1st Report, 2008 (Session 3)

Annual Report 2007-08

Remit and membership

Remit:

The remit of the Equal Opportunities Committee is to consider and report on matters relating to equal opportunities and upon the observance of equal opportunities within the Parliament.

(Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament, Rule 6.9)

Membership:

Richard Baker (from 1 May 2008)
Marlyn Glen
Bill Kidd
Michael McMahon (until 30 April 2008)
Margaret Mitchell (Convener)
Hugh O'Donnell
Elaine Smith (Deputy Convener)
Sandra White
Bill Wilson

Committee Clerking Team:

Clerk to the Committee
Terry Shevlin

Assistant Clerk
Roy McMahon

Support Manager
Sam Currie

Annual Report 2007-08

The Committee reports to the Parliament as follows—

Introduction

1. This report covers the work of the Equal Opportunities Committee for the Parliamentary year from 9 May 2007 to 8 May 2008.  During this period, the Committee’s main focus was on reviewing the implementation of the recommendations contained in its predecessor Committee’s disability inquiry report Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities.

Inquiries and reports

Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities
2. The Committee agreed to monitor the implementation of those recommendations in Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities that apply to the Scottish Government.  The Committee subsequently took evidence from the Minister for Communities and Sport, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth in relation to the recommendations which fall within their portfolios.

3. The Committee also wrote to other organisations mentioned in the report, requesting written evidence on the work they were doing to implement the recommendations relevant to their work.  In addition, the Committee received written evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and from the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture.

Possible inquiries
4. As part of its consideration of possible areas for an inquiry, the Committee held round-table discussions on issues related to age and to unpaid carers, and also took evidence on female offenders in the criminal justice system.

Budget Process 2008-09

5. The Committee reported to the Finance Committee on the equal opportunities  aspects of the Scottish Government’s Draft Budget 2008-09.  In order to inform its report, the Committee received a briefing from the Equality Proofing the Budget and Policy Advisory Group and took evidence from a number of equality-related organisations including the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Scottish Women’s Budget Group.  The Committee also appointed, for the first time, an adviser to assist in its consideration of the budget process.  Members would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Ailsa McKay for her assistance.

Bills

6. At its meeting on 6 November 2007, the Committee considered the statement of reasons from Patrick Harvie MSP for his not consulting on the proposed Sentencing of Offences Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Bill, which would require the aggravation of an offence by prejudice on grounds of disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity to be taken into account in sentencing.

Subordinate legislation

7. The Committee dealt with no subordinate legislation during the year.

Petitions

8. The Committee considered the following petitions—

• PE695 calling for the Scottish Parliament to ensure that local authorities have affordable, accessible local transport available to disabled people who cannot use public transport and to provide ring-fenced funding to allow local authority and/or community groups to provide Dial a Ride projects for this purpose.
  
  
• PE1036 calling for the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive, in partnership with Remploy and other sheltered workshop employers, to promote employment opportunities for disabled people by reserving local authority and/or government contracts to supported businesses, as permitted by EU Article 19 on Public Procurement. 
  
  
• PE1069 calling for the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to encourage employers to provide home working opportunities for those with disabilities which prevent them from accessing the workplace.

9. The Committee agreed to take no further action in relation to petition PE695 but to write to the petitioner highlighting the Committee’s commitment to monitoring the implementation of the recommendations in Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities.

10. The Public Petitions Committee did not formally refer PE1036 and PE1069 to the Committee but, rather, sought its views.  The Equal Opportunities Committee noted that it had no views to express on either of the petitions but agreed to question the relevant Scottish Government minister on the issue raised in petition PE1069 during its scrutiny of the implementation of the disability inquiry report recommendations.  The Committee subsequently asked the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth for his views on this issue.

Miscellaneous

2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities for All
11. To mark the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, the Committee held a round-table discussion on barriers to mainstreaming. In addition, the Convener attended the closing conference in Portugal as part of the UK delegation.

Mainstreaming equality in the work of committees of the Scottish Parliament
12. The Committee confirmed to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee that it agreed with the predecessor Equal Opportunities Committee’s proposal that there should be a change to Standing Orders to require committees to report on equal opportunities.

LGBT Hearts and Minds Agenda
13. The Committee took evidence from the LGBT Hearts and Minds Agenda Group, which was set up by the Scottish Government to look at attitudes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Scotland.  Members questioned the Group on the work that it had done and on the recommendations that the Group expected to make to the Scottish Government.

Census 2011
14. At its meeting on 4 December 2007, the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) updated the Committee on its preparations for the 2011 Census.   The Committee discussed the selection of questions to be included in the Census and how GROS tested the questions and the Census form.

Attitudes to Discrimination in Scotland
15. The Committee took evidence from the Scottish Centre for Social Research on the research publicationAttitudes to Discrimination in Scotland: 2006.  The report explores attitudes in relation to all six grounds for which anti-discrimination legislation exists in Great Britain: age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.

The Scottish Government’s approach to equal opportunities
16. The Committee took evidence from the Minister for Communities and Sport on the Scottish Government’s approach to equal opportunities.  Members questioned the Minister on the Scottish Government’s views on devolved powers and equal opportunities legislation, on the Scottish Government’s equality strategy and on the UK Government’s Equalities Review and Discrimination Law Review.

The Scottish Government’s strategy on ageing
17. The Minister for Public Health gave evidence to the Committee on the Scottish Government’s ageing population strategy All Our Futures: Planning for a Scotland with an Ageing Population.

Public appointments
18. The Committee took evidence from Karen Carlton, the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland, on the Commissioner’s proposed equal opportunities strategy Diversity Delivers.

Scots language
19. The Committee corresponded with the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture in relation to whether pupils who use the Scots language in primary schools face discrimination.

Reporters
20. Throughout the year, the Committee’s reporters have continued to act as a key link between the Committee and its stakeholders.  The reporters are—

• Age – Sandra White MSP
• Disability – Bill Kidd MSP
• Gender – Elaine Smith MSP
• Race – Marlyn Glen MSP
• Religion/Belief – Hugh O’Donnell MSP
• Sexual Orientation -  Bill Wilson MSP.

Equalities

21. In addition to the very obvious focus on equal opportunities considerations in the Committee’s work, there were specific actions the Committee took during the year to ensure that it mainstreamed equal opportunities into all of its work.

22. In relation to the round-table evidence sessions on age and unpaid carers, for example, the Committee invited witnesses from across different equality strands, in order to identify whether particular groups of carers or older or younger people had particular issues or experiences that needed to be considered by policy makers and service providers.

23. During its evidence taking on the experiences of female offenders in the criminal justice system, the Committee included targeted questioning aimed at identifying any group-specific issues, such as for older or younger female offenders, those from ethnic minority communities or with particular religious beliefs.

24. The Committee also continued to support the work undertaken by its predecessor committees in the first and second sessions of the Parliament in relation to mainstreaming and issued relevant information to other committees.

Meetings

26. All formal meetings were held in Edinburgh.