Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, 16 Apr 2008

Meeting date: Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Official Report 259KB pdf

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Mainstreaming Equal Opportunities

Agenda item 2 concerns mainstreaming equal opportunities in the work of the Scottish Parliament. Members have a briefing paper that relates to a letter that we received from Keith Brown, the convener of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee. As members are aware, the Equal Opportunities Committee has advocated for some time the need to mainstream equal opportunities in the work of the Parliament. Indeed, the matter was included in the previous Equal Opportunities Committee's legacy paper. The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee is doing work that relates to that.

Do members think that, as the briefing paper proposes, we should include in our annual report an account of how we have mainstreamed equal opportunities matters?

The paper seems to use the words "session" and "annually" interchangeably, but my understanding is that the word "session" refers to the four-year period between elections. For clarification, is the suggestion that we report on the mainstreaming of equal opportunities annually rather than once every four years?

Yes, it means once a year.

I agree with the paper's recommendation, which is helpful. It is important that the committee acknowledges its obligations on equal opportunities. It would concentrate our minds to put in our annual report exactly what we have done on that issue.

Given that I sit on the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, it is no surprise that I support what its convener has asked for. To echo what Mary Mulligan said, perhaps over the years we have not given enough importance to incorporating equal opportunities into the work of the committee. Including the issue in our annual report might focus our minds on it this year.

Prior to their leaving the meeting, Jeremy Purvis and Rob Gibson indicated that they support the inclusion of the committee's approach to equal opportunities in our annual report. It is important that all parliamentary committees do the same, because the issue tends to slip from the political agenda of committees as we get caught up in other matters. As Mary Mulligan said, including the issue in our annual report will help to focus minds. I therefore anticipate that members will agree that we should write to Keith Brown in the suggested terms.

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you.

Meeting closed at 12:27.