The Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government took up their full powers on 1 July 1999. The Scottish Parliament accepted the recommendations on equal opportunities made by the Consultative Steering Group (CSG), which consulted widely on the ways that it should operate. This included the recommendation that, as a key principle, the Scottish Parliament should recognise the need to promote equal opportunities for all in its operation and its appointments.
In September 1999, the Scottish Government published Making it work Together: a Programme for Government which stressed its commitment to promoting equality for all and its determination to place equality at the heart of policymaking.
The Scottish Government's consultation document on the approach that it should take to its equality work, Towards an Equality Strategy, was published in January 2000 and widely circulated. The consultation closed in April 2000. An interim report was published in April 2000 and a full analysis of the responses was published in Towards an Equality Strategy - A report on responses to the consultation in June 2000.
The Government discussed the themes to emerge from the consultation and the development of the strategy with the Scottish Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Equal Opportunities Commission, Commission for Racial Equality and Disability Rights Commission. The Government also engaged with the Equalities Co-ordination Group, which includes the Equality Network and Fair Play. A series of meetings with grass-roots equality organisations took place during July and August 2000.
In November 2000 the Scottish Government published Equality Strategy: Working together for equality which outlined how the Government planned to change the way it works to ensure the prevention and elimination of discrimination between persons on grounds of sex or marital status, on racial grounds, or on grounds of disability, age, sexual orientation, language or social origin, or of other personal attributes including beliefs or opinions, such as religious or political beliefs.
In 2001 the Government published its Preliminary Report on the equality strategy which was a round up of the equality work of the Scottish Government to date. It set out how the Scottish Government was consulting with communities and progressing the equality strategy.
A further report, Making Progress: Equality Annual Report was published in 2003 and complimented the preliminary report. This report, Making Progress, charted the progress which the Scottish Government, working with the Scottish Parliament, the statutory equality bodies and many other organisations and individuals, was making with the Equality Strategy. It recognised achievements to date but acknowledged there is still much to do.
This report indicated the breadth of the work which was being undertaken across the Government to tackle inequality and discrimination. It demonstrated the commitment of the Scottish Government to making a real difference to the lives of people who experience prejudice, exclusion, unfairness and injustice. It showed that with effort and conviction, progress can be made.
However, we have signalled very clearly that we still have much to do. We are not complacent. We will pursue our equality work with enthusiasm. We are determined to implement the strategy we adopted in November 2000 and to deliver change. We want a Scotland which values its different communities, fosters respect for diversity, challenges prejudice and discrimination and heralds justice and equality.