working group to look across the s...
Tess White
Con
The way I interpret that answer is that not much has happened with the short-life working group. It has stalled and has not had much engagement, and it is al...
John Wilkes
I would not articulate it like that, no. Our role is not to be part of the working group or to check its homework. We have urged the group to do as swiftly a...
Tess White
Con
The website says that the EHRC is a key stakeholder—my definition of a key stakeholder seems to be different from the one that is being used there—and that M...
John Wilkes
Yes.
Tess White
Con
Thank you; you have answered the question.As you have mentioned, following the Supreme Court judgment, the law is clear. Has the EHRC started work on an awar...
John Wilkes
The main thing that we have done since the judgment is update the code of practice on services, which we had been working on anyway. In 2024, we reviewed the...
Jennifer Laughland
We are working on the schools’ technical guidance in England, Scotland and Wales, and the employment code is part of our planned programme of work. I might h...
Tess White
Con
If you can, that would be good, thank you. It is mentioned on the short-life working group’s website.MSPs regularly engage with the IJBs, chief executives an...
John Wilkes
We help employers in a number of ways, mainly through the guidance that we produce. There are thousands of employers across Scotland and Britain. Some are in...
Tess White
Con
That is fine; that is a private sector example. However, there are more than 100 public sector organisations in Scotland, and I would have expected the EHRC ...
Jennifer Laughland
As John Wilkes mentioned earlier, we issue guidance on the public sector equality duty that covers the duty of public sector organisations to do things such ...
Tess White
Con
But the Supreme Court judgment was just a clarification of the law. The legislation has been in place since 2010. Under the Equality Act 2010, there are nine...