Policy and Parliamentary Engagement

Our approach to policy work

CRER works directly with decision makers in Scottish Government and in Scotland’s public bodies to push for change in the policies and strategies which affect people’s lives. Our policy work is evidence based, rights based and explicitly anti-racist. Over the past 20 years, we have built a strong track record in identifying what works (and what doesn’t work) to tackle structural racism and racial inequalities. We use this expertise to influence policy in vital areas including education, employment, housing, health and heritage.

​Our policy work includes responding to consultations, working in partnership with policy makers and advising public bodies on their equality responsibilities. We publish a wide range of research and guidance. Our work is always accessible and based on the best available evidence.

We actively push for change on racial equality in Scotland, for example by setting out our key priorities in a pre-election manifesto, a submission to Scottish Ministers on the Programme for Government and an open letter to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in the wake of Black Lives Matter.

Due to our specialisms in equality law and anti-racism, we are often asked to undertake work for other organisations. This includes our review of anti-racist policy making, conducted for Scottish Government, and projects for the Equality and Human Rights Commission including undertaking an assessment of the effectiveness of the public sector equality duties in Scotland and designing the Commission’s principles for meaningful evaluation of anti-prejudice work.

As a Black-led organisation, we push for involvement of the grassroots community groups working on the ground to tackle racism and inequality across Scotland. We encourage policy makers to take approaches to involvement that have maximum impact on policy and practice; approaches that avoid tokenism, consultation fatigue and time wasting. By advocating for this, we ensured that the experiences, needs and priorities of minority ethnic people were at the heart of the development of the Race Equality Framework for Scotland 2016-2030.

Our approach to parliamentary engagement

CRER closely monitors and analyses the work of the Scottish Parliament. Through policy advocacy and political lobbying, we push for change in parliamentary processes in line with our aim to achieve racial equality in Scotland. We adopt a strategic approach to our parliamentary engagement, working both reactively and proactively to push forward our agenda and progress the key Scottish race equality issues.

As CRER seeks to address structural racism, we focus our parliamentary engagement on addressing the root causes of racial inequality to ensure policies and legislation are targeted, effective and fair.

Legislation 

CRER has lobbied for changes to bills passing through the Scottish Parliament. Examples of this include the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 and the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. 

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Child Poverty (Scotland) Act

The Bill for this Act of the Scottish Parliament was passed by the Parliament on 8th November 2017 and received Royal Assent on 18th December 2017. 

The Act is available to read here. 

CRER worked with Jackie Baillie MSP at Stage 2 and Stage 3 of the legislative process to amend the Bill to include:

  • A requirement for Scottish Ministers to set out in the delivery plan any proposed measures in relation to equalities groups who are more likely to experience poverty due to their shared protected characteristic (s. 9(3) (b) )

  • A requirement for Scottish Ministers to consult equalities groups who are more likely to experience poverty due to their shared protected characteristic in the development of the delivery plan (s. 9(8) (e) )

  • A requirement for Scottish Ministers to include in progress reports the effect of measures taken on equalities groups who are more likely to experience poverty due to their shared protected characteristic (s. 10(2) (d) )

  • A requirement for local authorities to describe in their local child poverty action reports any measures taken in relation to equalities groups who are more likely to experience poverty due to their shared protected characteristic (s. 13(6). 

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​Social Security (Scotland) Act 

​The Bill for this Act of the Scottish Parliament was passed by the Parliament on 25th April 2018. 

​The Act is available to read here. 

CRER worked with Mark Griffin MSP and Jackie Baillie MSP at Stage 2 and Stage 3 of the legislative process to amend the Bill to include:

  • An overarching principle which states that opportunities are to be sough to continuously improve the social security system in ways which advance equality and non-discrimination (s. 1(f) (ii) )

  • A requirement for Scottish Ministers to consult equalities groups who are more likely to experience poverty due to their shared protected characteristic in the development of the social security charter (s. 3(3) (b) )

  • A requirement for Scottish Ministers to consult equalities groups who are more likely to experience poverty due to their shared protected characteristic in the review of the social security charter (s. 5(3) (b) )

  • A requirement for the annual report to include an assessment of how well the social security system has affected equalities groups who are more likely to experience poverty due to their shared protected characteristic, as well as a description of the equality monitoring data used in the preparation of the report (s. 6(2) (c) )

 Committee engagement

Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee

CRER engages with key committees in the Scottish Parliament to encourage discussion, inquiries, and legislative changes to advance racial equality in Scotland.

We are particularly interested in the work of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. The Committee's work programme can be found here.

CRER has provided the Committee with evidence on many aspects of its work, including its:

Written Evidence

CRER provides parliamentary committees with written evidence to ensure racial equality remains on the political agenda, including the Education and Skills Committee; the Economy, Jobs, and Fair Work Committee; the Justice Committee; the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing; the Local Government and Communities Committee; and the Social Security Committee. 

Our written submissions can all be found on our Consultation Response web page.

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Parliamentary questions

CRER also closely monitors written and oral parliamentary questions relevant to racial equality and wider equality issues.

You can search for written parliamentary questions here.

COVID-19 and ethnicity: expert reference group

An Expert Reference Group on COVID-19 and Ethnicity was established by the Scottish Government to consider and inform their approach to the impacts of COVID-19 on minority ethnic communities. This was in response to reports at a UK-wide and international level that some minority ethic groups were at risk of experiencing disproportionate effects, both in terms of adverse health outcomes and in a wider context, including economically.

Membership consisted of academics and other expert advisers including CRER’s Executive Director, Jatin Haria. The Group advised on actions to mitigate the harms felt by minority ethnic communities in relation to COVID-19:

Recommendations and Advice

Improving Data and Evidence on Ethnic Inequalities in Health: Initial Advice and Recommendations from the Expert Reference Group on COVID-19 and Ethnicity

Systemic Issues and Risk: Initial Advice and Recommendations from the Expert Reference Group on COVID-19 and Ethnicity

Response

Letter from the Minister for Older People and Equalities: September 2020
Letter from the Minister for Older People and Equalities: November 2020