The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has now published the Mainstreaming Equality Report and a new set of Equality Outcomes for the reporting period 2023-2027.
These new outcomes are designed to drive our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) agenda, by raising awareness and embedding our EDI aims and objectives throughout SCTS. This includes reviewing and refreshing employment policies and ensuring equality of access to court, tribunal and Office of the Public Guardian services are free from discrimination and bias.
The Equality Outcomes were established through consultation with our external Equality Advisory Group and our internal Equality Steering Group, PCS, trade unions and employees across the organisation.
The Mainstreaming Equality Report records the dedicated work carried out by everyone in the SCTS over the past two years to embrace EDI in all our practices, in partnership with other organisations within the Scottish justice system.
The Mainstreaming Equality Report covers a wide range of activities and tools to support the SCTS’ ongoing commitment to EDI. This includes the Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation Silver Award, our Wellbeing Initiative, our collaborative working with other Scottish justice organisations and the Disability Confident Scheme.
The report’s Equality Outcomes section records our progress against the SCTS Equality Outcomes published in 2019.
Eric McQueen, SCTS Chief Executive and Equality Champion said: “The work on equality, inclusion and diversity undertaken to date, and which will continue during the next reporting period 2023-27, is only possible through the passion and commitment of our employees who strive to improve the quality of our services, by ensuring we focus on the individual needs of those who rely on the Scottish justice system. This work is supported by our continuous commitment to provide an inclusive workplace where all employees feel valued for who they are regardless of their age, religion or belief, race, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership or pregnancy and maternity, making SCTS a great place to work, learn and develop.”