Question reference: S6W-03290
- Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 23 September 2021
-
Current status: Answered by Shona Robison on 8 October 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations of the report of the public inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland, what steps it is taking to pay specific and ongoing attention to issues relating to ethnic and religious health inequalities, employment experiences and poverty.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to tackling racial inequalities. Our recently-published Immediate Priorities Plan (IPP) sets out how we will work across government and beyond to tackle deep rooted inequalities, and implements the recommendations of the Expert Reference Group on Covid-19 and Ethnicity. The IPP captures work ongoing across government, including our Fair Work First approach; the development of a race equality toolkit for employers; a Workplace Equality Fund to support minority ethnic people into employment; an ethnicity pay strategy; and a £20 increase to the Scottish Child Payment. We recognise the need for our work to tackle poverty to reach minority ethnic families in particular. That is why they are one of six priority groups we want to focus on in our national mission to eradicate child poverty in Scotland. Health inequalities are being tackled through a concurrent focus on improving Covid-19 health outcomes and targeting diseases, such as diabetes, which are overrepresented in certain minority ethnic communities.