Fairer Scotland Duty
The Fairer Scotland Duty, came into force in April 2018.
Under it, local authorities must:
- actively consider how we can reduce inequalities of outcome in any major strategic decision we make
- publish a written assessment, showing how we have done this
Scottish Government recognises that the public sector is key to delivering a fairer Scotland and this duty is intended to help make sure that the sector takes full account of socio-economic disadvantage when key decisions are being made.
Key areas of focus in a fairer Scotland
Socio-economic disadvantage is focused on:
- low income - cannot afford to maintain regular payments such as bills, food clothing
- low wealth/no wealth - enough money to meet basic living costs and pay bills but have no savings to deal with unexpected expenditure on provision for the future
- material deprivation - being unable to access basic goods and services such as financial products like life assurance, repair/replace broken electrical goods, warm home, leisure and hobbies
- area deprivation (including communities of interest and communities of place) - where you live, where you work, visit or spend a continuous amount of time can have an impact such as rural areas, accessibility of transport, education and employment, people who have experienced homelessness and/or the asylum system, those who share an identity and/or a protected characteristic
- socio-economic background - disadvantage that can arise from parents’ education, employment and income, social class in other words
Our approach to meeting the duty
- Our process is a three stage procedure which enables the development or review of projects, policies, strategies, functions and services that meet the demands of equality legislation and do not discriminate
- An Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) considers the Public Sector Equality Duty and, where appropriate, the Fairer Scotland Duty
- IIAs are published on our website as well as being included within the appendices of a committee report, and where appropriate will include detail on how the Fairer Scotland Duty has been met