Legacy Report of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, Session 6

The Committee urges its successor Committee to follow-up on alignment with this Directive next session.

Notwithstanding this positivity about the process, it remains immensely disappointing that the Scottish Government’s progress toward a human rights budgeting model has been so slow. Indeed, it is very difficult to identify much in the way of tangible progress.

The Committee urges the Scottish Government to re-double its efforts to move to this model and recommends that its successor committee maintain this approach and hold the Scottish Government to account on progress towards a human rights budgeting model.

Specifically, the Committee urges its successor committee to hold the Scottish Government to account on:
Meeting the recommendations of the Equality and Human Rights Budget Advisory Group
Improving data collection to inform policy making and budget allocation, and to understand the outcomes of spending decisions.
Improving transparency in budget documents with an emphasis on a more joined up approach between the budget, the Programme for Government and the National Performance Framework.
Ensuring meaningful public engagement by the Scottish Government in the development and evaluation of policy.

Fundamentally, in setting its budget, the Scottish Government must move to a much more joined up model across Government that is focused on improving outcomes. We urge our successor committee to press the next administration to achieve that.

Primary legislation on civil legal assistance reform must not be delayed any further.

The Committee strongly recommends that its successor Committee continue to press the Scottish Government for action on both short-term changes and fundamental changes through primary legislation.

Given the likelihood of potential legislative activity in the next session, the successor Committee may wish to prioritise early, detailed scrutiny of any proposals brought forward. To support this work, the Committee recommends that its successor consider commissioning a People's Panel, or a similar public participation process, to gather informed public perspectives on priorities and trade‑offs in legal aid reform. Such input would strengthen the quality of scrutiny and help ensure that future reforms reflect public need and expectations.

We live in an ever more polarised and unequal society where the rights of people with protected characteristics are increasingly under threat. The Committee urges its successor committee to follow-up on this work and ensure that not only is the Scottish Government responding to the recommendations of the Committee's inquiry, but it is demonstrating flexibility in its response to any new challenges as they emerge.

That revised Code is yet to be laid before the UK Parliament, far less approved. As such, the Committee has not been able to undertake this further work this session. For some members (Pam Gosal and Tess White) the judgment in For Women Scotland made the law clear and they would urge this Committee’s successor committee to consider the implications of the judgment without waiting for the revised Code. For one member (Rhoda Grant) some clarity has been provided by the judgment, but there is still a need for further clarity from the revised Code and as such consideration should be delayed until that revised Code has been approved. And for the remaining members (Karen Adam, Maggie Chapman, Paul McLennan and Marie McNair), the judgment has not provided the necessary clarity and they urge the successor Committee to consider this revised code once it has been approved. In all instances members would encourage a focus on how the law is being implemented and how the public sector is demonstrating leadership.

The Committee notes the importance of public bodies keeping policies and practice aligned with current law and statutory guidance, and stresses the importance of taking necessary action, including, where appropriate, training, to ensure compliance.

Since the Committee concluded its inquiry and made these recommendations the debate around asylum seekers has become more polarised and pronounced. This is a very pressing issue and we would urge our successor committee to return to this issue early in the session.

Returning to the comments made earlier about the need to foster good relations between communities in the context of the PSED, it seems critical to the Committee that a successor committee examine how the tenor of the debate around asylum seekers can be changed and community relations improved.

In the short time we have had this session we have identified key areas that must be pursued next session. Change will not happen, however, without much further work. We urge our successor committee to prioritise this work at the beginning of next session and build on the work of this inquiry, holding the next administration to account for responding to the needs of neurodivergent people in Scotland.

A majority of the Committee urges its successor committee to pursue the introduction of a human rights bill next session as a matter of priority. i Pam Gosal and Tess White dissented from this paragraph.

The Committee would urge its successor committee to continue with these sessions on an annual basis and consider how it can use the Human Rights Tracker tool and the Action Plan to measure the Scottish Government's progress in responding to the concluding observations.

The concluding observations have implications for a wider variety of subject areas. With that in mind, we would urge all committees to reflect on these observations and consider how they could use the Tracker tool to measure the Scottish Government's progress against them in areas within their remit.

The Committee urges its successor committee to again reflect on minimum core obligations in the context of its scrutiny work next session.

The Committee also urges other committees to adopt this approach and consider how commitments made this session in terms of rights to access food and housing, for example, are being delivered upon by the next administration.

It must be ensured that commitments are met, and committees should not neglect their responsibility to ensure that the next administration is fulfilling these commitments.

The Committee welcomes the suggestion to follow-up on a wider review of the remit and powers of the SHRC and urges its successor committee to do so and consider how the SHRC can perform its role as Scotland’s NHRI most effectively.

The Committee also encourages its successor committee to consider how it can work as effectively as possible with the SHRC in the interests of good scrutiny while still maintaining its role in holding the SHRC to account for its performance.

We would urge our successor Committee to follow-up on this issue next session to see what progress is being made in tackling it.

Moreover, some members of the Committee would urge the successor committee to press the Scottish Government to prioritise bringing forward legislation.

The Committee is deeply disappointed with the lack of progress in implementing this legislation, in particular in relation to FGM. The Committee strongly recommends that its successor committee continue to monitor progress in the implementation of these provisions and ensure that as a key stakeholder it is provided with the regular updates that the Scottish Government committed to providing. Moreover, we urge our successor committee to press the Scottish Government on ensuring that there is no further undue delay in the implementation of the Acts.

The Committee found this to be a particularly constructive piece of post-legislative scrutiny which helped bring added momentum to the ongoing implementation of the Act's provisions in order to help further reduce barriers encountered by BSL users. We recommend that our successor committee maintains this focus by taking evidence on progress towards full realisation of the Act's intentions at least once in the next session. It is essential that BSL users themselves are consulted as part of any future work on this topic.

Given the broad range of issues considered and their interconnected nature, the Committee recognises that other committees have a key role to play in scrutinising policy developments within their own remits. However, this committee has a key role to play in ensuring that consideration of human rights is not lost sight of in the context of rurality. We recommend that our successor continues to monitor progress, or lack thereof, towards the full realisation of rights in rural areas. The publication of the SHRC report on the South of Scotland is expected to provide a key opportunity to further progress this work.

The Committee urges its successor to return to see what progress has been made in the intervening years, particularly in the context of the independent report commissioned by the Scottish Government "Twentieth century policies affecting Gypsy/Traveller communities in Scotland: archival research" and the apology made by the Scottish Government in June 2025 for the "Tinker Experiment".

The Committee would encourage its successor committee explore this issue further and ensure that the Scottish Government meets its commitment to consult on an incremental future increase in the Age of Criminal Responsibility.

As we now come to the final days of this session and reflect on the work we have done and our ambitions at the beginning of this session, it is disappointing to reflect on so many areas of work where progress has been delayed.

Commitments by the Scottish Government to introduce legislation on Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence, Human Rights, Civil Legal Assistance and Conversion Practices have all failed to be met. In addition, in the course of the Committee's work on the non-implementation of legislation passed by the Parliament, it is apparent that there are bills dating back as far as six years with provisions still to be implemented.

More generally, we would reflect on a session that began at the tail end of Covid with hopes for a better world emerging out of it. As we now conclude this session, from the perspective of the remit of this Committee at least, it is difficult to see signs of that better world.

We would urge our successor to continue to hold the Scottish Government to account to ensure it brings forward policies and legislation to contribute to a more equal and less polarised society. We would particularly encourage our successor committee to hold the Scottish Government to account for delivery of its commitments to bring forward legislation that it failed to deliver on this session as well as its commitment to fully implement the legislation we have highlighted that remains unimplemented since session 5.

The Committee considers however, that it has been able to undertake effective work this session, which should put a successor committee in an advantageous position as it begins work in these areas. That work has been most effective when shaped by and led by lived experience and we would encourage our successor committee to pursue its work in a similar fashion.

Fundamentally, we consider that while the outlook may be challenging in those areas covered by this Committee's remit, the Committee's work has shown that centring work around lived experience can still lead to real and meaningful progress and this must be a lesson we all take forward.