Chamber and committees

We know that local authorities are not accommodating people who seek asylum; it is the Home Office that is entirely responsible. Will Mark Griffin join us in calling on the Westminster Government to properly fund local councils, instead of paying private companies that are making profit out of peril?

In the spirit of the fact that language matters, would Douglas Lumsden accept that there is no such thing as illegal migration, due to the 1951 convention, to which this country is signed up, and that he would be better advised to use the language that is appropriate, which is “regular and irregular routes”?

I absolutely accept that the majority of people in Scotland will rise up and protect everyone in our communities. However, in direct contrast, some of the pressures that are arising from the UK’s asylum system are a consequence of overly restrictive policies, such as the policy on the right to work. Such policies prevent people from contributing to our economy or supporting themselves, and they erode their skills by minimising opportunities for integration. I welcome the fact that that was also raised by Jamie Greene and James Dornan.

Sadly, and to our increasing frustration, asylum and immigration decisions are reserved to the UK Government. I welcome Paul Sweeney’s support in working with us to pursue the right to work, safe regular routes and the expansion of visas. I am deeply concerned that asylum hotels are now being turned into targets of the far right. For the safety of all, we need the move-on period to be extended back to 56 days.

I am conscious of my time.

Furthermore, local authorities need to be properly funded for the work that they do when pressures are identified, as is the case in Glasgow City Council. We need the UK Government to recognise the impact on public services and to engage with us to develop those solutions.

I hope that the new Home Secretary and Home Office ministers will engage with the Scottish Government and Scottish local authorities on how we can best deliver asylum and immigration systems that are based in compassion, respect and human rights for all.

Does the member recognise that, in fact, the previous Conservative Government deliberately put a hold on processing claims to allow people to seek asylum and that, now that Labour has come into Westminster, it is processing those claims? Does he recognise that there are vast numbers of claims that have not been properly funded in order to enable people to move on in dignity?

Thank you, cabinet secretary, for that introduction, and I thank the committee for giving us the welcome opportunity to appear jointly, demonstrating our shared commitment to collaboration and to advancing equality, inclusion and human rights across the whole Government. Our shared ambition is to ensure that equality and human rights are central to budget decisions, and we continue to build on our partnership, meeting regularly to maintain a consistent and embedded focus on equality in budgeting, while taking advice directly from the equality and human rights budget advisory group.

As I have previously said, my personal and visible leadership is critical to that. I have actively engaged with colleagues across portfolios, supporting and challenging them to identify meaningful actions to address inequality in Scotland. To date, I have held more than 14 meetings with ministerial colleagues, focusing on identifying practical steps that each portfolio can take to improve equality and human rights outcomes. For example, earlier this year, I worked in collaboration with the Cabinet Secretary for Transport to launch a pilot scheme that will provide free rail travel for the companions of blind and partially sighted people. Those conversations have been constructive and forward looking, and I am encouraged by the shared commitment across Government.

We all have a responsibility to tackle inequality and to uphold human rights, and I am determined that that will be reflected in our actions. One example of that is the pre-budget ministerial equality workshop, which was first held in 2023. Since then, we have scheduled that workshop earlier in the budget process, and I have taken a more substantive role in the workshop, which enables ministers to discuss the impacts of potential budget allocations on equality groups before decisions are taken and is a powerful tool for embedding equality and human rights principles in our policy and budgetary thinking.

The budget does not, of course, exist in isolation, and the quality of analysis for the budget depends on how well equality and human rights are mainstreamed across Government. That is why, when we published our long-term equality outcomes this year, we focused on those that would act as enablers of system-wide change, improving the awareness and use of equality evidence, improving how we are informed by lived experience and participation and strengthening the relevant impact assessments. To support that, each outcome is backed by short-term and long-term actions over a four-year period. We will regularly report on those actions, further increasing transparency and accountability. Those improvements directly support the work that Ms Robison and her team deliver through the budget.

We hope that the committee recognises the Government’s continued dedication to advancing equality and human rights budgeting and the tangible actions that we are taking to drive improvement. There is, of course, more to do and we will continue listening, engaging and acting on feedback from this committee and other stakeholders.

I want to thank the EHRBAG members for their valuable support and input, and I extend special thanks to Emma Congreve for her thoughtful leadership as the interim chair.

I think that we wrote to the committee on 19 February to update you on the Scottish Government’s progress against the group’s recommendations. At the time, I was confident that we were making good progress on the actions and that we were broadly on track to meet those within the proposed timeframes.

At that point, of the 22 actions, nine had been completed, 12 were in progress and one was yet to get under way because it was contingent on the completion of another action. The completed actions include agreeing in partnership with EHRBAG the continued improvements to the equality and fairer Scotland budget statement—EFSBS—and taking a more integrated approach to the equality analysis of the programme for government and the budget. We have also been establishing a senior leadership group to scrutinise and bring challenge to our approach to embed equality and human rights and enable cultural change, and we have published an easy-read version of the EFSBS.

Since February, there has been further progress to support our commitment in Scotland to equality-led budgeting. The Scottish Government is hosting its first international knowledge exchange event in October, which will bring together experts from across government and civic society to explore how integrated impact assessments can advance equality and human rights in budgeting. That should foster a more collaborative approach, embedding inclusive evidence-based practices into future budget processes.

At its meeting on 11 June, EHRBAG members agreed that reporting on the action plan will be paused while further consideration is given to the group’s terms of reference. However, work continues during this time, so our focus will shift to the two strategic objectives for this year, which are achieving an integrated budget impact assessment and proposals to improve budget transparency and accessibility.

I have some sympathy with your line of questioning. However, in my previous answer, I gave a clear indication of the extensive work that we are undertaking. It is not a shelving; it is a delay in order to be able to advance that work and get it right. There are many treaties that are being incorporated, and getting all those different things to align is a hefty piece of work. There are treaties that have not been adopted by other countries, so, in that sense, some of this work is groundbreaking.

It requires time to take everybody with us—to make sure that duty bearers know what they are doing and how they are doing their work, and to find out what implications there will be for future legislative change in many different portfolio areas. It also requires time for rights holders to be able to take up their rights. Therefore, it is absolutely not a shelving; it is a reasonable delay to make sure that that work can be undertaken in full consultation with all the civic organisations, including stakeholders. The SHRC is a very valued partner in that.

In relation to the SHRC’s enforcement powers, it does an amazing amount of work, and its spotlights really home in on particular areas—those are really valuable. I have absolute sympathy for that point, and it will come out as the bill advances. Enforcement powers are absolutely not off the table.

We also need to bear in mind that, due to circumstances, some women may not be able to work. It is important that they get access to the benefits that they are entitled to. I am aware of the intersectionalities around women and girls.

I cannot speak on behalf of other portfolios, but I can give you an indication of what is being done in mine. In order for women and girls to feel empowered to access equal opportunities in relation to the right to work, for instance, given the disadvantages and detriment that they face, they need equitable access to economic resources and decision making and to be able to live their lives free from violence, abuse and harassment. In 2025-26, we are providing more than £2 million to 10 gender equality organisations. Of that, £1.8 million is being provided through the equality and human rights fund. The money that we are putting towards women and girls in my portfolio area makes up 22 per cent of the equality and human rights fund. Both of the figures that I mentioned are in addition to the £21 million that is being provided to organisations via the delivering equally safe fund, which is for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. I hope that that provides you with some examples.

Absolutely. The current equality evidence strategy seeks to make improvements to the availability and analysis of equality data across the Scottish Government. That is running until December 2025 and work is under way to develop its next iteration.

The equality evidence finder is a web-based platform that was established to disseminate equality data to analysts, policy makers and the general public. Work is under way to advance the data that is included in that tool and to improve its accessibility and usability. Just because the data is there does not mean that everybody is able to access it equally. We are working on that and we have seen good progress.

Obviously, there is always more to do to refine it. However, an evaluation of the current evidence strategy, which runs from 2023 to December 2025 will, alongside the collaboration with analysts, policy makers and external bodies, directly inform the next iteration about which I was talking. That is happening in real time. I hope that that gives you an answer.