Hansard

I thank the committee for the invitation to appear before it to consider its scrutiny of the Government’s draft budget for 2020-21. I look forward to addressing the committee’s questions. I am sure that they will be many and varied, but I especially welcome those on the budget for my portfolio. This budget has seen the largest single increase in the equalities line, which takes it to its highest-ever level, £30.2 million. I hope that the committee will agree that that demonstrates the Government’s commitment to delivering equality and human rights for the people of Scotland. My 2020-21 budget will continue to promote equality and human rights through investment in organisations that work to achieve equality for women and girls, including important work on preventing gender-based violence. It will also remove barriers to positive ageing and will strengthen community engagement. Further, the budget will support the cross-cutting work that is being done to deliver on the recommendations of two major reports from the national advisory council on women and girls and from the very ambitious national task force on human rights leadership. Both of those important groups are providing leadership and challenge to the Government and society. We must be in a position to respond positively, to listen and to make better policy that improves the lives of people across Scotland. I am sure that we can all agree with those ambitions. My aim is to ensure that we continue firmly to embed equality and human rights across the whole of the Scottish Government’s work. As the committee will be aware, a whole range of our activity supports the mainstreaming of equality and human rights. The equality and fairer Scotland budget statement is now an integral part of the Scottish Government’s budget process, which is very welcome. I am sure that committee members will recall that, when I sat on their side of the table, I agitated for that to be the case. This year, we have integrated the fairer Scotland duty assessment into the equality budget statement. Each portfolio chapter examines the impact of budget decisions on people and places that are experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. That responds to our legal duties to assess the equality and fairer Scotland impacts of our tax and spending decisions. The Government is also going further. Last month, responding to a recommendation by her national advisory council for women and girls, the First Minister announced the establishment of a new directorate for equality, inclusion and human rights in the Scottish Government. The new directorate will help to raise the status of equalities and human rights across the Scottish Government’s work and it will help to ensure that we have more capacity to embed a greater regard for equality and human rights across all areas of Government, from the very beginning to the very end. I welcome the fact that the committee chose to look at equality and human rights through the lens of the third sector in its pre-budget scrutiny. The third sector is a key partner in the work that I do. To increase equality and make sure that we have a fairer Scotland, it is essential that national and local government work together with the public sector and alongside our very valued third sector, as well as the private sector. The need for partnership working to ensure that we all drive forward the same targets to reduce inequalities is what has driven the decision to increase the budget, which is in line with the committee’s recommendation. That will also continue to be our guiding principle as we make decisions on how the budget will be deployed and how we spend the money. The majority of the budget line for my portfolio supports the third sector equality infrastructure and builds the capacity of organisations that support equality and human rights. There are various organisations across every protected characteristic. I note that the committee welcomed our move to three-year funding in 2017, and I remain absolutely committed to that principle. The main equalities funding streams can be broadly split into two areas: one that supports the violence against women and girls sector, and another that supports the broader equality and human rights sector. The funding under those streams comes to an end in the summer, so we have been working very hard to look at how we can organise the funding more effectively. I will shortly announce the details, but I am pleased to confirm that we are in agreement with the committee about the principles of that funding. There are three main parts to that. First, it should continue to provide multiyear funding. Secondly, it should ensure sufficient time and support for the application process. I think that that is key, and it is also key to the third aspect, which is that it should support partnership working and fair work principles. There is now an ability to do much more partnership working across public bodies and the third sector as well as other bodies. It will be important to provide the right support in order to do that and we need to make sure that we get that right. The committee’s scrutiny raised important questions about how budget decisions are driven by the national performance framework, as you will know. The NPF is not just the Scottish Government’s framework; it is Scotland’s framework and it closely ties into our responsibilities as set out in United Nations treaties and the sustainable development goals. It sets us the challenge of working together to create a more successful country with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish through increased wellbeing and sustainable and inclusive economic growth. That means that the Scottish Government is putting equality and human rights at the heart of our policy making and delivery, because it is not just about making the policy; it is also about creating the outcomes. As we develop our future funding criteria, I am very clear about the need to ensure that they link absolutely clearly with the national performance framework. Without a commitment to equality and human rights across Government, we cannot achieve the NPF outcomes, or ensure that we are living those values. The NPF states: “We are a society which treats all our people with kindness, dignity and compassion”. I thank the committee for the opportunity to make an opening statement and I look forward to your questions.