Audit Scotland
Gender Equality Scheme: 2007 – 2010	

Introduction by the Auditor General

Audit Scotland is committed to valuing and promoting equality and diversity.  Improving gender equality is not only something we must do because of law, it is something we must do because it is right. We are striving towards taking a leading role in promoting equal opportunities practices and diversity both as an employer and as a deliverer of services to the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission. The production of this Scheme and the actions contained within, and also our ongoing work in the other equality strands, will help us do this.
Robert W Black

Introduction
Background
1.	Audit Scotland provides services to the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission for Scotland.  Together, we ensure that the Scottish Executive and public sector bodies in Scotland are held to account for the proper, efficient and effective use of public money.  We do this by carrying out performance studies of public services, audits of Best Value in councils and overseeing the audits of around 200 organisations including:
•	67 Central Government bodies (Scottish Executive departments, non-departmental public bodies, commissions and other accounts) 
•	23 NHS bodies 
•	32 councils 
•	40 police, fire and other boards 
•	39 further education colleges 
•	Scottish Water. 

2.	Our Corporate Plan identifies our three strategic priorities which provide the focus of Audit Scotland’s work:
•	Supporting effective democratic scrutiny
•	Maximising the value of the audit
•	Building an effective and efficient organisation.  
3.	Audit Scotland adheres to a code of conduct that sets out the standards we expect of staff. The way we work is based on four values - effective communication; quality; commitment to learning and improvement; and respect.
The Gender Equality Duty
4.	The Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) 1975 has been amended by the Equality Act of 2006 to place a duty on all public sector authorities to promote gender equality.  The legislation means we must be proactive in ensuring that people of both genders are treated fairly.  This new Gender Equality Duty (GED) is about promoting gender equality and embedding equality for all into our culture in practical and demonstrable ways.  The duty has two elements – a general duty and a specific duty.  The general duty requires all public authorities to have due regard to the need to:
•	Promote equality of opportunity between people of either gender
•	Eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Act
•	Eliminate harassment of persons that is related to their gender, and
•	Promote positive attitudes towards the needs of people of either gender.
5.	The specific duty requires the creation of a gender equality scheme and an action plan.  Audit Scotland is subject to both elements of the duty.
6.	The duty aims to make gender equality central to the way that public authorities work.  It is designed to address the fact that, despite over 30 years of individual legal rights on sex equality, there is still widespread discrimination – sometimes intentional, sometimes unintentional – and persistent gender inequality.  
Gender and the other equality strands
7.	Understanding issues of diversity and equality is important not only for how we run Audit Scotland itself, but also for working with our clients and stakeholders, all of whom have to consider equality and diversity in the day-to-day delivery of public services.  We believe that we can play an important role in promoting gender equality, and equality and diversity more widely, both as an employer, and as a service delivery agent for the Auditor General for Scotland and the Accounts Commission.  
8.	In 2005 we committed to the implementation of the Diversity Excellence Model (DEM), a robust tool for assessing and developing the way in which we manage diversity in Audit Scotland (see Appendix 1).  We have undertaken a review of our current position and this resulted in an action plan aimed at mainstreaming diversity into our working practices.  
9.	While our gender equality scheme and action plan will form the basis of our work specifically on improving gender equality, it will also be fully integrated with the DEM as part of a wider co-ordinated approach to improving equality and diversity across all equality strands.
1.	
10.	A result of this approach will be the production of one integrated equality scheme in the future.  In working to design and implement an integrated scheme, we will ensure that the specific individual requirements of each equality strand (gender, race, disability and other equality strands) are secured and addressed.
Leading and co-ordinating our approach to the Gender Equality Duty
11.	The Auditor General for Scotland is the Accountable Officer and has overall responsibility for our Gender Equality Scheme.  He will work closely with the Senior Management Team (SMT) to oversee the scheme and our action plan.  Responsibility for the implementation of the scheme rests with the Director of Corporate Services, who chairs our Diversity and Equality Working Group (DEWG).  
12.	The DEWG involves representatives from across Audit Scotland, including our staff trade union.  The role of the DEWG is to develop, monitor and review our progress against the equality duties, and report on progress to SMT.  Further information on the role of this group and others involved in monitoring and reviewing our scheme is provided later.
13.	We believe that all our staff have a role to play in our approach to diversity and equality.  All of our senior managers and Directors receive training on equality through the Management Development Programme.  In 2007 all staff will also be required to complete training on diversity and equality to supplement the introduction provided in our induction programme.  

Policies and activities
14.	The way in which we develop policies and conduct our activities lies at the heart of the GED and we recognise that if we are to improve gender equality then we must ensure that:
•	Our policies and activities do not discriminate against people of either gender; and
•	Consideration of gender equality is fully embedded within the way we develop policies and the way we carry out activities.
15.	The steps set out in the rest of the scheme are the means by which we aim to get there.
16.	Our key functions are as follows:
•	Procuring the audit of public bodies for the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission
•	Delivering the audit where we are the appointed auditors.
•	Undertaking performance audit and other studies for the Accounts Commission and the Auditor General to assess the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public services
•	Undertaking Best Value audits for the Accounts Commission
•	Specifying and publishing statutory performance information for the Accounts Commission.

Involving people
17.	At the heart of the GED specific duty is the requirement to consult people in producing the Gender Equality Scheme and action plan.  We recognise that to improve gender equality and eradicate any discrimination in Audit Scotland then staff and stakeholders have to be involved in not only identifying potential discrimination but also in identifying solutions and reviewing the progress and impact of those solutions.  Involvement is a long-term process and we are fully committed to this.  
18.	To maximise the benefit from involvement and to make sure that people have the opportunity to contribute fully, we are approaching involvement in two ways – involvement of staff to look primarily at our internal policies and activities, but also our external-facing work; and involvement of external stakeholders to assess our policies and activities which affect those outside the organisation.
19.	We are aiming to involve people with a range of different backgrounds and will attempt to involve as many people as is practicable.  It is impossible to involve people with every type of personal background, however, we will continue to work towards extending involvement to include as many as possible.  This will allow us to examine whether our policies, procedures and practices truly support people of both genders and check for both direct and indirect discrimination.
20.	The Disability Equality Duty required public bodies to involve people with disabilities, and we have mechanisms (outlined within our Disability Equality Scheme) in place for both internal (staff) and external involvement in this respect.  Our intention is to develop the same level of involvement for gender, particularly on outward facing policies and functions.
21.	The senior management of Audit Scotland have supported this work through the allocation of resources.  In addition, they have stressed the importance of this work and their commitment to the GED through staff communications.   
22.	We have involved a group of staff in creating this scheme and to help identify solutions and monitor and review the scheme and action plan.
23.	A small group of staff (male and female composition) carried out an initial assessment of our internal and external policies, functions and activities to establish which should be prioritised for impact assessments.  We will further establish a wider group of representative individuals (see paragraphs 18 & 19) which will be tasked with helping to check and assess:
•	each internal and external policy and activity to identify potential and actual discrimination 
•	the potential impact of each policy and activity on staff of either gender
•	the relative importance of each policy and activity.
24.	From this, further priorities for impact assessment will be identified.  This is discussed in more detail in the following section.  Members of the group will also be involved in carrying out an assessment of our outward-facing policies and activities.  
Taking involvement further
25.	This group will have responsibility for deciding what involvement should look like once the scheme is published.  There are some specific actions to be undertaken, such as monitoring and reviewing the scheme and the action plan and these are detailed in the relevant sections.  The group will decide, in conjunction with the DEWG, what format these will take.
26.	Staff group members will be given express permission by senior management to spend time on this work.

Assessing the impact of policies and activities
27.	Audit Scotland is committed to valuing and promoting diversity and strives to take a leading role in promoting equal opportunity practices both as an employer and in our auditing role.  We recognise, however, that we need to review our policies and functions both to ensure that they do not unintentionally disadvantage people of either gender, and to identify where we can better promote equality of opportunity.  
28.	To fully assess all aspects of our work we are committed to undertaking impact assessments of our policies and activities.
29.	To gain maximum value from the impact assessment process, we will be assessing our policies and activities against all the equality strands (both those in law and those forthcoming).  We are aware that there is a risk in such an approach because there is potential for gender issues to become ‘lost’ amid the other strands.  However, we will put in place mechanisms to ensure that any issues particular to one strand of diversity and equality are properly addressed in the impact assessment process.  One way in which this may happen is for separate assessments on e.g. gender, to take place if there are particular high priority issues.  The DEWG has recently agreed to adopt the Scottish Executive’s Impact Assessment Tool.  We will seek input from our internal involvement group to help tailor the Tool to our needs and circumstances.  
30.	As discussed in the previous section, a small group of staff were involved in the initial assessment of our internal and external policies, functions and activities.  They rated each area for impact on people (of either gender) and importance in relation to our other policies and activities.   The scale used for impact was – no impact of either gender, a little impact, some impact, and substantial impact because of gender.  The scale used for importance of the policy or activity was - not very important, reasonably important, and very important.  The scores for each of these were then mapped against each other to identify the gender priorities for impact assessment (see appendices 2 and 3).  
31.	These gender priorities will be placed alongside the priorities for the other equality strands to determine the final priorities for impact assessment.  As mentioned previously, mechanisms for ensuring that no important issues are missed will be developed through the action plan.
32.	Undertaking full impact assessments can be resource intensive.  To ensure that we get as much out of the process as possible, each assessment will be undertaken by a small group of participants.  This group will also be fully supported throughout the assessment process.  The group will be made up from a combination of those responsible for the policy/activity; members of the DEWG group; participants from the internal/external involvement groups; other stakeholders affected by the policy/activity and potential participants from other equality strands.
33.	The impact assessment process will span the length of the scheme, therefore we are keen to start as soon as is practicable.  We are aiming to conduct a pilot impact assessment within the next three to six months and then to roll out the programme after a review of the pilot.

Mapping our performance
34.	Audit Scotland has for some time systematically collected information on gender from its staff.  Audit Scotland has undertaken annual monitoring of gender equality since 2002.  This includes monitoring of equality in key areas such as recruitment, remuneration, learning & development, performance management and grievances.  Outcomes are reported and shared with the DEWG, SMT, union representatives and staff.  Each report is published on our external web site.  Any data which suggests unequal treatment between people of either gender is examined in further detail leading to corrective action, where necessary.  This work has helped to inform our initial list of priorities and action plan for the scheme.
35.	By expanding our information-gathering and staff involvement arrangements to cross check for indirect or less obvious evidence of discrimination we will be able to improve our action plan to promote gender equality.
Recruitment
36.	When applicants apply to Audit Scotland, information on gender is collected and retained by our recruitment agency through an anonymous diversity form.  This information is collated by our recruitment agency at the end of each campaign and a report is submitted to Audit Scotland.  The report provides figures on the number of applicants at each stage of the recruitment process broken down by disability, ethnicity, gender, religion and age.  The early stages of recruitment selection are undertaken by managers who have no knowledge of each applicant’s personal data.
Staff development and retention
37.	Using the gender information Audit Scotland gathers at recruitment we undertake a review of gender equality concerning staff development and retention.  This forms part of the work of the annual equality and monitoring report.  
38.	Information relating to staff performance management (i.e. annual appraisal, forward planning of objectives, access to learning & development, disciplinary and grievance cases) is collected by Audit Scotland and used as part of this report.
39.	During 2006/07, all senior managers will undertake our Management Development Programme which includes diversity and equality elements.  All staff at every grade will also be required to complete training on diversity and equality during 2007.  We have already started raising awareness among all staff about equality and diversity in general through team presentations.  This will continue and will be built on using internal staff communications and an updating of our intranet site.
40.	Audit Scotland conducts a bi-ennial staff survey (next due in 2007) which is undertaken by an external agency with individual responses remaining anonymous and confidential.  In 2005 it had a response rate of 78 per cent.  The survey covers topics such as staff views on management, how we conduct our work and the working environment.  There is currently a demographics section which gathers information from respondents on areas such as gender, job grade, department, age and length of service.  This will give us an anonymous mechanism for collecting information about staff by gender and their thoughts and experiences concerning a range of topics connected with working at Audit Scotland.  We will also develop questions to provide broad information about staff development and general perceptions of progress on gender equality and equality and diversity more generally.  By disaggregating the data to look at gender separately, we will be able to build up a rich picture of staff’s experiences by gender, job grade, age and length of service.
Measuring progress
41.	The involvement of staff is helping us to identify key actions and prioritise our impact assessment programme for internal policies and activities.  This work will continue to feed into the action plan.  The DEWG will monitor progress on the actions with the help of the involvement groups.
42.	In addition to monitoring the actions, and tracking staff recruitment, development and retention, we will measure progress on key aspects of diversity and equality (including gender) through the Diversity Excellence Model (DEM) and the staff survey.  In the baseline DEM survey in 2005, we asked our staff how they thought Audit Scotland was performing in relation to diversity.  They assessed us as being in the ‘getting started’ category for most areas (leadership, policy and strategy, people, partnerships and resources, processes, customer results, people results, society results and key performance results).  Staff will be asked to reassess our performance on the same criteria in three to five years, providing us with a broad measure of our progress.
43.	We will measure satisfaction and perceptions of staff through the bi-ennial staff survey.
44.	Measuring progress on our external audit activities is more difficult and will depend more on monitoring actions in the plan.  
Using the information
45.	As mentioned in each of the previous sections, the information that we gather, both on employment and on our wider performance, will allow us to meet our legal obligations and to measure progress on our action plan and gender equality in general.  We have identified an action to develop appropriate mechanisms for measuring progress and impact.  

Monitoring and Review
46.	The DEWG group in conjunction with the involvement group will monitor and review progress on the action plan in regular quarterly meetings.  The group currently produces an annual diversity monitoring report for each calendar year.  This will be expanded to include further gender equality information and analysis when the information described in the previous sections becomes available.  The whole scheme and action plan will be reviewed and updated in three years.
47.	The annual diversity monitoring report will set out:
•	Progress on actions taken in the past year
•	The results of information-gathering
•	What we have done with the information collected.
48.	We will also publish the results of our impact assessments on an annual basis.
49.	We will publish a revised gender equality scheme in May 2010.
Assessing progress in other organisations
50.	Public bodies have a statutory duty to encourage equal opportunities.  As part of this, Audit Scotland currently addresses equality issues in the bodies we audit in a number of ways.  As part of the impact assessment process these approaches will be reviewed and any improvements identified.
51.	The Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 introduced a statutory duty of Best Value and Community Planning on councils. The definition of Best Value includes the encouragement of both equal opportunities and the observance of the equal opportunities requirements as defined in the Scotland Act 1998.
52.	Within Local Government, the following audit approaches encompass equality issues:
•	Statutory Performance Indicators
o	Audit Scotland (on behalf of the Accounts Commission) specifies statutory performance indicators (SPIs) which all councils, police forces and fire brigades must publish.  There are specific indicators relating to gender.  Consultation remains ongoing to ensure that these measures remain relevant.

•	Public Reporting Studies
o	We explicitly consider equalities issues at the early scoping stages of every study, when a formal study brief is prepared. Every brief is then sent for comment to a range of stakeholders, including the main equalities bodies.
o	We are also currently undertaking a study within the area of equalities, examining the impact of the race equality duty on local government service delivery.  The study is due to be published in Winter 2007 and is expected to have findings that will be transferable to the other equality strands.
•	Best Value Audits
o	In 2004, we started a programme of Best Value Audits, which are designed to ensure that councils have made proper arrangements for Best Value and are complying with their Community Planning duties under the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003. All 32 councils will be audited over a 3 - 4 year period.  Police and Fire authorities are also subject to Best Value audits.
o	The Statutory Guidance on Best Value provides ten major criteria, one of which is equal opportunities arrangements. Councils self-assess their performance against all ten Best Value criteria and the audit process checks evidence in detail against a targeted selection of these. In some councils the audit takes an overview of equalities performance; in others a more detailed audit will be undertaken.
53.	Public reporting studies and the Priorities & Risk Framework are also used within the health and central government sectors.  The health sector can also use staff governance audits to assess equality and diversity within health boards while draft guidance has been issued for the duty of Best Value to both sectors.

54.   By using our Priorities & Risk Framework (PRF), principally an audit planning and risk assessment tool, in combination with other activities we are able to identify risks which may be specific to local government in Scotland.  This helps auditors in assessing audit risk and deciding where to target resources.  Equalities is considered as a cross-cutting theme particularly in relation to political governance, performance management, workforce management, procuring and managing assets. The Priorities & Risk Frameworks are also used across all sectors (health, central and local government).   

Actions and priorities
Top eight actions
54.	Below we set out our next eight key steps that we will undertake in the next six months.
TIMEFRAME	ACTION	

Within 3 months	Set specific timeframes and actions for communication about the scheme and action plan	
	Extend gender involvement group beyond members of the DEWG	
	Tailor our impact assessment tool	
	Extend involvement to include other equality strands	
	Develop our priorities and programme of impact assessments	
	Review outcomes from the staff survey	
From 3 months onwards	Continue roll-out of awareness and understanding approaches – staff training, on-line awareness package and Management Development Programme	
Within 3 to 6 months	Conduct an impact assessment pilot	

Top policies and activities for review
55.	Below we set out the 14 policies and activities assessed by our involvement group and the DEWG as being top priorities for impact assessment:
•	Recruitment and selection
•	Health and safety (including occupational health, employee welfare assistance programme, workplace safety and facilities)
•	Flexible working (including homeworking, remote working policy, family friendly provisions and emergency leave)
•	Maternity & paternity pay and leave
•	Communications Strategy
•	Priorities and Risk Frameworks
•	Statutory Performance Indicators (SPI’s)
•	Project Management Framework for public reporting studies
•	Best Value Audit Risk Assessment process
•	Code of Audit Practice
•	Financial Stewardship and Governance procedures
•	Sector Plans
•	Quality Control Review (QCR) process
•	National Studies

Note:  Staff remuneration (job evaluation, salary structure, benefits) is being reviewed separately as part of the Reward Project which is being launched in 2007.  The project will include a requirement for impact assessment to be built into the project plan.
•	
Appendix 1 – Diversity Excellence Model
56.	The DEM is designed to help organisations assess themselves and measure their progress in managing diversity. The model is structured around key processes and their impact within issues such as leadership, people, policy and strategy, business processes and key performance results.  The DEM has been used by many public sector organisations including the former Inland Revenue, Ministry of Defence and Crown Prosecution Service.
The Diversity Excellence Model
Enablers ►	 	Results ►	
	
Leadership

Leadership at all levels is committed and active inside and outside the organisation in promoting diversity, which is demonstrably part of the organisational culture and philosophy 		People

People understand, are committed to, involved and recognised in the effective management of diversity		Processes

Processes are systematically designed/reviewed and improved to manage stakeholder diversity and generate increasing value		People Results

Data showing how the organisation is perceived by its people in the management of diversity		Key Performance Results

The extent to which the organisation's management of diversity is contributing to its business results	
					
		Policy & Strategy

Management of diversity is mainstreamed with a clear strategic aim communicated effectively, sensitively and implemented				Customer Results

Disaggregated data (age, disability, gender, race etc) systematically measuring customer satisfaction			
					
		Partnerships and Resources

P & R are identified, aligned and deployed to take into account the diverse needs of all stakeholders				Society Results

Data showing how the organisation is perceived by local, national and international society on its management of diversity			
	
◄ Innovation and Learning	

Appendix 2 – Prioritising our internal policies and activities (gender)
 	SUBSTANTIAL IMPACT	SOME IMPACT	A LITTLE IMPACT	NO IMPACT	
VERY IMPORTANT	•	flexible working
•	occupational health service
•	employee welfare assistance programme
•	recruitment and selection policy
•	sickness and absence
•	travel
•	childcare vouchers
•	flexi-time scheme
•	staff restrooms
•	H+S - workplace health, safety and welfare
•	home/remote working
•	compassionate leave
•	holiday
•	maternity & paternity leave and other family friendly provisions.	•	H+S - working with VDUs 
•	support desk/mayday
•	estate management - procurement of offices
•	implementation of new technology
•	Working time
•	Emergency leave
	•	maintaining network/infrastructure 
•	health and safety
•	H+S -audit accommodation
•	H+S - fire procedures
	•	 meeting rooms
•	property issues (e.g. lift repairs)
•	estate management - fabric of offices
•	estate management - fixtures and fittings

REASONABLY IMPORTANT	•	learning and development
•	bullying and harassment
•	car leasing
•	fixed term contracts
•	introduction and welcome to Audit Scotland
•	job evaluation process
•	security 
•	pay
•	disciplinary and grievance 

	•	PDS
•	PDS appeals
•	personal details
•	secondments
•	travel and expenses
•	environmental policy
•	H+S - manual handling
•	H+S - workplace inspections
•	budget-setting
•	purchasing and licensing
•	intranet
•	IT training
•	data protection policy	•	computer security
•	certification and testing
•	bus tickets/taxis
•	car parking
•	mobiles/PDAs 

NOT VERY IMPORTANT	•	adverse weather conditions
•	relocation policy

	•	catering
•	abacus
•	daily news
•	early retirement & retirement
	•	code of conduct
•	diversity statement
•	archiving
•	accident reporting
•	mail
•	leases and rates
•	insurance
•	valuations and appeals
•	time recording
•	approved software and hardware list	•	charities and sponsorship
•	counter-fraud policy
•	leaving your employment
•	other employment
•	personal property
•	season ticket policy
•	self-employed consultants
•	smoking
•	whistleblowing
•	disclosure for Scottish Executive/Scottish Parliament
•	stationery
•	invoicing
•	acceptable use (ICT) policy	

Appendix 3 – Prioritising our external policies and activities (gender)
 	SUBSTANTIAL IMPACT	SOME IMPACT	A LITTLE IMPACT	NO IMPACT	
VERY IMPORTANT	Public reporting - study scoping/project brief	Media enquiries/contacts	Audit risk analysis and plan	Financial statements strategy	
 	Public reporting - fieldwork - surveys	Public reporting - forward work programme development	Annual members report/local reports	Independent auditor's report	
 	Public reporting - reporting	Public reporting - forward work programme consultation	 	Meetings at client bodies	
 	Public reporting - Best Value methodology - risk assessment	Public reporting - preparation of sector overview reports	 	Reports publication	
 	Public reporting - Best Value methodology - reporting		 	Internet	
 	Public reporting – Statutory Performance Indicators	 	 	 	
 	Quality Control Reviews (QCR)	 	 	 	
 	Code of Audit Practice	 	 	 	
 	Priorities and Risk Frameworks		 	 	
	Sector Plans				
 	Audit Guide	 	 	 	
	Communications Strategy (including website content and printed material)				
REASONABLY IMPORTANT	Procurement of audit 	Media interviews	provision of technical guidance		
 	Staying away at client sites	Public reporting - procurement of external services	Press releases	 	
 	Public reporting - engagement with external stakeholders		Public reporting - fieldwork - interviews	 	
 	 Audit accommodation		Public reporting - external activities	 	
 	 			 	
NOT VERY IMPORTANT			Correspondence - publicising of procedure to public	 	
 	 		Monitoring of correspondence	 	
 	 		Procedure for dealing with correspondence	 	

Appendix 4 - Gender Equality Scheme Action Plan
This Action Plan sets out the specific steps Audit Scotland will take in improving gender equality.  The plan is structured to fit in with Audit Scotland’s wider Diversity and Equality Action Plan.

Leadership	
Action 	Explanation	Outcome	Responsibility and timescale	
Ensure that leadership and management development programmes include training and development on gender equality.	Need for leaders and senior managers at Audit Scotland to demonstrate high level commitment to and enthusiasm for gender equality and the diversity agenda.

	•	Commitment moving beyond policy, into practice.
•	Clear commitment from the top.
•	Managers skilled and competent at articulating the equality and diversity issues in our work.
•	Leaders ensure that staff are aware of diversity statement and policies.
•	Leaders and senior managers are aware of the specific duties placed upon public sector organisations in relation to race, disability and gender equality and what this means for the organisation/their business units.
•	Visible ownership of equality and diversity issues.	Director of Corporate Services
Human Resources and Organisational Development Manager

July 2007	
Mainstream management of diversity into competency framework.	To ensure that everyone understands what behaviours are expected.	•	Set clear expectations of behaviours against which performance can be measured.	Human Resources and Organisational Development Manager

Commence October 2007	

People	
Action 	Explanation	Outcome	Responsibility and timescale	
Establish membership of internal involvement group to include staff with a wider range of personal backgrounds, and continue to work with the group to develop their programme of involvement 	Requirement of the GED to involve people in progressing gender equality.

Need to implement gender equality in the best way for people of both genders which reflects their differing needs, often influenced by personal circumstances .	•	An internal group that have a range of differing backgrounds based upon gender, age, job grade etc.
•	The group member’s views and experiences strongly influence decisions and priorities.	Director of Corporate Services

August 2007 and on-going	
Include specific demographic questions to include in our bi-ennial staff survey to support richer analysis of the results
	Need to gather information on staff in the organisation to support a deeper analysis and better conclusions for future improvement areas	•	A continued high response rate of over 70%, which will allow us to draw robust conclusions from the survey results.
•	A picture of our staff profile and our performance in relation to gender equality.	Human Resources and Organisational Development Manager

June 2007	
Provide all staff with equality training	Ensure that all staff who are not attending other courses are also up to date.

Staff must understand why we are doing them.	•	Staff have an up to date understanding of gender equality and diversity and know how it affects them in their roles.
•	Staff are trained to an appropriate level.	Human Resources and Organisational Development Manager
	
Review all corporate training to refresh and update diversity and equality elements.

Ask external training providers to evidence their commitment to diversity and equality.	Need to ensure that training reflects gender equality duty and Audit Scotland’s diversity work.

Need to mainstream diversity considerations into our programmes.	•	Staff have an up-to-date understanding of gender equality and diversity issues and know how it affects them in their roles.
•	Staff are aware of the Gender Equality Duty specifically.	Human Resources and Organisational Development Manager

Full review of HR run courses by August 2007 and on-going

Policy and strategy	
Action 	Explanation	Outcome	Responsibility and timescale	
Benchmark with other organisations.	This isn’t yet done systematically.	•	Policy development takes account of practice in other organisations.
•	We have a central spreadsheet of contacts within other public sector bodies.
•	We are aware of what other organisations are doing in relation to gender equality and diversity.
•	We have good relationships with other public sector bodies and compare notes with them on diversity and equality-related issues.	Director of Corporate Services

December 2007	
Complete pilot impact assessment, finalise full programme of impact assessments and train staff and stakeholders who will be involved in assessments (including members of DEWG and the involvement groups)	Impact assessments needed for all relevant policies and activities over the next three years, starting with the highest priority ones identified with the internal involvement group.

Pilot assessment to help tailor the assessment tool to suit our needs and identify a realistic level of resources to complete the programme.

Training to ensure a systematic and consistent approach to impact assessments.	•	A tailored impact assessment tool that meets our needs
•	A 3-year programme of impact assessments based on priorities
•	A team of staff who understand feel equipped to undertake impact assessments	Director of Corporate Services responsible for overall programme of impact assessments.  

Heads of functions responsible for individual impact assessments of specific policies, functions or activities.

August 2007	
Investigate and set out methods for assessing whether the outcomes have been achieved for each action in the action plan and what the impact is on people of both genders.	To assess progress on the action plan, outcomes have been identified but mechanisms must be put in place to evidence whether these have been achieved and what impact they have had	•	A method identified for measuring each action outcome and assessing its impact	Director of Corporate Services

December 2007	
The DEWG group to review progress on the action plan every six months.	Progress on the action plan must be monitored and reviewed.	•	A minuted assessment of progress on the action plan	Director of Corporate Services

First review by January 2008	
The involvement groups to review progress on the action plan every six months.	The GED requires people to be involved in monitoring and reviewing the action plan	•	A minuted assessment of progress on the action plan	Director of Corporate Services

First review by January 2008	
Produce an annual review of progress on the gender equality scheme and a revised action plan.	Requirement of the GED and a means of reporting progress to all interested parties.	•	A formal, annual assessment of progress and a revised action plan, approved by MT	Director of Corporate Services

First review May 2008	
Formally review the Gender Equality Scheme after 3 years and publish an updated scheme and action plan	Requirement of the GED and a means of keeping the scheme up-to-date and relevant.	•	A formal review of the scheme by the DEWG, the involvement groups and other involved parties
•	An updated scheme published by May 2010	Director of Corporate Services

May 2010	
Repeat the Diversity Excellence Model Assessment to measure overall improvement	The DEM is designed to be used regularly to evidence improvements in a systematic and consistent way	•	A report on the results of a second DEM assessment	Director of Corporate Services

December 2008	

Partnerships and resources	
Action 	Explanation	Outcome	Responsibility and timescale	
Building audits to be completed and used (including procurement plans).	Buildings must offer suitable facilities to the needs of people of both genders (i.e. facilities for nursing mothers).	•	Completed building audits available and key actions addressed where possible	Finance Manager

December 2007	
Introduce equality and diversity clause in procurement contracts.	Revised procurement guidance approved by MT in February 2007 does this. 

This will also be reviewed as part of the impact assessment programme.	•	Staff involved in procurement use the guidance
•	All contracts contain appropriate clauses	Director of Corporate Services
Directors of Audit Strategy, Audit Services and Public Reporting

July 2007 & ongoing	

Processes	
Action 	Explanation	Outcome	Responsibility and timescale	
Review all communication processes for inclusivity.	Ensure communication strategy recognises different needs of diverse audiences.

This will also be reviewed as part of the impact assessment programme.	•	A completed review and any recommendations implemented.	Communications Manager

December 2007	
Ensure quality framework mainstreams diversity.	Review quality framework.	•	A completed review and any recommendations implemented.	Director of Corporate Services

August 2007	

People results	
Action 	Explanation	Outcome	Responsibility and timescale	
Extend our routine monitoring to examine richer and deeper areas of gender inequality (indirect discrimination / culture improvement)
	Ensure that we have appropriate methods for collecting information that will be valuable in monitoring.	•	Routine monitoring embraces staff attitude survey data and examines possible trends suggested by different data.
	Human Resources and Organisational Development Manager

January 2008

Customer results	
Action 	Explanation	Outcome	Responsibility and timescale	
Complete planned programme of impact assessments and report on results of assessments annually.

This will include the top policies / activities identified by the involvement groups.	Impact assessments needed for all relevant policies and activities over the next three years, starting with the highest priority ones identified with the internal involvement group.	•	A formal, annual report giving the results of impact assessments undertaken in the previous year, and actions taken or planned as a result	Director of Corporate Services

March 2008

Extend QCR process to include diversity.	Ensure that approaches to diversity are reviewed within existing mechanisms for quality review.	•	A completed review and recommendations implemented.	Director of Audit Strategy

Summer 2007 & ongoing	

Society results	
Action 	Explanation	Outcome	Responsibility and timescale	
Ensure that diversity is covered in our memoranda of understanding with other inspection and regulation bodies.	Clarify our expectations.	•	A completed review and recommendations implemented	Director of Corporate Services

December 2007