Equal Opportunities Committee

Meeting date: Thursday, November 28, 2013

Official Report 263KB pdf

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Women and Work

Our third and final agenda item is a discussion on the Scottish Government’s response to our women and work inquiry. Members are asked to note the response and decide whether to take further action. I invite comments on the response.

I am grateful that we have a response, but I was a bit underwhelmed by the response to what we said about flexible working. The Government said:

“we will consider the potential for imposing a flexible working requirement on organisations receiving SG funding.”

I had hoped for something considerably stronger than that. When the Government disburses public moneys, it is in a position to make reasonable requests, and in this day and age it is not unreasonable to request that organisations offer the full range of employment opportunities. I hope that the Government will reflect on that. Perhaps the issue will be picked up in the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill—it should be. We need to broaden the range of opportunities that are afforded to people, where public money is concerned.

Would you be happy for us to write to the Government to raise that issue?

That would be good. Thank you.

I was extremely disappointed with the Government’s response to our report. We had taken a lot of evidence over many months in an attempt to produce a worthy report, and to receive such a response, which basically reiterates what the minister told us and does not give more transparent headlines—other than to say that the Government will do something—was disappointing.

I would like more information about what the Government is doing in relation to the outcomes that we asked for, specifically on occupational segregation and the modern apprenticeship scheme and on flexible childcare, particularly for children who have additional needs. The Government said that the Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill will set out certain things that it can do, but the bill does not mention disabled children. The Government should have given our report a higher priority and provided a fuller response.

We can write to the Government about the issues that you have raised, if members agree.

I do not particularly disagree with what members have said, but I think that there are some good points in the Government’s response. On page 2, for example, it says:

“as noted by Angela Constance when she gave evidence to the Committee, occupational segregation is a challenge for Scottish society as a whole”.

That is very true. There are things that Government and local authorities can do—there are things that we should all be doing—but there are big underlying issues and challenges out there. It is about education and changing people’s attitudes in the longer term.

I agree with Siobhan McMahon that the response is a bit lacking in detail. For example, things have been happening in Skills Development Scotland but there is not much detail on that in the response. We could ask for updates and a bit more detail about good work that is being done.

After we have written, I think that we will invite the minister to discuss the issues with us again, which would be valuable. It is important that we do not leave the report sitting on a shelf. I hope that by the time when we hear from the minister there will be tangible signs of progress in all the areas that we raised. I am content with what we have agreed.

Okay. Does everyone agree that we should write to the Government about the points that John Finnie, Siobhan McMahon and Christian Allard raised and that, depending on the response, we will invite the minister back to the committee?

Members indicated agreement.

Meeting closed at 10:38.