Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)

Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Question reference: S6W-38333

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 18 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason £106,250 was provided to Grampian Regional Equality Council Ltd between 2017-18 and 2020-21 as part of the Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund; what this funding was used for, and what the outcomes were of the Tackling Economic Barriers and Community Cohesion project.

The Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund initially ran from 2017 to 2020, and was then extended to October 2021 due to the impacts of covid-19. It was superseded by a revised funding programme: the current Equality and Human Rights Fund.

The Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund was used to fund projects that would contribute to one or more of four outcomes:

Discrimination against people who share protected characteristics is reduced and multiple discrimination is addressed so that barriers to participation are reduced.
People covered by hate crime legislation experience lower levels of hate crime.
People and communities are supported to participate in and engage with services and civic society; their contribution is recognised, and community cohesion is increased.
Current imbalances in representation in all aspects and levels of public life, including education and employment are addressed to better reflect our communities

The Economic Barriers and Community Cohesion project was funded to support Grampian Regional Equality Council’s work with partners to better understand and address inequalities faced by ethnic minority groups in employment by tackling and removing specific barriers. It will work with community groups and workers to engage with ethnic minority groups in regeneration areas with the aim of improving community cohesion and access to services (particularly English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) & employability).

The specific outcomes to be achieved were:

There are effective mechanisms to gather, analyse, disseminate and use ethnicity & employment data to influence policy & practice and improve equal representation of ethnic minorities in employment in the North East of Scotland
There is improved community cohesion and access to services and employment in target areas (Tillydrone, Torry and Fraserburgh)

The Fund was managed on a day to day basis on the Scottish Government’s behalf by Impact Funding Partners initially and then Inspiring Scotland. You can find a Final Progress Update report for the Fund summarising its impacts here: Promoting-Equality-and-Cohesion-Fund-Final-Report-Jan-Sep-2021-for-SG-publication.pdf

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Filter your results Hide all filters

Question reference: S6W-38333

Answer