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:We absolutely recognise and accept the challenges, but overall, we have seen good progress towards the aims of “Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy 2023-2025”. It is really important to get that evidence and, over the lifetime of that strategy, we have seen an increase in the availability of equality and intersectional data across a wide range of policy areas, including Social Security Scotland, transport, health, social care and education.

We have improved the accessibility of that equality evidence through updates to our equality evidence finder, the publication of our 2023 gender equality index and the production of a number of detailed quantitative and qualitative reports examining the lived experience of people across Scotland, including non-binary people and minority ethnic groups. We have shared that work alongside other examples of good practice in collecting, analysing and producing equality evidence both internally and externally. An evaluation of the strategy is under way and is due to be published in the spring, and it will provide an assessment of improvements to the equality evidence base and identify areas for improvement to be taken forward in the next strategy.

We are not complacent. It is important to recognise the progress that we have made, but I absolutely accept that we have much further to go.

:I will bring in Elli Kontorravdis on the human rights tracker tool, because I think that where you are going with that question is about how we track such things and how all the different organisations will be enabled to fulfil their obligations. If Elli can speak about the human rights tracker tool, that might be helpful.

:I believe that the Scottish Government took a strong leadership role in response to the concerning scenes and rhetoric that we saw especially over the summer. We did that to ensure that we acknowledge the hard work that goes on at grass-roots level to bring communities together. We have strong, cohesive communities and there has been good work over the years, but we have realised that that can be quite fragile, so we want to invest in and protect that.

I secured additional funding of about £300,000, which was specifically targeted at grass-roots community organisations. To ensure that that money did not get caught up in administrative matters, we partnered with the STV children’s appeal, which already has structures for that sort of work. When I was up in Dundee just last week, I saw the impact of that funding in bringing communities together in safe spaces where people can talk about their real and legitimate concerns, including the continuing cost of living crisis and access to services to meet their day-to-day needs. I also know that some organisations have invested in training staff to have de-escalation conversations or to deal with misinformation and disinformation at community level, so that we are reaching the people who are having those conversations.

:No, I would not go as far as that. You put your question in such stark terms, but the answer is not straightforward. I believe that we are collecting that data, although I acknowledge that there are complexities in bringing it together. We have talked before about the fact that the numbers are sometimes very small, and they have to be statistically viable, so there are challenges there.

The equality evidence finder is a very useful tool—I will perhaps bring in Kevin McGowan to drill down into the technical detail.

:That is indeed about resources, but cultural change is about mindset. We start with the premise that human rights are for everybody and that, by the very virtue of being a human, you are entitled to those basic rights. We need to keep that aim in mind, whatever else we do on top of that. To back that up, we need to take people with us, ensuring that they have plenty of time for that development of understanding.

A lot of good work has gone on in that respect. I have already mentioned to the committee the mainstreaming work that I have undertaken this past year. We launched the mainstreaming suite of resources on 8 December 2025. It includes a strategy, a groundbreaking toolkit and the action plan. Together, the mainstreaming suite lays the best conditions to embed a human rights culture.

I believe that the strategy provides a clear vision and framework for changing how we develop policies, deliver services and allocate resources. On a technical level, the action plan brought together 61 of our actions, which align to the six key drivers that are outlined in the strategy. It also focuses on Scottish Government actions. It brings together all the different resources in a way that makes them accessible and comprehensive.

I cannot give you exact examples of the resources, because more than 100 are available. However, it is about capacity building and evolving. As we discover more resources that are helpful, we will add those to the bank of resources. Doing so lays out the best possible conditions to ensure that we are all committed to moving forward on a human rights agenda.

:I do not understand your question about collecting data on characteristics that are not protected, because race is a protected characteristic.

:I am sorry—will you repeat that? I did not hear. I am hard of hearing; forgive me.

:I do not have the equally safe delivery plan in front of me, but from what I recall, it contains specific actions that are related to that. I will bring in Kevin McGowan to respond.

:Obviously, the ultimate aim is that the content of the high-level action plan is integrated into the forthcoming human rights tracker, which will in time support us to report on those actions and outcomes to both domestic and international committees.

As I said in my opening remarks, I will launch the tracker on 12 March. We have given an invitation to the clerks, which I think is being taken up, but it would be very helpful for committee members to look at the tracker, so that you can get a practical insight into what it looks like, what it feels like and how effective it is.

The intent of that tool is to help improve transparency and to enhance the implementation efforts on the recommendations that we receive from the human rights treaty bodies. The first phase of that is an accessible database of recommendations with the aim of further enabling us all to take strategic and co-ordinated action in devolved areas. Our intention is that the national human rights institutions, the Scottish Parliament, civil society and the rights holders will be better able, via the tracker, to review the recommendations and, ultimately, scrutinise the actions taken and the outcomes achieved.

As I have said, this committee plays a critical role in human rights scrutiny, so I encourage members to attend the launch and have a look at the tracker.

:The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government and I were here very recently, and we spoke extensively to the committee about the improvements to the budget process. The use of human rights budgeting principles remains part of that process. We have made continuous progress in recent years and we are exploring how best to make more ambitious changes in future years, while being mindful of ICESCR and the equality obligations.

One of the main additions to the strategic integrated impact assessment, or SIIA, has been to integrate the detailed assessment of child rights and wellbeing under the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as incorporated into Scots law.

Our detailed analysis concluded that the substantial investment in the child poverty package and the spending that benefits all children is likely to be positive for child rights, in particular the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to the highest attainable standard of healthcare and the right to an education.

The Scottish Parliament information centre noted in its blog that this approach

“may give an indication as to the opportunities which may arise should the Government achieve its intention to further embed human and social rights”

in Scots law. That is an acknowledgement that we are absolutely moving in the right direction.

The evidence on how portfolios contribute to human rights was collected as part of that SIIA process, but, in the interests of developing a streamlined and more accessible document, we decided not to publish that. It is all about actions. How valuable are the documents that we published alongside the budget process? How accessible are they? Which ones are used most meaningfully?

The pilot work that we have done on budget tagging may provide opportunities to support human rights budgeting in the future. Our planned evaluation of the work that we have done for the budget will help us to understand better what might be the best ways to take things further. I have already committed to sharing that work with the committee, as always.

I hope that that is helpful.