Chamber and committees

Pervin and Graham are waiting to come in.

That is a helpful prompt.

I think that we should move on to another topic, because we have given that topic a bit of an airing, which is good. Pam Gosal, were you going to take us on to talk about something different?

We need to watch our time, because everybody wants to ask a question. Fulton MacGregor is next.

Pervin Ahmad can have the final word.

Okay. Again, we could have gone on all afternoon, but thank you all so much. Your evidence will be really helpful as the committee tries to work out how to take this inquiry forward.

We are going to have to watch our time, as we are not even half way through our lines of questioning.

Good morning and welcome to the fourth meeting in 2023, in session 6, of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. There are no apologies.

Our first agenda item is a decision on whether to take item 4, which is consideration of today’s evidence, in private. Do members agree to take that item in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Thanks very much, Jatin. You have touched on some of the areas that we will kick off with. We will move to questions. As you said, the purpose of the meeting is not to grill people, but is to try to help the committee to shape its work.

We were keen to be mindful that we are not starting afresh. A lot of work has already been carried out. Our predecessor committee held an inquiry into race inequality, with a particular focus on employment and skills, which the committee felt were really important in tackling wider issues.

It would be good to hear the panel’s views on the Scottish Government’s anti-racist employment strategy. Have the actions and outcomes had an impact? Has it made the difference to people’s lives that we, and our predecessor committee and the Scottish Government, would hope for?

I would also like to hear your views on what the committee should focus on. We are not starting from scratch or asking whether there is a racism issue in Scotland. We know that there is a problem, as Farah Farzana said. Our predecessor committee focused on employment and skills; is there an area that you think that we should focus on?

Jatin Haria wants to contribute; Pam Gosal can then have a brief supplementary question.