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Good practice Imported

Scotland's Equality and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement

United Kingdom · Edinburgh · See the United Kingdom profile · See the Edinburgh profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 68% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2010 Scotland has published an annual Equality and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement. A July 2024 OECD review found the process well-embedded but at risk of becoming window dressing, with equality analysis often arriving too late to shape decisions.

15+ years
Consecutive annual budget statements published (2010-present)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Scottish Government / Equality and Human Rights Budget Advisory Group
Period
2010-present (OECD review published 2024)
Keywords
public finance, budgeting, gender equality, equality impact assessment

Context

Since 2010, Scotland has published an annual Equality and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement setting out the expected equality impacts of budget and tax decisions, drawing on individual Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) and advised by the Equality and Human Rights Budget Advisory Group, which includes the Scottish Women's Budget Group.

Results

A July 2024 OECD external assessment using a five-pillar framework found strong political commitment but concluded that EQIAs are typically completed too late in the policy cycle to influence budget design, that responsibility is scattered across multiple bodies rather than centrally led, and that gender risks being treated as one equality characteristic among several. The Scottish Women's Budget Group's 2025 parliamentary submission reached a similar conclusion, finding no clear step-change in the quality of gender analysis and noting that the latest statement had dropped its previous detailed portfolio-by-portfolio breakdown — a reduction in transparency.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Scottish Government officials producing individual Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) and the annual statement, Equality and Human Rights Budget Advisory Group (including the Scottish Women's Budget Group) providing external advice, National Advisory Council for Women and Girls advising separately on gender inequality

Conditions for success

  • EQIAs completed early enough in the policy cycle to actually influence budget design
  • Centralised leadership and accountability rather than responsibility scattered across multiple bodies
  • Sustained portfolio-by-portfolio transparency in the published statement

Common failure modes

  • The OECD found EQIAs typically completed too late in the policy cycle to influence budget design
  • Responsibility for gender budgeting is scattered across multiple bodies rather than centrally led
  • Gender risks being treated as one equality characteristic among several rather than analysed on its own terms
  • The Scottish Women's Budget Group found no step-change in the quality of gender analysis and noted a reduction in the statement's portfolio-level transparency

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes CERV — Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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