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Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee 03 February 2026 [Draft]

03 Feb 2026 · S6 · Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

Item of business

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Stewart, Kaukab SNP Glasgow Kelvin Watch on SPTV

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to return to the committee. I value the committee’s continued engagement and its scrutiny, which matters because embedding equality, inclusion and human rights in budget decisions and across the Government is core business, not a one-off task. It requires sustained leadership, strong capability and clear accountability for decisions and outcomes. I believe that we have shown that in this year’s budget.As the Minister for Equalities, I am clear about my responsibility. I am personally accountable for driving the mainstreaming of equality and human rights across the Government. That means providing visible leadership, setting clear expectations and supporting—or, when necessary, challenging—ministerial colleagues to ensure that those considerations are built into decision making from the outset and that they directly influence decisions rather than being added on afterwards.To strengthen delivery, I have worked collaboratively with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government and colleagues across portfolios. Through one-to-one engagement and earlier ministerial involvement in the budget process, we are deliberately changing how we work. The focus is now on up-front assessment of impacts, clearer articulation of the trade-offs and more transparent explanation of decisions. That shift is essential if we want equality and human rights to shape, rather than simply describe, budget decisions.The recently published equality and human rights mainstreaming action plan is a key enabler of that change. It moves us beyond aspiration by setting out practical, measurable actions to strengthen leadership, improve accountability and transparency, and better align evidence, capability and culture. By bringing the actions together in a simple framework, it will improve consistency across portfolios, sharpen accountability for progress and support earlier, more systematic consideration of impacts so that resources can be targeted where we can make the biggest difference.We have already made improvements to how evidence informs budget decisions, and we have improved how those decisions are communicated, informed by the equality and human rights budget advisory group and, of course, the committee’s recommendations. As the cabinet secretary has already stated, SPICe has acknowledged those improvements and noted that the overall approach shows the clear link between strategic aims and spending that stakeholders have been asking for.However, I am not complacent; there is absolutely more to do. I remain committed to listening and learning and making continuous improvements, and to working with the committee and stakeholders to strengthen transparency, accountability and outcomes for the people of Scotland.

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Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee 03 February 2026 [Draft]

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