1. Reflections on Implementing Gender Budgeting
Scotland’s Economic Strategy and Inclusive Growth
Gary Gillespie, Chief Economist,
Scottish Government

2. Content
The context - Scotland’s evolving economic strategy and gender context
What do we mean by “inclusive growth” and how does this relate to equality and gender?
How are we driving this forward?
Reflections on Equality Budgeting

3. Evolving Economic Policy
2007
Growing Economy
- Focus on long-term growth
- supply-side drivers
- productivity
- sectors
- skills shortages
2011
Uncertain Recovery
- Focus on recovery & resilience
- capital invest.
- youth training &employability
- tax relief for businesses & households
- access to finance
2015
Stabilising Economy
- Refocus on long-term growth
- supply-side drivers (4I’s)
- inclusive growth
- economic resilience
Pre-Crisis
Crisis Aftermath
Post-Crisis

4. Scotland’s Economic Strategy Framework 2015

5. International Rankings - Scotland
Inequality:
In terms of the Palma ratio, Scotland would rank 19th out of the OECD countries for income inequality.
Productivity:
Scotland is currently ranked 19th out of OECD countries when measured by GDP per hour worked.

6. Post Recession - Is this the new ‘normal’?
1 in 7

7. How does this relate to gender?
The trends towards female participation in the economy are generally positive. Female participation rates have increased significantly since 1992, reaching record levels in 2014/2015.
However, there is still a long way to go. The gender pay gap for full-time workers in Scotland is 9.0%.
And overall women remain much more likely than men to be employed in part time, low paid work. Of the 691,000 part time workers in Nov-Jan 2016, 524,000 were women.
Equally, female BME are less likely to participate in the labour market.

8. What is inclusive growth?

9. Scotland’s definition of Inclusive Growth
“Growth that combines increased prosperity with greater equity; that creates opportunities for all and distributes the dividends of increased prosperity fairly”
Scotland (SES)
Incorporates traditional growth policies: investment, innovation, internationalisation, labour markets and employment
Is multi-dimensional: it includes social inclusion, well-being, participation, environmental
Tackles inequalities in outcomes but also inequalities in opportunities
Promotes more equal growth across cities, regions and rural areas, and recognises importance of place/community in delivering this.

10. Key to our policy framework is looking at the impact of policies across groups and over time.

11. Progress – broad actions being taken across Scottish Government
Significant investments in early years interventions and expanding childcare provision, which should improve child outcomes, with increased childcare should also help reduce barriers to female participation;
Increased focus on improving educational attainment, through initiatives such as the Scottish Attainment Challenge;
A Commission on Widening Access to higher education, which will provide recommendations around how to improve access to higher education among the most disadvantaged 20 per cent of society;
Activities to develop Scotland’s young workforce and reduce youth unemployment, such as expansion of Modern Apprenticeships;
Initiatives to improve the quality of workplaces in Scotland, such as the Business Pledge and the Fair Work Convention.
Exceeded our target of delivering 30,000 affordable homes as well as starting a new generation of council house building and ending the Right to Buy.

12. Actions underway include:
Scotland’s Economic Strategy highlights the importance of maximising economic opportunities for women in improving economic performance and tackling inequality.
Actions underway include:
Increasing the level of funded early learning and childcare from 475 to 600 hours per year, with the ambition of almost double the number of free hours of childcare to 30 hours per week by the end of this Parliament;
Implementing the Women in Enterprise Action Framework to encourage female entrepreneurship;
Encouraging the public, private and third sector to set a voluntary target for gender balance on their boards of 50:50 by 2020;
Encouraging companies to move towards having gender-balanced boards through our Business Pledge; and,
Leading by example through having a 50/50 gender split in the Scottish Cabinet.

13. Inclusive Growth Prioritisation- where to invest for maximum impact
Political Will
Community
Funding
Care About
Impact
Synergies/Trade-offs
Evidence
Levers/Powers
= Inclusive Growth constraints

14. Some Reflections…
SG’s vision for Inclusive Growth has close links with the Equality Budget Statement.
Systematic approach to assessing budget decisions for their impact on equality groups that allows the experiences of different groups to be actively taken into account.
Allows effective targeting to benefit specific groups, and helps to avoid or mitigate particular negative impacts.
In an effort to ensure its financial decisions help deliver positive outcomes for all in Scotland, the Scottish Government has developed a systematic approach to assessing budget decisions for their impact on equality groups. Assessing the equality impact of policy proposals and related spending in this way allows the experiences of different groups to be actively taken into account. This means that budgets can be effectively targeted to benefit specific groups, and helps to avoid or mitigate particular negative impacts. The equality assessment of the budget is presented in an Equality Statement, published each year alongside the Scottish Draft Budget. An assessment of the impact of government spending on gender forms part of this work.

15. Thank you gary.gillespie@gov.scot