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About Skills Development Scotland (SDS)

Skills Development Scotland is the national skills agency. Our purpose is to drive a productive and inclusive economy by ensuring Scotland’s businesses and people develop the skills they need to achieve their potential. We are committed to collaborating with our enterprise and skills agency partners to help Scotland to meet its ambition of ranking in the top quartile of OECD countries for productivity, equality, wellbeing and sustainability.

We achieve this through multi-faceted service delivery, driven by extensive collaboration and partnership working and, within a context of universal entitlement to our support, targeted to help those who need it most. We engage with partners at national, regional and local level, flexing and shaping our delivery to meet local needs and priorities, while informed by the knowledge of effective practice from across the country and beyond. By increasing innovation, efficiency and productivity in our own organisation, we aim to model the change we want to see in others.

The equality outcomes discussed in this report are set within the broader context of our commitments to:

• support individuals to fulfil their potential

• achieve equality of access and opportunity for all

• support fair and equal work places

• lead by example as an employer, and

• uphold our corporate values through our work.

Our Responsibilities as a Public Body

This Equality and Diversity Mainstreaming Report (or ‘Mainstreaming Report’) provides an update on progress made against the equality outcomes we have set for 2017 – 2021. It demonstrates how, through a wide range of policies, initiatives, and continuous improvement activities, SDS is working to embed equality and diversity throughout our organisation and meet our responsibilities as a public sector body.

As set out in The Equality Act 2010 public sector organisations, including SDS, have a duty to have due regard when carrying out their public functions as a service provider, policy maker and an employer, to the need to: eliminate discrimination; advance equality of opportunity and to foster good relations. In addition to this, as a listed authority in The Specific Duties (Scotland) Regulations 2012 SDS has a duty to:

• Report progress on mainstreaming the equality duty

• Publish equality outcomes and report progress

• Equality Impact Assess and review policies and practices

• Gather and use employee information

• Publish gender pay gap information

• Publish statements on equal pay

• Publish occupational segregation information in relation to gender, race and disability

• Consider award criteria in relation to public procurement

• Consider other matters, as specified from time to time by Scottish Ministers

• Publish Board diversity information.

You can read the complete report here.