Chamber and committees

Both diversity and unconscious bias training is available online to all Scottish Government employees through the Civil Service Learning portal. Although no diversity training for external selection panel members specific to this workstream has been delivered to date, plans are currently being considered jointly with the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland to develop suitable training. The Public Bodies and Corporate Diversity Programme Board and stakeholders will consider the content and timing of this training to ensure that any investment made delivers results.

Both diversity and unconscious bias training is available online to all Scottish Government employees through the Civil Service Learning portal. Although no diversity training for external selection panel members specific to this workstream has been delivered to date, plans are currently being considered jointly with the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland to develop suitable training. The Public Bodies and Corporate Diversity Programme Board and stakeholders will consider the content and timing of this training to ensure that any investment made delivers results.

Appointments to the boards of public bodies are the responsibility of Scottish Ministers and each minister will appoint the person he or she considers to be best qualified for the position, based on specific, published criteria. In making this decision, the minister adheres to the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies in Scotland, issued by the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland. The code sets out the principles on which all appointments are made: merit, integrity and diversity and equality. In addition, for many of those appointments regulated by the commissioner, a public appointments adviser, appointed by him, undertakes contemporaneous scrutiny of the appointment process to ensure these principles are upheld. Where the principles of the code are not upheld, the commissioner has the power to intervene. Depending on the circumstances, the commissioner may advise the appointing minister so that action can be taken to address the issue, or to report directly to the Scottish Parliament.

As previously answered in S4W-20607, a programme of activity is currently being developed by the Scottish Government, in conjunction with the programme board and stakeholders. Action plans and targets are still in the developmental phase. Connecting with users’ experiences and raising awareness amongst influencers will be key to the success of the programme.

The Public Boards and Corporate Diversity Programme have the core aim of improving the diversity of public and private boards in Scotland. Activities undertaken to date have been informed by an analysis of the evidence relating to women and people from other under-represented groups. We will continue to consider the equality implications of our proposed interventions, including any changes to systems and processes, throughout the life of the programme and will publish the results of equality results as appropriate on the Scottish Government's website in due course.

Diversity data for those programme board members who are Scottish Government employees is captured on our electronic HR system. We are currently exploring methods of capturing this information for our non-Scottish Government employees on our electronic HR system. In addition, the Scottish Government does not publish sensitive personal data for numbers less than five to protect individual confidentiality.

The Scottish Government’s view was that 2025 was a reasonable target. It aims to balance being attainable and stretching, given the significant resource constraints on the organisation, such as a general presumption against external recruitment. These resourcing constraints have an impact on our ability to change the shape of the organisation. The timeframe also gives the organisation time to reflect on the 2021 census results.

(a) Diversity data for new appointments to regulated public boards have been collected at the application stage of the process for the last three years. Applicants are invited to complete a diversity monitoring form which contains ten questions. Each question includes a 'prefer not to say' option. For all existing board members who were appointed before 2011, diversity data was collected by means of an exercise carried out in 2013 which asked members to complete and return the diversity monitoring form. Therefore, all current board members have been asked to complete the diversity monitoring form, with the vast majority providing some or all of the information. The completion of the diversity monitoring form is voluntary, so we rely on the co-operation of the board members and applicants for new positions to provide accurate and complete data.

(b) The accuracy of the diversity statistics for public boards depends on the level of non-responses (including those who selected the 'prefer not to say' option). The higher the non-response rate, the less reliable our statistics will be. In 2013-14, the response rates for applicants for new board positions was very high, with nearly 70% of applicants completing the whole form and a response rate of more than 90% for nine of the ten questions (the exception being the question relating to household income which had a response rate of just under 80%). Therefore, we would expect our diversity statistics for new appointments in 2013-14 to accurately reflect the true position.

The four national LGBT organisations, Equality Network, LGBT Youth Scotland, Stonewall Scotland and the Scottish Transgender Alliance have participated in an initial scoping meeting to develop a strategic approach to LGBT equality work in Scotland. This work will be further developed through engagement with officials across key areas of the government where the action plan will impact. The plan will be launched in spring 2015.

I refer the member to the answer to the question S4W-21177 on 28 May 2014, which advises that it is for each NHS board to decide how best to deliver those services to meet the needs of their population. This includes how to utilise funding and staff, taking account of national and local priorities, to meet local health needs. As such the recommendations within the Healthcare Improvement Scotland report relating to staffing and the provision of services are directed at NHS boards. All NHS boards Chief Executives were sent a copy of the report for their consideration.

The role of the National Chronic Pain Steering Group is to provide oversight and direction to support local Service Improvement Groups and Managed Clinical Networks in the implementation of the Scottish Service Model for Chronic Pain. We expect that implementation of the model will contribute to improved access and lead to reductions in waiting times. A key part of the programme will be working with primary care colleagues to improve the early stages of the patient journey and access to supported self-management to help to reduce chronicity and the need for more specialist input.