Hansard

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...