Current status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 12 January 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to include all ethnic minority groups in the Interim Governance Group to Develop National Anti-Racist Infrastructure.
The Scottish Government is using a range of interventions across its policies to advance the Race Equality Framework and human rights for all minority ethnic groups, one of which is the Interim Governance Group.
The Interim Governance Group is a short-life working group with a specific remit to provide advice and feedback to Scottish Ministers on establishing long-term anti-racist infrastructure. Its membership includes those with experiences of intersecting marginalisation(s) and the realities of systemic racism and expertise in tackling it. Individuals were also appointed on the basis of having extensive knowledge and/or experience of policy making in Scotland, and design and implementation of policy/systems. More information on the remit and membership of the group is available here: https://www.gov.scot/groups/interim-governance-group-to-develop-national-anti-racist-infrastructure/
The intention is that the work of the IGG will support the development of improved infrastructure and accountability that has a positive impact on the lives of all racialised minority communities. Racialised outcomes are not experienced uniformly, and effective interventions need to take specific experiences into account. In Scotland, this includes important disparities impacting Black/minority ethnic groups.
Ensuring that communities are engaged with policy developments, including in long-term oversight and governance, is of utmost importance, and we are looking to explore mechanisms and routes to achieve that in the best way possible. Policy areas focussed on anti-racism and race equality are actively engaging with a range of stakeholders and communities as part of their work. The Interim Governance Group has commissioned a programme of community engagement, to both disseminate information about forthcoming anti-racist policy infrastructure and to gather community members' and organisations' perspectives on how it can work best to deliver genuine change-making policy and practice in Scotland.