Mainstreaming and outcomes progress report

Equality at sportscotland

Equality mainstreaming and outcomes progress report

1 April 2023 to 31 March 2025

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Introduction

Welcome to sportscotland's equality mainstreaming and outcomes progress report. This report covers the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2025.

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Strategic context

Our corporate strategy, Sport for Life, outlines our vision of an active Scotland where everyone benefits from sport. It sets out our commitment to inclusion underpinning everything we do. Our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) approach brings this commitment to life. It aligns with our Public Sector Equality Duties (PSED).

Figure 1. Three strands form our approach for equality, diversity and inclusion

To find our more please visit: Sport for Life and our approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (sportscotland.org.uk).

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How we deliver our EDI approach 

The principles outlined below guide the delivery of our EDI approach:

1. Inclusive: We will progress from approaching inclusion to satisfy our legal requirements, to inclusion as how we do business. 
2. Accountable: We will ensure governance is in place to keep delivery on track. We will have clear roles and responsibilities while recognising shared responsibility and accountability. 
3. Person-centred: We will involve the groups we are trying to reach in decision making.  
4. Responsive: We will use information and evidence, ensure this is current and up to date. We will experiment and embrace change. 
5. Collaborative: We will work with existing and new partners, particularly those who represent excluded groups, to increase our reach. 
6. World class: We will be ambitious and brave in trying new approaches. We will test and be prepared to fail and learn. 

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Our system - mainstreaming equality

We build systems that are inclusive by design and target provision for under-represented and excluded groups

Mainstreaming equality means taking it into account in the way we run our organisation and how we deliver our programmes and services. This aligns with our ambition to develop a system that is inclusive by design.

Internal governance and resource

Our internal inclusion group brings key staff from across the organisation to oversee our EDI approach and manage risks.

Our EDI manager drives our vision for EDI and facilitates strategic change across the sporting system. Examples include supporting our learning and development for EDI, arranging anti-racism training and reviewing our policies.

Planning and reporting

Equality impact assessments (EQIAs) help us take person-centred, evidence-based decisions to address inequalities. We completed and published five EQIAs on our website at: Equality impact assessments (sportscotland.org.uk).

1. SGB small sport policy
2. Moving to Inclusion Framework
3. Page Tiger digital document software
4. 35 hour working week implementation
5. Facilities investment

We developed resources to support staff on equalities, diversity and inclusion (EDI). This includes a summary of our 2021-23 EDI progress report, a standard EDI approach strategy presentation, an analysis of EDI activity by strand/protected characteristic, and a resource plan to help improve staff and partners understanding and confidence of EDI.

We created an interactive dashboard to report the EDI on profile for our participants across each environment. Please see appendix one. Full data can be found at: Sport For Life 2024 - Annual review (sportscotland.org.uk).

We developed a one-page visual to illustrate where our activity delivers our equality duties for each protected characteristic. Please see appendix two.

We collaborated with other Scottish public sector bodies through the NDPB equality form to share best practice, learning and resources. Examples included supporting the 35-hour working week implementation, PSED consultation feedback and employee data collection.

Research, data and insight

We updated our equality data collection, both internally and externally, in light of 2022 Scottish Census.

We continue to develop our online toolbox of resources to help people learn the basics about EDI in sport and provide tools and examples to help people apply inclusive practice: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion: Toolbox (sportscotland.org.uk)

We are working with Scottish governing bodies of sport (SGBs) to improve collection of membership equality data. We provided an Information pack for SGBs, providing guidance on what and how to collect EDI data. This is a significant ongoing project given the variation in size and capacity in governing bodies.

We continue to update our equality and sport evidence resources. This includes:

1. We worked with other home countries to provide the Tackling racism and racial inequality in sport research (sportscotland.co.uk). We provide updates on how we are progressing against the recommendations.
2. We delivered a series of development sessions to share the research, the findings and available support from the Transgender participation in sport research (equalityinsport.org).
3. We co-commissioned independent research with UK Sport and other home country sport councils to identify the equality profile of athletes on the sport and talent pathway. We shared the findings with SGBs to facilitate discussions on the demographic makeup of the cohort of talented athletes.
4. We commissioned Plan4Sport to lead an Independent review into racism in Scottish cricket (sportscotland.org.uk). which resulted in the Changing the Boundaries report. The review process included almost 1,000 direct engagements from a broad cross-section of all levels of Scottish cricket.
5. In May 2024 we commissioned Horizons Research to complete our latest edition of the Equality and Sport research. This follows on from previous research carried out in 2020 and 2016. The research will focus on:
   1. update and extend our existing equalities and sport evidence resources
   2. engage directly with the sport sector to understand whether and how equalities are embedded into all aspects of our work
   3. gather evidence of the sports sector's understanding and awareness of equality issues in sport
   4. gather feedback on existing tools and resources on sportscotland website
   5. identify practical recommendations to progress and help prioritise improvement in this area.
   6. Outputs will be available in February 2025.

Communications and profile

We created a digital accessibility toolkit to support staff and partners when developing online content and written information: Digital accessibility toolkit. We provide digital accessibility training to communications teams of SGB and national partners.

We use communications themes to profile the diversity of sport and the range of EDI activity taking place across the system. We launch each theme through our monthly twitter chat #Sporthour with external co-hosts linked to the monthly theme such as ENABLE Scotland, LEAP Sport, WhoCares?Scotland and the Scottish Refugee Council.

We developed a suite of resources and campaigns, promoted across various channels, to encourage our networks to raise the profile of diversity in sport. Highlights include:

1. Celebrating equality and diversity in sport through almost 30 Sport First articles and 12 Focus on Sport stories.
2. National social media campaigns on Active Girls Day, Women and Girls in Sport week and International Women's Day. As part of the activities and to acknowledge International Women's Day, the Irish Consulate hosted sportscotland, Sport Ireland and key partners from both countries for a day of engagements on how better to support female participation in sport.
3. Working with our partners at the National Lottery to profile Good Luck messaging for our para athletes at Paris: Good luck ParalympicsGB! - Sport First (sportscotland.org.uk) and celebrated their stories: Fachie gears up for fifth Paralympics - Sport First (sportscotland.org.uk)
4. Launching the "Find Your Team" campaign and toolkit in partnership with SAMH and Young Scot to spread the message that sport can help overcome social isolation. This is a digital and social media campaign aiming to reach new non-sport audiences: Find Your Team #FeelPartOfSomething (sportscotland.org.uk) 
5. Collaborating with Cricket Scotland and leading anti-racism campaign group, Running Out Racism, on a national #CallItOut campaign.
6. Dedicated Young Ambassador social media channels and online resources to promote leadership in sport to young people.
7. Worked with a range of partners to launch the new Be Active Be Well campaign on The International Day of People with Disabilities 2022. Be Active, Be Well 2023 (sportscotland.org.uk)

We use sponsorship to raise the profile of inclusion and sport across our networks. We celebrate the organisations, individuals and community groups that put inclusion, diversity and equality at the heart of their work. Examples include:

1. Herald & GenAnalytics Diversity Dialogues Series, with our EDI manager part of the discussion panel.
2. ENABLE Europe in Action Conference
3. Tackling Racism in Sport: Time for Action conference in Leicester, delivered with the other four sport councils.
4. Scottish National Diversity Awards.
5. Scottish Women in Sport conference and the Sportswoman of the Year category at the Scottish Women in Sport Awards.
6. Scottish Association of Minority Ethnic Educators (SAMEE) Sports for All Award.
7. Scottish Ethnic Minority Sports Association (SEMSA) Sport & Community Awards.
8. Sponsoring the Glasgow and Edinburgh Kabaddi teams and promoting the finals of the UK tournament held in Glasgow.
9. Sponsoring the Street Soccer Scotland International Women's Day event.

Procurement processes and award criteria

We continue to consider how our procurement award criteria and performance conditions help us better perform the equality duty. We screen all new suppliers and support the Scottish Living Wage and Fair Work First criteria. We directly support contract managers to consider the equality impact when evaluating contract or framework awards.

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Schools and education

Active Schools

Active Schools is dedicated to developing and supporting the delivery of high-quality sport and physical activity opportunities to all children and young people before school, during lunchtime and after school. The programme is designed to impact on all children and young people in primary, secondary and additional support needs (ASN) schools across Scotland. We provide leadership to the network to take an inclusive approach while also providing targeted opportunities to remove barriers to taking part.

We continue to review how to improve and embed equalities and inclusion into Active Schools. We improved our equality data collection. We supported partners to gain access to local equalities data. 31 local authorities were able to provide equalities data for 2023/24. Data for 2022/23 is provided in Appendix 1. We produced an interactive Power BI report to allow our partners to use this data for planning.

 

Notes: Data on sex is based on responses from all 32 local authorities. Other EDI data is based on responses from 31 local authorities. 29 local authorities provided responses for additional support needs, 30 provided responses for ethnicity. This list of ethnicities is defined by the pupil census, which provides the national comparison.

We are continuing to deliver the identified outcomes from the refreshed EQIA for Active Schools. We used the evidence to focus our support the network to make inclusive decisions and target support based on local school and community need. This recognises that each Active Schools team will be working with a pupil population that has a unique equalities profile.

We provided resources, data sharing tools and equalities data training sessions to help teams put knowledge and understanding into practice. We tested localised maps which partners can supplement with their own data to inform decision making.

Active Schools and Community Sport Hub Inclusion Projects

We launched a new investment stream to enhance opportunities or accelerate positive change for under-represented groups through Active Schools and community sport hubs.

We invested in 11 projects, from eight local authority partners. These projects focus on reducing inequalities in sport and physical activity for a range of groups. We are providing independent evaluation and outcomes setting learning and development support to partners​. We established a community of practice to support implementation and share learning.

For 2023-24, 7,941 participants took part, based on data from 10 of 11 projects funded. Projects vary in focus and size, with one project accounting for half of the total participants. The EDI breakdown below shows the characteristics of those taking part.

• 13% adult, 87% youth
• 52% female, 48% male
• 35% have a disability and/or additional support need that limits day-to-day activity
• 9% from ethnically diverse communities
• 26% living in 20% most deprived areas
• 7% Care Experienced.

Targeted local investment

We are progressing a more targeted approach to support local authorities to reduce inequalities in sport and physical activity. We worked closely with partners to determine specific communities of focus, establish their needs and agree how we can add most value in each local context:

1. Clackmannanshire - We are working with a wide range of partners to support the development of a new Wellbeing Hub and Lochies ASN School in Alloa. This project aims to provide a range of health, physical activity and sporting opportunities, alongside specific interventions to better engage under-represented groups. We are strengthening a network of physical activity, sport providers and Scottish Governing Bodies to help maximise opportunities across the community.
2. Glasgow - We are engaging with the local community and local partners in the East End of the city to remove barriers from, and provide more opportunities for, local people to take part in sport and be physically active. This work includes improving access to local facilities, connecting local partners with Scottish Governing Bodies and provision of learning opportunities and qualifications and connecting local people into employability in sport.
3. West Lothian - We are working to increase engagement with physical activity and sport throughout the Craigshill community in Livingston. The project has a specific focus on engaging Care Experienced young people, disabled people, people living in deprivation, and people experiencing mental health difficulties. 
4. Dundee - We are supporting a focused project which aims to provide increased opportunities for young people and their families to be physically active within the Kirkton community and local schools. We are also helping to inform the sporting infrastructure of the East End Community Campus project maximising the connection with local community clubs and organisations.
5. Fife - We are supporting a targeted approach within the Methil and Methilhill community to deliver new opportunities and enhance the existing offer. This is specifically focused on supporting early years children, parents and care givers, young people leaving school and inactive older adults.

Active Campus

This aims to put sport and physical activity at the centre of college life by giving students across the country more opportunities to get active. The programme is delivered by a team of 18 Active Campus Coordinators who create participation opportunities that improve the physical and mental wellbeing of students and staff. The innovative project also enhances the approach colleges take to creating high quality, effective work-based placements for sports students, helping equip them for potential future employment opportunities.

Young People's Sport Panel

We continue to lead the Young People's Sport Panel (YPSP) to represent the voice of young people and influence the future of sport in Scotland. The panel identified mental health in sport, access to sport, and youth leadership in sport as their three key priorities. Their activity over the last two years has included:

1. Developing the Kit for All initiative to provide free access to affordable sports clothing and/or kit for young people and their families. Kit for All - sportscotland the national agency for sport in Scotland
2. Developing content for campaigns around the benefits of supporting good mental health in sport, particularly during exam times.
3. Raising awareness of, and trying to overcome barriers, facing Island communities in relation to travel in sport.
4. The panel have attended several conferences, including Scottish Women in Sport, Race and Racism in Sport, the Include Summit, and the World Ability Conference, raising their awareness and understanding of equality in the sporting sector and fuelling discussions about what they could do collectively to support this agenda.
5. All panel members were trained in Disability Inclusion Training

We engaged digitally with a wide range of partners, third sector groups and equality organisations that work with young people across the country to increase the reach of our Young People's Sport Panel (YPSP) recruitment approach. There were 140 applications received for the most recent cohort 7 recruitment of the YPSP, with applications being received from 30 Local Authorities. 64% of applicants were female, and 36% male. 10% of applicants were from our diverse ethnic communities, and 7% declared a disability.

Active Girls

We celebrate Active Girls month in March each year working with our local and national partners to encourage girls and women to get involved in new activity and to celebrate all the amazing opportunities that currently exist. We provide a promotional toolkit to help allow schools, clubs and partners tailor their offering to suit local need. This year's engagements included the Deputy First Minister visiting a women's rugby session that is linked to the local Community Sport Hub.

Fit for Girls

We have revised the Fit for Girls model in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust to a peer led delivery by a team of young female leaders. Fit for Girls aims to inspire and empower girls and young women to create local change in their school, club and community by developing their self-esteem and confidence so they have a voice and can help other girls be inspired to start, maintain or return to sport and physical activity.

International Working Group (IWG) for Women and Girls in Sport

The Secretary General for the International Working Group (IWG) for Women and Girls in Sport presented to the sportscotland Board, highlighting the global, systemic barriers to women and girls' participation across all levels of management, leadership and recreational participation. IWG were co-hosts for SportHour on the topic of women and girls in sport. We encouraged the sporting system to get involved from by engaging with partners' contributions or sharing their own thoughts to raise the profile of women and girls in sport. We will continue our engagement with the IWG for the remaining 2 years that they are in the UK and plan for Scotland representation in the global summit in July 2026.

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Clubs and communities

Community sport hubs

We work in partnership with 31 local authorities to invest in and support the development of a network of community sport hubs (CSH). Hubs bring together a collective of local sports clubs and other community organisations to improve the contribution that sport and physical activity has on a local community.

We work closely with each local authority to establish CSH plans with outcomes for protected characteristics, in line with their own equality priorities and local action plans.

We updated the CSH principles to promote the need to be inclusive by design. We created new guidance for the network to inform the use of operational investment to drive greater diversity and inclusion of participants.

We refreshed our data and evidence gathering on the range of targeted initiatives CSHs currently have in place to increase participation amongst under-represented groups and the impact these will have.

Below are some examples of recent projects run through hubs:

1. Grangemouth Community Sport Hub - A football programme is delivering free sessions to introduce young people to the benefits of sport and physical activity. Dinky Dyes Programme (sportscotland.org.uk)
2. Moray Community Sport Hubs - A new initiative is using sport and physical activity to support people with mental health or addiction difficulties. Active Recovery Moray (sportscotland.org.uk)
3. Renfrew/Gallowhill Community Sport Hub - Free Karate tuition to inactive young people. OneRen, one community (sportscotland.org.uk)

SGB investment

We invest in SGBs to make them more robust and well governed, to provide opportunities to develop and grow their sport, and to compete and perform at the highest levels. This investment also supports programmes that aim to reach underrepresented groups and help tackle inequalities.

We are undertaking a mapping exercise to scope where SGBs are allocating resource to intentionally target groups who share protected characteristics to increase participation. This will help us understand the scale and capacity across all invested sports as well as which under-represented groups are being supported.

We continue to support Cricket Scotland to implement the recommendations from the Changing the Boundaries report into racism within the sport. We provided additional support and financial assistance to progress the recruitment of a specialist HR function, an ED and I Manager, diversify their board recruitment process, update their governance and implement a robust, independent investigations and disciplines process.

Moving to Inclusion framework

We continued to support the phased roll out of The Moving to Inclusion Framework, working with SGBs in cohorts. Cohorts have been identified and communicated, with Meet the Mentor sessions delivered by Plan4sport.

17 SGBs have completed the self-diagnostic tool between February and September 2024 and engagement across SGBs in Scotland has been ahead of that seen in the other home countries.

We offer mentor support, help from equality partners and access to peer groups. We worked with Sporting Equals to help seven SGBs audit their policies. We will use the findings to develop recommendations and development seminars which inform good practice. We aim to extend this to all SGBs.

Coach education

We support coaches through a financial subsidy to the cost of their development and to attain qualifications. We worked with SGBs and partners to develop a targeted approach for the revised subsidy. Our new approach is evidence-based and prioritises funding for groups which are under-represented within coaching. Our investment has supported over 3,200 candidates with an intended impact on women, rural communities, SIMD, disabled people, LGBTQI+ people, diverse ethnic communities and young people.

Women in Leadership support

We held a Women in Leadership engagement session with influential female leaders from across the sector. We sought input to inform a paper which will direct our action. The paper has now been signed off by SMT and a project group has been established to plan and deliver initial activity to support women leaders.

We supported twelve colleagues and partners to attend the Women's Sport Leadership Academy (WSLA) over September 2023 and 2024. The residential programme provides unique development opportunities for women leaders to step up, take the lead and make an impact.

Facilities investment and design

We continuously update and deliver inclusive facility design guidance that aims to remove as many barriers as possible to support participation for all groups at all levels.

We contribute up to 75% of the total project cost to club and community-led projects within deprived communities. We no longer require applicants to contribute to their project costs in both SIMD and non-SIMD areas.

Examples of our investment support include:

1. The new Baba Fateh Singh Mind and Wellness Centre which will aim to provide sport and physical activity opportunities for diverse ethnic communities, girls and women and disabled people within the South of Glasgow.
2. Additional courts for the Forthill Tennis Club win Dundee to enhance provision for women and girls and para sport delivery.
3. New bike park at Lochaber to accommodate disabled riders and adaptive cycles as well as curricular and extra-curricular activity with girls and young women and young people from more deprived and/or rural areas.

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Performance sport

2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games

Olympic Games: 35 Scottish athletes were selected across 14 sports, representing 11% of TeamGB. There were 21 female (60%) and 14 male (40%) athletes. Nine Scottish athletes, four female and five male, won 13 medals in six sports. Scottish athletes contributed to 20% of TeamGB medals won.

Paralympic Games: 21 Scottish athletes were selected across ten sports, representing 10% of ParalympicsGB. There were 11 female (52%) and 10 male (48%) athletes. 11 Scottish athletes, four female and seven male, won a total of 20 medals in seven sports. Scottish athletes contributed to over 16% of ParalympicsGB medals won.

Performance lifestyle

We continue to provide transition and lifestyle management to support the wellbeing of performance athletes throughout their development in the performance pathway. Our focus is to support the mental health, wellbeing and welfare of athletes to fulfil success in sport and life. This has included specific support to athletes experiencing challenges with their sexual identity; enabling learning adjustments within education and employment; reasonable adjustments to support athletes with disability; preparing for and returning from pregnancy; and encouraging athletes to share their cultural and religious celebrations within their fellow athletes in sport.

Female athlete performance and health

The Female Athlete Performance and Health (FAH) project aims to continuously improve understanding and support for female athlete health, wellbeing, and performance through evidence-based practice, applied research, and educational resources.

This includes resources, athlete health questionnaires and screening, as well as presentations.

We have 27 FAH Reps across the sports who have supported the implementation of the 3rd Version of the FAH Questionnaire (FAHQ) and engaged the learning resources.

Winning Students

We deliver Winning Students in partnership with the Scottish Funding Council. This offers support to talented student athletes along their sports performance pathway. We are supporting seven para-athletes within current cohort. Eight athletes are receiving additional 'hardship award' due to their specific circumstances. Of the overall cohort of 111 athletes, 45 (41%) are male and 66 (59%) female, covering 32 different sports and 19 unique universities and colleges.

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National Centres

sportscotland Glenmore Lodge national outdoor training centre

We adapt delivery and provide specific support to enable a range of organisations to use Glenmore Lodge. This included:

1. Piloting a scheme with Climb Scotland and Urban Uprising to support disadvantaged young people to discover rock climbing.
2. Partnering with Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBiS) to integrate tutor elements for Adaptive Cycling into mountain bike leadership awards.
3. Supporting the delivery of the first para-climbing camp, created by Able2Adventure.
4. Hosting training for Adaptive Ski, providing skiing to people with physical restrictions or disabilities.
5. Run two annual under-18 adventure weeks and offer significantly reduced rates to support youth participation and qualifications in the outdoors.

We offer courses run by female instructors and leadership development opportunities to create an inclusive learning environment for those who prefer to learn alongside other women. Our annual Instructor Development Scheme offers young people valuable experience in all aspects of instruction and the running of a national centre. The selection process requires at least 50% female representation.

sportscotland Inverclyde national sports training centre

Inverclyde is the first UK residential sports centre of its kind, designed for inclusivity, ensuring all participants, can experience world-class, fully integrated, multi-sports facilities. The centre welcomes school children to performance athletes and has a strong links with disability sport, Highlights include:

1. Inverclyde was the host accommodation venue for the 2024 Women's Homeless World Cup, organised in partnership with Street Soccer Scotland.
2. Working with local authority partners to provide a residential sports experience for young people with a range of diverse backgrounds, this includes young carers, ASN and care experienced groups from both South & North Ayrshire.
3. Hosting the 2024 Boccia UK Champs, organised by Scottish Disability Sport. SDS have also utilised Inverclyde as a venue for their Young Peoples Sport Panel, along with training camps for the Scottish Boccia Squad.
4. Support through investment in Scottish Powerchair Football Association to create a programme of training camp activity to enable player development within the sport.
5. Working with Scottish Cycling to provide a training venue for the first ever women & girls performance squad - Solas Cycling.

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Our people

We create greater workforce diversity at all levels and ensure the contributions of everyone are valued

This section outlines the wide range of support, development opportunities and resources we provide to our staff and networks understand EDI, attend to the needs of groups who share protected characteristics and make more inclusive decisions.

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Internal development

We analysed our employee information data, using a participatory EQIA, to review the composition and segregation of our workforce. We identified patterns of inequality and data gaps. We learned about how protected characteristics can affect our work experiences. We looked for "what works" to improve EDI in workforces. We designed actions to deliver inclusive, person-centred services and policies. We aligned this with our people strategy themes, prioritising three key areas below.

Attract, recruit, and induct

We applied a more targeted and diversified approach to advertising vacancies where under-represented groups are more likely to access opportunities.

We continue to develop inclusive employer communications, through our social media, sponsorship and other communications channels.

We implemented actions from the Minority Ethnic Recruitment Toolkit developed by the Scottish Government.

We are working closely with the Race Equality Network and Council for Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations Scotland (CEMVO) to diversify representation in our application and recruitment process as well as offer support to the coaching network.

We are working in partnership ENABLE to implement improvements to our recruitment and onboarding processes for disabled people as well as inform our support for disabled colleagues.

We benefited and learned from a work experience placement within our ICT team, via the ENABLE's Breaking Barriers programme.

We refreshed our recruitment training and support resources for staff to reflect our new EDI approach.

Board recruitment - We reviewed our sportscotland and Trust Company board recruitment process, embedding learning from our workforce composition EQIA. We took a multi-channel approach to maximise exposure of the opportunities. We produced a #GetOnBoard recruitment video with our Chair Mel Young.

We engaged directly with individuals and organisations that could reach a greater and more diverse range of applicants. Examples include 2% Club, CEMVO, Changing the Chemistry, Scottish Council's Equality Network and many others.

Deliver excellent management and leadership

As part of our internal Learning and Development programme, we are developing holistic EDI learning initiatives to support staff and partners to deliver our EDI approach. Highlights include:

1. Updating our colleague induction to include in-depth information on our EDI strategy and approach.
2. Delivering EDI learning as part of a managers induction programme to help people understand inclusive working practices and provide useful resources to ensure managers are equipped to enable an inclusive workplace.
3. Working with EDI charities and partner organisations to design and deliver EDI workshops that are bespoke to the needs of sportscotland staff and the sporting sector. Pilots of these will launch with the Inclusion Group for review and further rollout.
4. Launching sportscotland-bespoke refreshed EDI e-learning aligned to our approach that supports colleagues and managers on our internal LMS.
5. Developing a suite of guidance for colleagues on women's health and support for menopause.

Workforce data

We improved our HR data collection to include capturing the EDI profile of job applicants throughout each stage of the recruitment process. We can now analyse this to act in response. We embedded candidate feedback on inclusivity in our recruitment process.

We used feedback from EDI partners, and new technology to analyse our advert text. Our adverts promote inclusivity, flexible working practices and benefits. We promote opportunities through more diverse networks.

We refreshed our internal employee equality monitoring to align with the 2022 Scottish Census. We sought feedback from colleagues on accessibility, support and development, and the overall workplace culture.

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Development opportunities for professional staff

We provide a wide range of learning and development opportunities and resources to meet people's needs.

Virtual Learning Environment - We continue to adopt a greater focus on digital education and training, through our Brightspace learning platform. This enables us and our partners to deliver online education, training and CPD to people working or volunteering in sport, athletes and their families. We developed a range of freely available EDI content, aligned to our approach, to disseminate to a Scottish audience. Highlights include:

1. A free e-learning module to understand female athlete health.
2. A new suite of e-learning for coaches focusing on EDI.
3. Working with SDS on a new introduction to inclusive practice course, designed to build confidence in working inclusively with participants with disabilities.

Active Schools support - We engaged with Active Schools and Sports Development managers to help understand what EDI training is currently accessed and scope the learning needs of the network. We provided a range of training, including:

1. SDS Introduction to Inclusive Practice (IIP) and a bespoke Inclusive Practice for Active Schools workshop, delivered together with disabled young people with lived experience which allows for in-depth discussion.
2. Hosting hot topic sessions and manager meetings to share best practice and support peer to peer learning.
3. Supporting over 120 professional staff to gain a professional development award in sport educator training.

CSH officer support - We support a network of CSH Officers across Scotland to support hubs to understand barriers and develop inclusive approaches that ensure everyone can get active. We provide residentials opportunities for officers to connect and learn with peers across the hub network, with specific sessions from SDS and ENABLE. We host fireside chats focused on sharing insight, challenges and opportunities within communities and how these are connected to inclusion.

SGBs and national partner staff support - We work with Plan4Sport to offer a variety of learning and development opportunities focused on equality, diversity and inclusion to SGB staff and board members. Examples include understanding equality and diversity, inclusive recruitment, EQIAs and mental health masterclass. Through the SGB learning and development programme SGB staff also access training from ENABLE and SDS. Equality related conferences are also communicated and encouraged LEAP Sport Scotland events and conferences.

Changing Lives Champions - We supported 126 invested posts through the Changing Lives Champions development programme. Champions aims to support club and community organisations to be more inclusive and respond to local need Training included inclusive practices, using equality data and community engagement.

Scottish Sporting Leadership Programme - We embedded inclusive design into the refreshed Scottish Sporting Leadership Programme (SSLP). The SSLP is designed to support leaders in sport who are committed to increasing equality and inclusion to enhance their skills and knowledge.

 

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Equality partnerships

We have developed a range of strong partnerships with equality organisations to support the sporting system.

ENABLE - We confirmed new a partnership with ENABLE Scotland. Our collaboration focusses on developing strategic leadership; improving workforce diversity; building community connections and participation; and supporting those not engaged in sport. ENABLE provided a range of learning development opportunities to over 400 staff and partners. These include:

1. Disability Awareness Training/Disability in the workplace
2. Supporting and developing disabled people
3. Rethinking recruitment
4. Supporting successful work placements
5. Autism Awareness Training
6. Neurodiversity

Sporting Equals - We are two years into our partnership with Sporting Equals. This focuses on making a positive impact in tackling race inequality through building trust, capacity, and capability within the sport system in Scotland, empowering communities to deliver change and strengthening research and communications. We have completed the first leaderboard Academy, helping people access the knowledge and connections to be able to access board-level roles. We supported SGBs to review and strengthen their policies. We held a cross-sector conference on race and ethnicity.

SAMH - We have a strategic partnership with SAMH. We provide a series of opportunities for professional staff in sport to understand mental health and wellbeing in the context of sport and physical activity. We delivered 171 workshops, with 2735 attendances from across our local authority and SGB partners.

We are providing insight into understanding mental health barriers to participation as well as exploring resources to support individuals in sport to look after their mental health and wellbeing.

Scottish Disability Sport - We continue to invest in Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) as a National Partner to provide support to local regional and national partners and to provide education and training on the needs of disabled people in sport, support local delivery and engage in influencing of policy and strategy.

Scottish Sporting Futures - We have a strategic partnership with Scottish Sporting Futures to roll out support for clubs, CSHs and community organisations to support the needs of young people experiencing poverty through sport and physical activity.

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New ideas

We experiment and co-produce new approaches with under-represented and excluded groups that respond to their needs

2021-25 Equality outcomes progress

This section summarises progress in our 2021-25 our equality outcomes. This is our "New ideas" strand of our EDI approach. You can read more about this at: New Ideas - Our equality outcomes (sportscotland.org.uk)

Background and consultation

We proposed focusing on four groups based on the evidence at the time:

1. We know that the population who participate in sport are not ethnically diverse and does not reflect our wider communities and populations. We think it should.
2. There is a spectrum of mental health. But we know that people with severe and enduring mental health problems tend to be most excluded from taking part. We want to better meet their needs.
3. The drop in sport participation in older age begins around fifty and continues. We are an aging population. We can learn more about the needs of people in older age and how they want to take part.
4. Those who are underrepresented in sport are also more likely to be affected by poverty and low income.

Our public consultation supported this focus.

We developed our equality outcomes through consultation and collaboration with representative organisations. They are person-centred and describe the changes four focus groups will experience because of our actions. They are common experiences that are the result of under-representation. Our outcomes help us respond to the three Equality Duty deliverables: eliminate discrimination; advance equality of opportunity; and foster good relations.

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