3. Ensuring effective regulatory and policy environment

What this driver aims to achieve: 

To promote laws, regulations and policies shaping the actions of the Scottish Government that aim to collectively support stronger performance of the public sector equality duty and the further realisation of fundamental human rights for all the people of Scotland.

This includes aiming to have the most effective equality and human rights legislation possible within devolved competence, and promoting legislation and policies that properly consider equality and human rights requirements. 

This should help create a cohesive legislative and policy framework that both reflects Scotland’s commitment to equality and human rights and supports continuous improvement across the public sector which will make Scotland fairer for all.

Therefore, making better regulation and policy is a principal ambition of mainstreaming, because it aims to produce regulations and policies that consider equality and human rights as core parts of the process.

What this means for your organisation:

While the Scottish Government focuses on creating and improving equality and human rights legislation, other public sector organisations can play an essential role in shaping the legal and regulatory framework by:

• Developing effective organisational policies and practices that comply with legal requirements.
• Embedding equality and human rights into their decision-making processes.
• Contributing evidence and learning to Scottish Government policy development, such as through consultation responses, sharing implementation experiences, and highlighting where current legislation could be strengthened.
• Choosing to work collaboratively across the public sector with the aim of achieving consistent implementation.

Together, these efforts could create the cohesive regulatory and policy environment described above.

Those working in the legal or policy sphere (including civil servants) must ensure they produce regulations and policies that will make Scotland fairer, advance equality of opportunity and realise fundamental human rights for all the people of Scotland.

Why this matters:

A clear and robust regulatory and policy environment ensures that equality and human rights are embedded in law and policy. This driver aims to supports consistent, fair decision-making.

Good policy making must also be underpinned by

• strong leadership
• organisational capability and capacity
• effective resource allocation
• rigorous policy design based on data and evidence
• responsive stakeholder engagement, including with people with lived experience of different protected characteristics
• robust impact assessments
• transparency and accountability mechanisms.