MSPs test budget support for equality and human rights

Whether the Scottish Government is spending money effectively to support equalities and human rights is the subject of an inquiry by a committee of MSPs.

The Scottish Parliament’s Equalities & Human Rights Committee is calling for views on how the public pound can be used to promote equalities, across all areas of the Government's budget.

The committee hopes to hear from the general public, as well as equality groups, on whether the budget for the current year reflected ministers' stated priorities (as set out in the National Performance Framework), or how this could have been done better; how any additional resources in the 2018-19 budget could be most effectively deployed; if further savings are required next year, where these should be found; and whether sufficient information is available for effective scrutiny of the budget in relation to the protection and advancement of equalities and human rights.

Committee convener Christina McKelvie MSP, commented:

“The Scottish Government’s budget is over £30bn a year. That money presents a significant opportunity to advance the cause of equalities.

“We want to know if our stakeholders feel that the Scottish Government is spending its money in a way which matches its stated ambitions to support and advance equalities and human rights? And where stakeholders feel the Government might change, or reprioritise, the way it spends its money.

“We are looking for submissions across a wide range of areas. We know that spending in many budget areas, from education, to local government, to our rural communities, can all have an impact on equalities, so all views will be listened to.”

Click here to view the call for evidence. Comments are invited until 6pm on 20 October 2017.