Good Relations in
Scotland
Key findings from case study
research
Prepared for the Equality and Human Rights
Commission
November 2012
Contents
(page)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
4
1. Introduction
10
1.1. Context
10
1.2. The Commission and the original brief
10
1.3. The approach to the research
12
1.4. Selecting and developing the case studies
13
2. A summary overview of the four case studies
15
2.1. Equality and Diversity in Secondary School Education
(Respect 4 All)
15
2.2. Gypsy/Travellers in North East Scotland
16
2.3. Greater Glasgow & Clyde - Mental Health Anti-Stigma
18
2.4. The Scottish Prison Service
19
3. Learning from the four case studies
20
3.1. Some drivers for good relations work
20
3.2. Levels of understanding around good relations
23
3.3. Relationship to the equality and diversity agenda
25
3.4. Making it part of core organisational activity
26
3.5. Working in partnership with communities
28
3.6. Reflecting the wider world and organisational focus
30
3.7. Effective engagement
31
3.8. Achieving meaningful measurement of progress
32
4. Possible considerations for future good relations work
4.1. Widening the understanding, volume and reach of good relations
34
34
4.2. Recognising the potential for on-going sensitivity around good
relations
35
4.3. Developing improved approaches to measurement
36
4.4. Identifying the gaps
37
1
Appendix: Good Relations Case Studies
(page)
Case Study 1 - Equality and Diversity in Secondary School
39
Education (Respect 4 All)
Case Study 2 – Gypsy/Travellers in North East Scotland
56
Case Study 3 – Greater Glasgow & Clyde – Anti-Stigma
78
Partnership
Case Study 4 – The Scottish Prison Service
92
Bibliography
111
2
Acknowledgements
3
We would like to thank all of the interviewees who have contributed to these
case studies as well as those whose reports or papers have been referred to
as background.
4
Executive Summary
Within the Public Sector Equality Duty, public authorities must, in the
exercise of their functions, have due regard to the need to ‘foster good
relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who
do not’.
The Commission’s overall objective through this case study research is to
provide support and practical examples of good practice to public authorities
so that they can develop their expertise around good relations and be better
placed to meet their obligations.
Through the research, the Commission was particularly interested to find out
what levels of awareness and expertise existed around good relations, what
had prompted public authorities to undertake activity in this area and how
outcomes had been identified and evaluated.
The study was framed in the context of previous research conducted for the
Commission in 2009/10 to define the concept of ‘good relations’. This
produced four ‘domains’ of good relations:

Attitudes (promote positive attitudes between or towards different
people or groups)

Personal security (improve individual’s sense of personal security)

Interactions with others (support positive and diverse interactions
between different individuals / groups)

Participation and influence (encourage wide participation of different
individuals and groups so that people can have their voices heard and
can influence relevant decisions)
From a ‘long-list’ of potential case studies, four were selected which provided
a range of experience across different contexts and public authorities:
5

Respect 4 All – a local multi-agency approach to good relations in
secondary education delivered using an expressive arts approach
through two schools in Aberdeenshire

The public sector response to a flashpoint in tensions between
Gypsy/Travellers and the settled community in the North East in 2010

The work of the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Anti-Stigma Partnership
in tackling the stigma of mental health, focusing on the path-finding
Mosaics of Meaning project, which supported the largest settled ethnic
minority communities in Scotland

Aspects of good relations in the Scottish Prison Service: the strategic
change in national objectives and illustrations of activities on the
ground to fulfil the service-wide objective
The full case studies are attached as Appendices to the report.
Key Learning
Taking the four case studies and other background reading into
consideration, the over-arching report draws out a number of areas of
learning:

A number of drivers were identified for good relations activity, some
proactive in seeking to improve relations but most reactive to specific
issues. We also identified the concepts of ‘conflict’ and ‘contact’: the
former being areas where competing rights collide, necessitating
approaches to find new ways forward or arbitrate between opposing
perspectives, and the latter referring to how increasing positive contact
between different groups can enable new and more positive
understandings to develop.
6

Levels of understanding around good relations vary widely. Often
operational staff involved in good relations work feel they have to
educate and encourage colleagues to see it as part of the wider
function of the organisation. This indicates a need for more strategic
leadership within public authorities around the legislative
requirements.

Linked to this, the relationship with the equality and diversity agenda
is strong, but there are opportunities for good relations to be built into
other areas, such as community regeneration and population health
development. There was not much evidence of proactively setting out
to create a different set of social relations within a population that is
increasingly diverse.

We found a few examples of organisations making good relations
part of their core organisational activity. The case studies highlight
the need for public authorities to consider the advantages that
effective good relations work offer to whole populations, not simply to
certain ‘minority’ groups.

Working in partnership was a key element of much of the work we
researched. We found that small budgets and local activities could
mobilise community engagement and share responsibility for
achieving objectives. Working with community and voluntary groups
helped public authorities to benefit from a wider range of creative
inputs, networks and know-how, all of which can add value to good
relations work.

It is clearly essential to be recognised as even-handed on issues and
to improve relations. Some local good relations have significant
political implications that can affect the ways they might be handled.
7

The case studies identified a variety of approaches that achieved
effective engagement. Activity needs to have a ‘hook’ to make the
topic interesting and relevant to its target audience. For example,
storytelling and drama personalised and brought alive a subject which
encouraged an emotional response. Volunteer-led peer networking
and providing opportunities for personal interaction between groups
with little contact to each other were also found to be effective.

Measuring progress is challenging; most authorities had not set clear
outcomes and were either not measuring progress or had
retrospectively done some work to identify impact. It was generally
understood, however, that it was important to show how activities
related to the achievement of core organisational objectives.
Considerations for future good relations work
The report highlighted to the Commission and Study Steering Group some
possible considerations for future good relations work:

Widening the understanding, volume and reach of good relations
- what can be done in the future so that good relations are:
o Recognised as a core and inter-related requirement of the Equality
Act
o Seen as relevant to all public authorities
o Reaching beyond the ‘equality and diversity’ agenda and
embedded into all aspects of public sector activity
o Pursued as a continuous process of engagement and not reactive
to situations that arise
o Built on effective and sustainable partnerships with groups having
different characteristics and their advocates

Recognising the potential for on-going sensitivity around good
relations – the Commission might wish to consider:
8
o To what extent effective good relations work might require public
authorities to challenge their own and others’ personal belief
systems and how well-equipped they might be to undertake this.
o The relative approaches that might be taken to shaping behaviours
or to influencing the deeper-seated attitudes that might underpin
those behaviours and the long term impact on good relations that
each might bring.
o How to more effectively engage public authorities in seeing this as
part of the national performance framework so that the positive
benefits can be more easily built into national and local political
agendas and so reduce local political sensitivities.

Developing improved approaches to measurement – recognising
that, in the current policy environment, demonstrating impact is
essential. The Commission may wish to give further consideration to
the challenges of:
o Supporting public authorities to articulate what they hope to
achieve good relations activity before they then try to establish
measures to assess effectiveness
o How to effectively measure something that is often described as
being about ‘what people feel’. Are local, national or defined
population attitudes surveys perhaps relevant?
o Raising awareness of the existing good relations measurement
framework and making it more accessible for use within a public
authority suite of indicators
o Supporting public authorities to set outcome and progress
measures that are relevant and appropriate to the activity being
undertaken

Identifying the Gaps - the Commission may wish to consider how
they might support public authorities to :
o Work more closely with Scottish Government to explore the
interaction between National Outcomes and the public sector duty
on good relations.
9
o Identify and support key opinion formers and positive advocates for
protected characteristic groups or good relations more generally
when those people might be outside the public authority structures.
o Identify where within communities, or on particular issues, there
are ‘tipping points’ into more positive (or negative) inter-group
relations and how these can be more effectively accelerated or
mitigated.
o Explore ways that they can translate localised grassroots practices
into robust procedures in a public authority environment when
much work still relies on localised relationships and one to one
interactions.
10
1. Introduction
1.1
The Context
The Equality Act 2010 brought together new and existing equalities
legislation to create a more coherent legislative framework covering nine
protected characteristics. Section 149 of the Act introduces the General
Public Sector Equality Duty which is intended to ensure the proactive
advancement of equality. This Duty came into force in April 2011. Public
authorities subject to it must, in the exercise of their functions, have “due
regard” to the need to:

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and
other conduct prohibited by the Act.

Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a
protected characteristic and those who do not.

Foster good relations between people who share a protected
characteristic and those who do not.
This third requirement to foster good relations is further specified in the Duty
as requiring public authorities to have due regard, in particular, to the need to
tackle prejudice and promote understanding between persons who share a
relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
Although these are three distinct elements, experience from previous and
similar duties on race, disability and gender suggests that public authorities
have found it easier to focus on the first (and sometimes the second) of these
requirements – often to the exclusion of proactive work on the good relations
element.
1.2
The Commission and the original brief
In line with the legislation, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (the
Commission) has a ‘good relations mandate’:
11
…to build mutual respect between groups based on understanding
and valuing of diversity, and on shared respect for equality and human
rights.
As part of this mandate, they commissioned this research to help improve the
implementation and impact of the new Public Sector Equality Duty in
Scotland, with a specific focus on its good relations aspects. The
Commission’s overall objective through this work is to provide support and
practical examples of good practice to public authorities so that they can
develop their own expertise around good relations and be better placed to
meet the public sector equality duty.
The brief was to use a case study approach to assess practices and activities
undertaken by a number of public authorities from different areas as they
seek to foster good relations. The case studies were expected to focus on
identifying transferable examples of good practice with particular emphasis
on how outcomes were defined and success measured. The case studies did
not set out to evaluate the merits of particularly activity, simply to capture
different examples of current practice and use these to develop some
common themes and learning.
The research project was required to deliver three specific outputs:

A suite of four case studies illustrating different aspects of the topic
across different public sector environments.

An overarching report to provide the ‘context’ for the case studies and
capture the learning and emerging implications.

An oral presentation to the Commission’s good relations advisory
group to stimulate discussion and future-thinking.
12
From this, the Commission was particularly interested to find out what levels
of awareness and expertise existed around good relations, what had
prompted public authorities to undertake activity in this area and how
outcomes had been identified and evaluated.
1.3
The approach to the research
From the outset, it was important to build from the research and analysis
already undertaken by the Commission. Good relations are a concept that
many find hard to pin down so it is important to maintain clear and consistent
descriptions to help understanding. Research studies conducted for the
Commission in 2009/10 led to the development of four ‘domains’ of good
relations:

Attitudes

Personal security

Interactions with others

Participation and influence
These domains provided a helpful framework using widely understandable
terms. As we identified the most suitable examples to use as case studies
and then followed up with research interviews, we were able to use these
four areas of focus that had already been identified to ensure consistent
language. As a result, the public authorities targeted were invited to talk
about activities that they felt had:

Promoted positive attitudes (between or towards different people or
groups)

Improved individual’s sense of personal security

Supported positive and diverse interactions (between different
individuals / groups)

Encouraged wide participation of different individuals and groups so that
people could have their voices heard and influence relevant decisions
13
Despite basing the research around the four ‘domains’ of good relations
already identified by the Commission through other research, it quickly
became clear that many public authorities do not ‘label’ their work as good
relations, even though it might, to an outside observer, fulfil that function. We
were aware from the outset that initiatives that might be undertaken as part of
community development, youth engagement, health improvement,
community safety and even social work (amongst other areas of public
authority activity) could impact upon any or all of the four domains of good
relations.
1.4
Selecting and developing the case studies
Our recognition that work fulfilling the good relations objectives of tackling
prejudice and promoting understanding between different groups might not
be badged as good relations, raised a challenge for the way we approached
the case study selection. At the outset, we had hoped to be able to establish
a broad contextual map of good relations activity across three key public
authority areas - police, health boards and local authorities - through an initial
online survey. However, our early work suggested this might not deliver the
expected responses. Instead, we focused on identifying and exploring known
‘contacts’ and following up on information leads. As such, our ‘long list’ of
potential case studies was actually derived from desk research and
documentary analysis in identified areas followed up by seven scoping
discussions with identified contacts. This ‘long list’ was then assessed
against a set of agreed weighted criteria to produce an agreed set of four
case studies.
Fieldwork for each case study consisted of an average of four telephone or
face to face interviews and one group meeting. This was then combined with
documentary analysis and further desk research to develop the individual
studies and the shared learning from these. The research questionnaire and
the subsequent case studies were developed around six key areas:
14

A description of the activity

Identification of the need – Why do it?

Consideration of the expected outcomes

Measurement approaches

Key achievements and successes

Transferability

Wider understanding of good relations as a result
In all instances, participation in the case study research was voluntary, with
the research being clearly positioned as a way to capture examples of
emerging / good practice and wider learning around implementation of good
relations activity, rather than as a process of critical evaluation.
15
2. A summary overview of the four case studies
Short summaries of each of the case studies and some key findings relating
to each are presented here. The case studies in full are appended to this
report.
2.1
Respect 4 All
Respect 4 All is a local multi-agency approach to good relations in secondary
education delivered using an expressive arts approach through two schools
in Aberdeenshire.
The particular approach of the Respect 4 All project appealed to the
participating schools as it provided pupils not only with the opportunity to
learn from experts and meet ‘real people’ representing different protected
characteristics, but also to express their feelings creatively. The case study
demonstrates how secondary schools are able to undertake good relations
work with pupils.
Of central importance to the project is the ‘translation’ of learning into active
and creative expression, thereby enabling emotional learning and maturing to
develop at an individual level. At the organisational level, the initiative offers
inspiration and learning for integration into the curriculum particularly by
supporting the objectives of the Curriculum for Excellence agenda.
Key findings:

There is a continuous need for organisations and statutory bodies to
gain experience and understanding of how to work around the
protected characteristics
16

The project addresses good relations at an important time of young
peoples’ lives and encourages openness and interest in good relations
matters. Relevant observations from participating individuals included
the belief that the project seemed to have influenced the positive
development of attitudes, emotional growth and maturity as well as
facilitating increased interaction with others leading to an increased
feeling of personal security and confidence

The Respect 4 All project represents an interdisciplinary learning tool
that can support teachers, who may, at times, be less familiar with the
specific topics relating to the various characteristics groups of the
Equalities Act, to fulfil their schools’ duties in view of their legal
obligations

The importance of the external delivery of the Respect 4 All project
was highlighted by all interviewees, so that pupils “get it”

Particularly with good relations work, good organisation and project
coordination are essential

Formal measurement was difficult given the approach and timeframe.
At times immediate impacts were assessed, but no longer-term
measurement was undertaken. However, the interviewed stakeholders
thought that the project had led to some level of reduction in pupil
friction, although due to the short-term nature of the project, this was
difficult to substantiate.
2.2
Gypsy / Travellers in North East Scotland
This case study considers the public sector response to a flashpoint in
tensions between Gypsy/Travellers and the settled community in the North
East in 2010. Although there had been longstanding concerns, and indeed
some steps taken by public authorities to address issues, the heightened
tensions generated a momentum that has led to greater inter-community
dialogue, and new approaches to fostering good relations.
17
While some fundamental challenges remain, particularly with respect to
adequate site provision and prejudice, the case study highlights the progress
that has been made in building bridges, improving attitudes and increasing
participation and influence of the Gypsy/Traveller community.
Key findings:

Inter-agency working is most effective when there is: input and buy-in
at strategic and policy making levels as well as at an operational level;
sustained structures for regular meetings; and an outcome-focused
action plan. Sustained partnership working has provided regular and
structured opportunities for project development, consistency of
approach and shared resources / learning. Clearly, where strategic
buy-in has not been as strong, it is more difficult to achieve
sustainable change at an operational level.

Policy development and action needs to take a holistic approach,
which considers the views and standpoints of all stakeholders. Good
practice was found in Grampian Police, who had:
o developed new procedures that were underpinned by their
responsibility to foster good relations, in full consultation with
stakeholders
o conducted a comprehensive programme of training to disseminate
the new procedures from senior level to front-line staff

Formal forums are not necessarily best suited to on-going dialogue
between communities. In this instance, a special dialogue meeting
brought together a variety of stakeholders to talk openly, facilitated by
conflict resolution experts. Ongoing dialogue is facilitated by outreach
workers.

Support services have used both dedicated Council workers and third
sector support workers to build a relationship of trust, create
connections to services and enable a two-way engagement with
service providers.
18

Effective good relations must take account of all perspectives on an
issue and be seen as ‘even-handed’ in its dealings with interested
parties. Without this sense of ‘fairness’, attitudes can harden and
positions can become more exaggerated and extreme.
2.3
Mental Health Anti-Stigma
This case study reviews the work of the Greater Glasgow and Clyde AntiStigma Partnership in tackling the stigma of mental health. It focused on the
path-finding Mosaics of Meaning project, which supported the largest settled
ethnic minority communities in Scotland (Pakistani, Chinese, African and
Caribbean) to address mental health stigma through a participatory research
and action approach. Mosaics developed an intervention model which has
since been successfully adopted to address mental health stigma in other
groups.
Key findings:

Good relations start with listening. Grass roots engagement at the
outset is essential to develop an understanding of concerns, issues
and barriers and to begin the process of developing appropriate
responses. Intervention models need to be developed by, not for,
communities and success depends on achieving a sense among
participants of being able to influence decisions.

The value of innovative approaches to partnership. The power
imbalances of traditional NHS commissioning models were reduced by
small scale funding of community groups. While the public sector
played an important role in facilitating the process, the development of
activities was strongly embedded in a community-led approach, which
keeps the initiatives more ‘real’ and personal, and therefore more
effective.

Personalising the issues has real value in drawing out the ‘human
dimension’. Emotional (rather than purely ‘intellectual’) responses
were drawn out through storytelling and arts.
19
2.4
The Scottish Prison Service
This case study looks at two aspects of good relations in the Scottish Prison
Service (SPS). Firstly, it considers how the decision to make a strategic
change in national objectives within the business plan both reflects and
supports local understanding and implementation of good relations activity.
The SPS business plan previously required prisons to ‘arrange at least two
non UK based multi-cultural events’. This was changed to ‘arrange at least
two establishment events or other activities to foster good relations between
people who share a protected characteristic and others who do not share it’.
Secondly, it illustrates some of the types of actual activity being undertaken
at an operational level in individual prisons to fulfil this service-wide objective.
Some of the key findings from this study include:

Good relations are seen as very much part of the equality and
diversity agenda and not always recognised by staff outwith this
specialism as being just as much about the effective and smooth
operational running of a prison environment

The opportunity to develop a wider understanding of good relations.
Much of the work in prisons is currently focused on race and some is a
variant on previous targets around ‘multi-cultural events’

Particularly within a confined prison context, identities and inter-group
relationships are multi-layered and can change under different
stimulus

Evidence (e.g. on prisoner identity, effectiveness of activity, the nature
of the good relations opportunities and challenges) is key to making
the case and assessing progress but access to this and measurement
of it remains difficult
20

Partnerships with external and/or voluntary sector agencies are
considered very important in raising and addressing issues. This is
because both prisoners and prison staff may not have had previous
experience of, or exposure to, some of the issues affecting different
groups

Different environments (such as prisons) can have distinct cultural
norms which create good relations challenges beyond those
experienced elsewhere. This illustrates the point that good relations
issues and solutions can be heavily dependent on individual and local
situations. Even within different prisons, the challenges and
opportunities were not identical, nor were the ways that these were
addressed.
3.
Learning from the four case studies
3.1
Some drivers for good relations work
The activities that have been captured through the case studies have arisen
in the context of a range of drivers. Some were proactive initiatives to
improve service delivery, and some were reactive to specific events. These
drivers included:

An understanding that existing mainstream activities (mental health
anti-stigma initiatives) had not taken sufficient recognition of all
sections of society and needed to be adapted to meet identified
specific needs

In the case of the Respect 4 All project, the key drivers were the
external impetus from funding and commitment from specialist
equalities organisations (Multi-ethnic Aberdeen Ltd (MeAL))
21

A need to address and react to existing problems (for example,
bullying in schools, Gypsy/Traveller and settled community conflict,
police records of harassment cases). From that need comes an
interest from within the organisation to find long-term, workable
solutions

Policy/legislative requirements. Good relations activities can be driven
by a sense of legislative compliance rather than through a broader
understanding that it is a normal part of the organisation meeting its
own goals and properly serving its service users and stakeholders.
This may be because public authorities find it hard to ‘translate’ the
legislative language of the Duty and equalities organisations into the
language they use to describe their organisational objectives

A sense that populations being served (for example, prisons) were
becoming more obviously diverse and therefore different activity
needed to be undertaken to reflect this increase
Most of these case studies were driven by the need to respond to a specific
problem.
As the case of the Gypsy/Travellers highlighted, concerted action was taken
in 2010 to respond to ‘bad relations’ between sections of the community.
However, since that high point of tension has diminished, it has been more
difficult to get traction to achieve policy making that could be seen as driven
by a positive vision of new possibilities.
Breaking through to a more proactive engagement with the good relations
agenda relies on more strategic, high level input from within public
authorities. This longer-term strategic vision can be harder to achieve when
there is not the compelling pressure of a problem to fix and when public
authorities are faced with a range of competing priorities and budget
constraints.
22
The question that arises from this is whether good relations will just be seen
as an approach to reactively addressing tensions or conflict between groups,
rather than a more positive tool for developing positive communities.
However, the example of the Mosaics of Meaning project illustrates a more
proactive approach in fostering good relations. The project developed
innovative approaches to tackle mental health in ethnic minority populations
and to take a starting point from the gathering of a deeper level of
understanding of beliefs about mental health at the grassroots level. The
action research highlighted the plurality of beliefs and cultural influences
within different ethnic minority groups, therefore the responses to the issues
need to be developed in partnership with local communities.
These last two examples illustrate how both concepts of ‘conflict’ and
concepts of ‘contact’ can drive the changing state of relations between
different groups:

On one side the idea of ‘conflict’ can suggest that there are some
areas of society where competing rights simply collide - creating points
of tension and poor relations. Such ‘conflicts’ may be inevitable and
unavoidable and may occur where there is frequent contact between
groups. Good relations approaches can help find new ways forward
and/or arbitrate fairly between opposing perspectives.

On the other side an absence of positive relations between groups
might be down to a lack of meaningful ‘contact’. In these instances
increasing positive contact between different groups can allow new
and positive understandings to develop.
The concepts of ‘conflict’ and ‘contact’ are of course not mutually exclusive
but do highlight the complexities of human interactions on both an individual
and (particularly) group basis.
23
3.2
Levels of understanding around good relations
As was highlighted at the outset of this research, there are still significant
differences in the levels of understanding and confidence that public
authorities have around the concept of good relations. This may partly be
down to the issues of language discussed earlier and may also be linked to
the levels of awareness and / or expertise that public authorities have when
interacting with different groups in society, particularly if faced with social
tension or exclusion. Even within the case studies, this ranges from those
who feel this type of activity is (and always has been) a natural and intrinsic
part of their service delivery and practice to those who see it as more of an
external ‘compliance issue’ required by equalities legislation. Some common
learning follows:

While staff who are directly involved in delivering good relations work
are passionate and can see direct benefit from it, they commonly
express a sense that they still have to educate and encourage other
colleagues to engage, and to see it as part of a wider function of the
organisation, i.e. the awareness that fostering good relations is
actually a legislative requirement of public authorities.
o In these cases, there will clearly be a need to educate both
leaders and operational staff within public authorities more fully
as to the implications of this duty for their wider policy-making
and operational activities.

Levels of understanding and knowledge of people with ‘protected
characteristics’ seems to be very low in some cases, which can
represent a barrier to taking proactive initiative. For example, in the
‘Respect 4 All’ project, awareness of transgender characteristics
among stakeholders was extremely low – the knowledge of how to
address this topic only entered the school domain as a result of
external input. In the Gypsy/Traveller case, some elected
representatives benefited from information about the legal status of
Gypsy/Travellers and their obligations to observe existing law.
24

The implementation of good relations is helped by the strong national
community engagement agendai – which, by virtue of its focus on
community cohesion and safety, in effect incorporates the four
domains of good relations. Community engagement is a strong driver
in the area of community cohesion (which is generally accepted to
include attitudes, security, interactions with others and
participation/influence). Much of the activity we researched came more
from a community engagement perspective than a distinct ‘fostering
good relations’ focus. The parallels and common ground with other
community focused strategies should be recognised in seeking to
promote the ‘good relations’ obligations and opportunities.
Points of Reflection

While there is a broad (sometimes inherent) understanding of the four
domains of good relations, there was no evidence that activities had
been driven by the Commission’s domains of good relations and its
associated measurement framework. This suggests that more work
could still be done to make both the existing legislation and its
practical meaning clearer in its relevance to the day to day activity of a
public authority.

There is still a strong sense that good relations are mainly being
addressed when the visibility of diversity amongst the users or
stakeholders of the public services increases. If the diversity is not
visible or the population is perceived to be homogeneous, good
relations is seen to be less pressing.

There is only limited understanding that good relations should be
implemented as an on-going process of community engagement and
development as opposed to a single defined product that can be
delivered as ‘an initiative’.
25
3.3
Relationship to the equality and diversity agenda
From the case studies, many participants saw good relations as very much
part of the ‘equality and diversity agenda’, with the compliance driver coming
from the public sector Duty at section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
Leading on from this, the following general points emerged from the case
studies:

Good relations work often still seems to sit with the ‘equalities’ agenda
and those who have specific roles relating to that. Although there are
clear opportunities for good relations to be built into other areas of
work, it is rarely seen as part of more mainstream activities such as
employability initiatives, population health development, youth support
services or community regeneration.

There were examples from the case studies where public authorities
saw good relations as being mainly about advocacy and/or direct
representation of different perspectives and experiences. This is a
useful starting point in increasing positive contact between groups
where there has been limited interaction, but does not necessarily
work in situations of more entrenched conflict. It also can still feel as
though it is ‘fixing problems’ by bringing in excluded ‘minorities’ rather
than more proactively setting out to create a different set of social
relations within a population that is increasingly diverse.

A key purpose within many case studies was to raise awareness and
understanding in respect of a particular protected characteristic. This
was often cited as being critical where populations had little contact
and people came from traditional and ‘non-diverse’ backgrounds.
However, while awareness is without doubt an important first step to
improved inter-group relations, it is only a very basic starting point,
particularly if no follow-up or ongoing activity is being pursued.
26
Points of Reflection

Despite its relationship to the 2010 Act, less work has been done on
good relations in respect of newer protected characteristics than had
carried over from the earlier good relations requirements of the former
Race Relations Amendment Act and the Disability Equality Duty. It
should be noted that perceptions expressed around the ‘equality and
diversity agenda’ were also sometimes narrow and often more about
eliminating discrimination than genuinely promoting a more equal and
inclusive environment.

While focusing on the parts of the Equality Act around eliminating
unlawful discrimination or advancing equality of opportunity, some
public authorities seem less aware of the impact their actions may
have on good relations. External perceptions of ‘special or more
favourable treatment’ can inadvertently hinder progress on good
relations. For example, there was a perception among some of the
settled community, fuelled by media coverage, that Gypsy/Travellers
were above the law or ‘getting away with it’. This emerged from
several of the case studies where it was clear that public authorities
were more successful when they recognised the complexity of the ‘big
picture’ and properly considered the links between the different parts
of the general duty as well as simply its good relations dimension.
3.4
Making it part of core organisational activity
Where we saw most sustainable and effective good relations activity through
the case studies, it was increasingly embedded in what the organisation did
as a norm rather than being part of a special initiative (e.g. Grampian Police
Procedures on Unauthorised Encampments). Particularly in a time of
financial constraint in the public sector, the following will be increasingly
relevant to effective development of good relations work:
27

Good relations is clearly directly related to a public authority’s
positioning and purpose and the way that it might contribute to the
attainment of several of the National Outcomes including;
o to ‘achieve a strong, fair and inclusive national identity’
o to ‘have strong, resilient and supportive communities where
people take responsibility for their own actions and how they
affect others
o to ‘take pride in a strong, fair and inclusive national identity’
o to ‘live our lives safe from crime, disorder or danger’

Government and other Public Authorities need to be able to see that
tangible benefits can come from effective good relations work when it
is tied into existing priorities and agendas rather than creating
additionality. Good relations work should be seen as part of the
mainstream business of Public Authorities, making it more likely that
sustainable action and improvements will occur. As discussed earlier
there may be issues of language and understanding around the
concept of good relations as opposed to other more social or
community development initiatives that are preventing this happening

The most sustainable and effective interventions are likely to be easily
aligned internally with the public body’s own organisational
imperatives and the national framework within which it operates
Points of Reflection

Increasingly public authorities should consider how the delivery of their
normal day to day business might be done in a way that:
o builds positive attitudes and tackles prejudice between groups
o recognises everyone’s desire to feel personally secure
o encourages meaningful contact between people who may have
had little interaction
28
o enables inclusive and properly informed policy and decisionmaking where those affected by decisions are able to have their
views considered

The current climate of financial austerity adds greater weight to the
case for good relations being an integral part of what public authorities
do, and not simply an ‘add-on’ that risks getting lost when resources
are tight.

Our case studies highlight the need for public authorities to consider
the advantages that effective good relations work offers to whole
populations and not simply to certain ‘minority’ groups, along with the
social costs (both financial and human) of getting it wrong.
3.5
Working in partnership with communities
While the Public Sector Equality Duty requires individual public authorities to
foster good relations, the implementation of this requires the involvement and
cooperation of a wide range of stakeholders.
All of the case studies showed clear examples of partnership working in the
delivery of their good relations activities. This combined work directly with
affected communities, with voluntary sector intermediary organisations or
with other public authorities that had a shared interest in the agenda.
Our findings showed that:

There was a real sense that a key value of good relations work lies in
the fact that it enables direct contact between diverse groups that
would be unlikely to happen otherwise.
29

A lack of ‘connectedness’ or absence of ‘psycho-social proximity’
appeared to be a factor that sustained negative attitudes between
certain groups in some places. This was suggested in respect of
circumstances where the groups concerned were physically very
separate from each other as well as in relation to groups that had
physical proximity but few opportunities for meaningful contact.

There were fewer examples from the case studies of the relationship
between ‘contact’ and ‘conflict’. The Gypsy/Traveller example
illustrated how it was the very points of ‘contact’ (i.e. unauthorised
encampments) that was causing high levels of ‘conflict’ and tension
between settled and travelling populations. Increased contact was
clearly not going to make this any better.

All agreed that genuine engagement and power transfer between
those involved is important. However, if initiatives to engage and share
power are perceived to be tokenistic or patronising, they can do more
harm than good and can further set back relations through mistrust or
a sense of betrayal.

Using small budgets and local activities to mobilise community
engagement can ensure grass roots momentum and can deliver more
from small levels of investment than could be achieved through the
standard public commissioning models. This was clearly demonstrated
in the Mosaics case study, where the NHS developed a model that
empowered community groups to share responsibility and contribute
in-kind costs.

Working in partnership also opens up opportunities for external
providers to contribute ideas, expertise and know-how in subject
knowledge relating to protected characteristics, and in engagement
techniques. All four case studies show that this can lead to added
value, increased creativity and innovation in addressing the task of
fostering good relations.
30
Points of Reflection

Partnership working can also bring greater long-term effects as other
organisations continue to pursue activities and maintain networks.

Public authority partners need to be clear on what is driving their
involvement and ensure alignment of objectives and approaches if
joint good relations activities are to be successful.
3.6
Reflecting the wider world and organisational focus
It was clear from all of the case studies that good relations work does not
exist in a vacuum and also goes well beyond what people perceive to be the
remit of equality and diversity. The case studies suggested that:

Where there are known problems around good relations, public
authorities need the confidence, skills and willingness to address
direct prejudice early. Some work is perceived to have been on-going
with little positive impact for many years with a sense that there has
been unwillingness to address the root issue directly.

Often where there are perceived to be good relations ‘problems’, there
are very evident political sensitivities around either at a national or
local level. Examples given included the issues of
homophobia/transphobia vs. positive LGBT messages in schools, and
identifying long term land for use by Gypsy/Travellers as opposed to
developing new policies on unauthorised encampments. Again, if
activity is to be meaningful, these political dimensions must be
recognised and addressed, otherwise interventions risk being
ineffective or seen as pursuing a particular agenda.
31

Good, well thought through and well-targeted communication
messages are key. Many participants recognised that there were very
different levels of confidence and competence in developing and
delivering such messages. There is still a real fear of ‘getting it wrong’
or ‘saying the wrong thing’ and finding yourself exposed in the media
on some issues of high sensitivity and public scrutiny.
Points of Reflection

It is clearly essential to be recognised as even-handed on
issues so that improved relations between groups are built up
for mutual benefit without a sense of imposition or loss in any
direction.

Some local good relations issues can have significant national
political implications that can affect the ways they might be
handled and the confidence of those working on them.
3.7
Effective engagement
The case studies highlighted a variety of approaches in reaching out to target
groups and engaging communities to take an interest in good relations.
Here, we observed that, unless an initiative is issue driven (i.e. based on
identified occurrences of conflict or tension), activity needs to have a ‘hook’
(resonate and be relevant) to make the topic interesting and relevant to its
target audience (in the context of this identified need for greater awareness
and understanding mentioned earlier).
We identified some effective engagement techniques:

Creative inputs such as drama, art, film and storytelling personalise
and bring alive a subject to internalise the meaning of good relations,
and stimulate emotional response. For example, with the Mosaics
project, arts events were shown to engage people emotionally as well
32
as intellectually, influencing beliefs and attitudes and creating a
greater willingness to seek help and engage people with mental health
problems.

The use of volunteers who are known to peers to encourage
participation in opinion forming and decision-making
(Gypsy/Travellers).

Encouraging personal interaction between people with protected
characteristics and other people, for example, through the Gypsy
Traveller Dialogue Day and in Respect 4 All talks/presentations to
school students. This can break down barriers and improve
understanding at a personal level.
3.8
Achieving meaningful measurement of progress
The case studies broadly reflected a common view that people find it easier
to describe poor relations between groups or individuals than they do to set
positive outcome measures and indicators of achievement for good relations.
Case study participants felt strongly that qualitative measures are as valuable
as quantitative ones in assessing progress towards good relations, but even
these are difficult to develop in a consistent and methodical way. There was
often a sense that good relations work was undertaken in an attempt to ‘fix’
known problems than as a proactive way to promote a more inclusive and
harmonious environment.
For some, the ‘threat’ of further deterioration in inter-group relations had been
needed to galvanise action, and for others there was a sense that this was
just about creating the type of society we can all live in.
All participants highlighted the meaningful measurement of good relations
outcomes as a real challenge. They suggested it either made it difficult to
justify activity in a ‘world of evidence-based policy’ or conversely risked
stifling the essence of what was being achieved through inappropriate or
clumsy measures. We found:
33

Little work was done by any of the case study participants in setting
clear good relations outcomes as a precursor to developing their
practical activity. It was far more likely that activity would emerge and
often be well underway when attempts to measure impact were made
rather than such measurement being planned in from the outset

Where outcomes had been identified, participants recognised that it
was important to show how they related to the organisation’s core
purpose (and as a consequence the existing national performance
framework) so that they were not just seen as a ‘bolt-on’

There are issues of critical mass around work that has been small
scale and one-off (e.g. Respect 4 All). There was some recognition
from participants that for group attitudes to shift long term, one-off
interventions are unlikely to deliver sustainable impact

At the same time, participants acknowledged that neither communities
nor public authorities necessarily have the resources to ‘scale-up’. For
some this had then prompted internal reflection on whether their
existing approaches (largely add-ons to the day-to-day work of the
organisation) were appropriate or whether they needed to make it
more a part of how they operated generally. One public authority
participant has actually reframed its national targets to reflect this
learning (Prisons) and another has re-worked its whole approach to a
relevant area of policy (Grampian Police regarding its approach to
unauthorised encampments)
Points for Reflection

There is a clear opportunity to further demonstrate the relationship
between the good relations element of the public sector duty and a
number of the Scottish Government’s National Outcomes as listed
earlier. This would allow national indicators to be considered which
could help ensure that public policy development and spending
decisions taken within the context of the National Outcomes
framework increasingly embed good relations considerations.
34
4. Possible considerations for future good relations work
Direct learning and observations from the four case studies have already
been covered earlier in this report. For an interim presentation of these
research findings, the Commission’s advisory group on good relations
requested that the researchers shared their personal views on the wider
implications of the work they had undertaken and possible drivers for future
activity. The following section covers a range of these broader insights, along
with some questions that have arisen for the consultants in undertaking the
totality of this activity. We recognise that some of these come from an
understanding of the topic that goes beyond the source material and offer
them here for the consideration of the Commission and its Good Relations
Advisory group as they further develop their thinking in this area.
4.1
Widening the understanding, volume and reach of good relations
We have already recognised from the case studies that the term ‘good
relations’ is not necessarily used by practitioners to describe the activity that
they are undertaking. There is clearly not yet a shared use of language or
terminology around this issue. From the outset of this work, even widening
our scope to consider activities that were not ‘badged’ as good relations, we
found it hard to identify a wide range of concrete examples of public authority
activity in this arena. Our subsequent desk research and telephone
interviews did not lead us to a wealth of other examples, and issues of
resource and sustainability were sometimes mentioned as reasons for work
stopping or not being developed.
A number of questions arise from this when considering what future work
might be done to further develop the public sector’s understanding of good
relations. Questions pertain to what can be done in the future so that:
35

There is wider recognition of the integral relationship and interdependencies between the three core requirements of the Equality Act
(namely - eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity,
foster good relations)

Good relations work is seen as more relevant to all public authorities

Good relations reaches more consistently beyond the ‘equality and diversity’
agenda and is seen as part of all aspects of the public sector’s core activity

Good relations is more widely understood to be about a continuous process
of engagement and proactive change and not about initiatives or reactive
solutions

Public authorities build effective and sustainable partnerships with groups
having different characteristics and with advocates for particular
characteristics. Ideally such relationships should build awareness and trust as
well as transfer learning. In the longer term this should mean the
development of a wider confidence to discuss different issues of identity and
relationship and not an over reliance on individuals reflecting those
protected characteristics who have to act as advocates

Good relations activity is increasingly seen as a proactive opportunity to
build positive and evolving social relationships, as well as a way of specifically
addressing identified tensions
4.2
Recognising the potential for on-going sensitivity around good
relations
The case studies reflected a mixture of reactive and proactive approaches to
good relations work amongst different population groups. Going beyond
those individual examples, it is self-evident that inter-group relations on the
broad scale are also about individual interactions.
In approaching this work, there were some suggestions that good relations
might be seen by some public authorities as more personal than other
36
aspects of their work in which the challenges are more easily described as
structural. In moving forward the Commission might wish to consider:

To what extent effective good relations work might require public
authorities to challenge their own and others’ personal belief systems and
how confident and well-equipped they might be to undertake this

The relative approaches that might be taken in shaping behaviours, or to
influencing the deeper-seated attitudes that might underpin those behaviours
and the long term impact on good relations that each might bring

How to more effectively engage public authorities in seeing this as part of
the national performance framework so that the positive benefits can be
more easily built into national and local political agendas and so reduce local
political sensitivities
4.3 Developing improved approaches to measurement
How good relations is measured has been a recurrent theme throughout this
work, from the emphasis on evidencing measurement structures in the
Commission’s original brief, to the frustrations and aspirations expressed by
case study participants around how they do or might currently measure their
own progress.
Our observation is that, in an evidence-based policy arena at a time of
diminishing financial resource, meaningful measurement of impact is
essential. We are also, however, aware that real change on many of these
issues is hard to measure, particularly over the short term. While the
Commission has developed an extensive measurement framework for good
relations, we did not see this informing the limited areas of activity that we
considered through this study.
The Commission may wish to give further consideration to the very obvious
challenges of:
37

Supporting public authorities to articulate what they hope to achieve
through good relations activity before they then try and establish
measures to assess effectiveness

How to effectively measure something that is often described as being
about what people feel. Are local, national or defined population
attitudes surveys perhaps relevant?

Raising awareness of the existing good relations measurement
framework and making it more accessible for use within a public
authority suite of indicators

Supporting public authorities to set outcome and progress measures
that are relevant and appropriate to the activity being undertaken. This
might include:
o Better valuing qualitative outcomes when there is a perception
from some in public authorities that they operate in a ‘numbers
culture’
o How to ensure rigour and consistency of qualitative measures
o How to align their good relations outcomes and measures more
effectively within their overall organisational purpose and
operational plan
4.4 Identifying the gaps
As highlighted earlier, for a variety of reasons (some of which may be linked
to methodology), this project uncovered fewer examples of existing practice
in this area in Scottish public authorities than might have been expected,
given they are subject to a legal duty to proactively foster good relations.
Some notable examples of activity encountered in the desk research phase
were in fact driven through the third sector, and in moving forwards the
Commission may wish to consider how they might work with public
authorities:

To work more closely with Scottish Government to explore:
38
o The interaction between the National Outcomes and the public
sector duty on good relations
o Areas such as community safety where there is a natural
relationship with good relations

To identify and support key opinion formers and positive advocates for
protected characteristic groups or good relations more generally, when
those people might be outwith the formal public authority structures

To identify where within communities or on particular issues there are
‘tipping points’ into more positive (or negative) inter-group relations and
how these can be more effectively accelerated or mitigated

To explore ways that they can translate positive but localised grassroots
practices into robust procedures in a public authority environment, when
much work still relies on often quite localised relationships and one-to-one
interactions
39
Appendix: Good Relations Case Studies
Case Study 1: Equality and Diversity in Secondary School
Education (Respect 4 All)
40
Acknowledgements
In preparing this case study, we would like to thank David Atherton from
Aberdeenshire County Council, Marc Evans from Peterhead Academy and
Gareth Oldham from Mintlaw Academy for their time and contributions to this
study. Further, I am grateful to James Morton from the Scottish Transgender
Alliance for signposting us to the Respect 4 All project.
41
1. Introduction to good relations activity in secondary
school education
1.1
Context
Secondary school education has addressed equality and diversity issues for
many years in the context of providing equality of access, tackling
disadvantage and underachievement, and promoting equality of opportunity.
Personal and Social Education, Moral and Religious Studies, Sex and Sexual
Health Education, and Health and Wellbeing are prominent subjects which
are usually well integrated into the school curriculum.
In addition, schools are continuously working on the development of
relationships with their local community to address local issues and develop
a welcoming approach to, and good understanding of, diversity in our society.
However, over and above the requirement of eliminating discrimination and
advancing equality of opportunity, the Equalities Act 2010 requires public
sector bodies such as secondary schools to be pro-active in fostering good
relations between people who share a protective characteristic and those
who do not. This legal requirement goes beyond the tackling of discrimination
and accessibility issues. In addition, the Equalities Act has increased the
number of ‘protected characteristics’ groups to cover age, disability, gender
reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race,
religion and/or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
It is thought that many schools still struggle to conceptualise the requirement
of fostering good relations comprehensively, and that it is still seen as a
challenge to address the whole range of ‘protected characteristics’ groups.
This indicates that schools might fall short at times in implementing the
Equalities Act in its entirety.
42
The following initiative provides an example of how secondary schools are
able to foster good relations and fulfil the requirements of the Equalities Act
2010 effectively. The example should also be useful to understand the effect
of these activities on the four domains which are integral to good relations
work, including attitudes, personal security, interaction with others, and
participation and influence.
Over and above, the case study shows how the endeavours of fostering good
relations meets most effectively with the criteria for implementing a wide
range of objectives outlined in the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) agenda.
1.2
The Respect 4 All project
Funded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Scottish
Government and the Robertson Trust, Multi-ethnic Aberdeen Limited (MeAL)
– a voluntary sector organisation promoting cultural diversity and tolerance –
was commissioned to address hate crime issues in Aberdeenshire in such a
way that the protected characteristics of the equality legislation were tackled
effectively.
Based on the fact that many crimes in Scotland are perpetrated by young
people, the Respect 4 All project was designed to work with schools so that
equality and good relations issues were addressed early on. A preventative
and pro-active approach was chosen to achieve a positive and lasting impact
on future behaviour and attitudes of the young people involved. The project
was also geared to support young people of differing ‘protected
characteristics’ in interacting with each other by improving their
understanding of, and sensitivities towards each others’ concerns.
The Respect 4 All project was delivered by Multi-ethnic Aberdeen Ltd (lead
agency), in partnership with a number of organisations. The partnership
included an appropriate range of organisations demonstrating an integrated
approach to tackling the issues.
43
The following organisations included Ideas in Partnership Ltd, Millennium
Child Entertainment, Grampian Police, Aberdeenshire Council,
Aberdeenshire Disability Action Ltd, Tenants First Housing Cooperative,
Grampian Housing Association and the Terrence Higgins Trust.
This Aberdeenshire pilot project was undertaken in 2009, lasting around
seven weeks and involving eighty S2 pupils (four second year classes) at the
Mintlaw Academy. The project was then repeated with the complete intake of
S1 pupils at the Peterhead Academy in 2010.
The Respect 4 All project aimed to:

Improve understanding

Promote good relations between pupils

Have pupils reflect on how to get on well with other people

Encourage respect for other people

Treat people fairly
The key ambitions of the project were to raise awareness and knowledge of
the protected characteristics: sexual orientation (lesbian, gay, bisexual),
disability, age, gender and transgender, race, religion and faith.
The project process followed a number of key steps, which could provide a
useful template for similar initiatives in future. A series of extra-curriculum
workshops facilitated learning in each of the areas. The workshops were
delivered by external professionals with a relevant background in respect of
each of the issues. Following the period of learning, the project entered into
its creative phase whereby a number of artists were employed to work
directly with the participants to create artistic and creative performances. This
helped pupils to express the acquired knowledge and internalise the
understanding of the different equalities areas through artistic means (dance,
film, music, rap and visual arts). The Respect 4 All project concluded with a
celebratory event presenting the performances to a wider audience, including
other pupils, teachers, parents and the wider community.
44
The Respect 4 All project is widely considered by those interviewed as a very
successful and enjoyable learning experience. Of central importance to the
project is the ‘translation’ of learning into active and creative expression,
thereby enabling emotional learning and maturing to develop. The
engagement with artists and with people having particular protected
characteristics enabled the participating young people not only to internalise
the more theoretical learning from the workshops, but also to come in touch
with ‘real’ people. This experience has the potential to make profound
impressions on participating individuals with the effect of changing attitudes
and behaviours fundamentally.
The combination of learning and performance around equality and good
relations issues was felt to be a powerful approach and a very effective tool,
making good relations topics fun to learn and accept.
2.
Identifying the issues
The Respect 4 All project was commissioned by the Equality and Human
Rights Commission at a time when the Equalities Act 2010 was still in its
drafting stage. The key drivers for initiating the project were to encourage
third sector organisations, such as MeAL, to widen their scope from
predominantly focusing on one or two equality issues, for example actions
against racism, towards addressing the wider spectrum of good relations
issues and protected characteristics groups.
Furthermore, there was an appreciation that good relations issues ought to
be addressed best via a partnership approach involving the public and the
third sector, and drawing on the distinct areas of expertise and influence of
both.
45
Finally, there was consensus amongst the key participating organisations
that the use of external and independent delivery agents (i.e. not school
teachers) was key in ‘making the message heard’ to an audience of young
school pupils. The project made good relations topics ‘cool’ and gave them a
status to be connected with.
MeAL, the lead partner of the project, invited schools from areas in
Aberdeenshire where police reports showed an above average occurrence of
reported hate crimes and harassment cases. Each of the approached
schools was keen to participate in the project as it fitted well with their
existing work on equalities and helped to address a number of pertinent
issues the schools faced at the time. This included issues relating to
behaviour (within and outwith the schools) around the areas of respect,
cultural and lifestyle difference, tolerance, awareness and understanding.
The particular approach of the Respect 4 All project appealed to the schools
as it provided pupils not only with the opportunity to learn from experts and
meet ‘real people’ presenting different protected characteristics, but also to
express their feelings creatively. The interviewed individuals thought that, for
many pupils, this was the first time that they had an opportunity to work
closely with an artist, representing a huge image boost to the topic of good
relations. The observations also suggested that, for other pupils, it was the
first time in their lives that they actually met somebody gay or from an ethnic
minority background.
The key issues and needs which the Respect 4 All project sought to address
can be summarised as follows:

The need for organisations and statutory bodies to gain experience
and know-how in how to work around the protected characteristics of
the equality legislation in place at the time
46

The need for a new and creative approach in teaching good relations
effectively to young people, an approach which engages them
meaningfully and fosters dialogue and exchange of experiences

The need to reach out to young people at an important time of their
development to encourage openness and interest in good relations
matters, thereby influencing the positive development of attitudes,
emotional growth and maturity as well as facilitating increased
interaction with others leading to an increased feeling of personal
security and confidence
3.
Strategic linkage to national objectives
The Respect 4 All project was initiated before the Good Relations
Measurement Framework came into place, and the key aims at the time were
to expand work involving the new and wider range of protected characteristic
groups (rather than relating directly to the Framework).
However, with hindsight a strong linkage can be established between the
projects’ rationale and outcomes on the one hand, and the principles of the
Equalities Act and the four domains of the Good Relations Measurement
Framework on the other.
With regard to the four domains (in bold below), the project was specifically
targeted to shape and change attitudes amongst young people. Terms such
as, ‘respect’ (as represented in the project title itself) and ‘valuing diversity’
were ‘key’ to the entire initiative.
Observations from teachers and artists showed that the project impacted on
individual young people and their emotional and physical sense of personal
security (increased confidence, feeling comfortable with oneself, and ability
to be oneself).
47
The project was further specifically designed to allow young people to
interact with others and facilitate dialogue and collaboration with a diverse
range of people leading to greater understanding on how to interact with
each other. With the performance event at the end of the Respect 4 All
project, the fourth domain of the good relations Measurement Framework
‘participation’ was addressed, whereby the learning of the initiative was
presented to a wider audience of stakeholders and community members.
This demonstrates that the project could have reported against Measurement
Framework indicators, if that had requested at the time.
Furthermore, the Respect 4 All project and its outcomes meet a wide range
of CfE curriculum areas and objectives which relate well to the four domains
of the Good Relations Measurement Framework, as the following table
demonstrates:
Alignment of CfE Aims with the Four Domains of the Good Relations
Measurement Framework
Health and Wellbeing
Four Domains
Develop self-awareness, self-worth and respect for
others
Attitudes
Meet challenges, manage change and build
Interaction with
relationships
others
Experience personal achievement and build my
resilience and confidence
Attitudes
Understand and develop my physical, mental and
spiritual wellbeing and social skills
Personal security
Learn about where to find help and resources to
inform choices
Personal security
Assess and manage risk and understand the impact
of risk-taking behaviour
Attitudes
48
Acknowledge diversity and understand that it is
everyone’s responsibility to challenge discrimination.
Attitudes
Religious and Moral studies
Explore and establish values such as wisdom, justice,
compassion and integrity and engage in the
development of and reflection upon my own moral
values
Attitudes
Develop beliefs, attitudes, values and practices
through reflection, discovery and critical evaluation
Personal security
Develop the skills of reflection, discernment, critical
thinking and deciding how to act when making moral
decisions
Attitudes
Make a positive difference to the world by putting my
Interaction with
beliefs and values into action
others
Social studies
Develop the understanding of values, beliefs and
cultures of others
Attitudes
Develop the understanding of the principles of
democracy and citizenship through experience of
critical and independent thinking
Attitudes
Literacy and English
Interaction with
Communicate, collaborate and build relationships
others
Reflect on and explain literacy and thinking skills,
using feedback to improve and sensitively provide
useful feedback for others
Attitudes
Explore the richness and diversity of language, how it
can affect people, and the wide range of ways in
which one can be creative
Attitudes
49
The Respect 4 All project represents an interdisciplinary learning tool that
can support teachers who are, at times, less familiar with the specific topics
relating to the various characteristics groups of the Equalities Act to fulfil their
schools’ duties in view of their legal obligations. For example, in the case of
sexual orientation and trans-gender issues, many teachers do not feel that
they have sufficient relevant skills, confidence or knowledge to teach the
subject effectively. The Respect 4 All project can deliver this expertise via
external specialist organisations and through the creative skills of the
involved artists, ‘translating’ the expertise in equalities into lived experience.
The project approach of combining equalities with artistic expertise has
proven to be highly effective and successful.
4.
Expected outcomes and key achievements
The project partners expected the following outcomes from the Respect 4 All
project:

Increased awareness and understanding of different protected
characteristics

Increased sensitivity and appreciation of what it might mean and feel
like to be isolated and excluded as a result of a personal characteristic

Increased levels of respect and tolerance towards others

Increased openness and interest in exploring different life experiences
and perceptions as well as an ability to share experiences and
personal feelings with others

A reduction in aggressive and discriminating behaviour and attitude

Increased levels of self-esteem, confidence and personal sense of
security for pupils affected by different equality issues

Changing attitudes and behaviours to become more responsible
citizens
Based on the interview findings with participating organisations, the project
has successfully achieved the expected outcomes in all areas.
50
Although no longer-term evaluation or tracking of impacts has been
undertaken, the impact on pupils was measured via an evaluation tool
developed by MeAL, assessing knowledge levels in the equalities areas
(race, faith, disability, sexual orientation, gender / transgender and age)
before and after the project.
51
Pupils registered an increase in knowledge around all equalities areas which
were addressed by the project. Specifically, pupils assessed their knowledge
relating to ‘age’ as ‘I know quite a bit about it’ before the project, however the
impact measured after the project showed the smallest increase as a result
of the project activity. In contrast, pupils’ knowledge around ‘sexual
orientation’ and ‘transgender’ was reported as ‘I have heard about it’ before
the project activity started, but these topics experienced the largest increase
in positive awareness registered after the project. In addition, ‘sexual
orientation’ was one of the strongest areas where pupils identified further
interest in learning more in future.
A number of individual observations were reported by the interviewees
demonstrating the extent of impact on individual pupils. These included the
following:

The beginning shyness and discomfort of many pupils in talking about
issues such as sexual orientation lifted through the course of the
project and enabled pupils to talk much more openly and freely about
related topics after completion of the project.

The realisation that people they initially perceived as ‘normal’ then
reveal themselves as belonging to a protected characteristics group
has changed awareness levels amongst pupils considerably. This was
most vividly demonstrated when a member of the police force
participating in the Respect 4 All project confidently identified himself
as gay to the pupils.

The learning workshops and the opportunity to express equalities
issues via drama and dance has helped significantly to increase
confidence levels, self-esteem and personal security amongst pupils
as could be seen by the performance of a boy (described by peers
and staff as ‘feminine’) who gained considerable support from other
pupils and appreciation by the audience for his performance. This, it
was thought, would have been an unlikely reaction before the project.
52
One of the artists involved in both Respect 4 All projects provided this
observation:
‘During the Respect project was when I first met this young person. He
was very loud and interrupted every session. From the start he said "am
not performing" in which I said that's okay. During the street poetry
session he interrupted his group constantly and I had to remove him to
the side so the group can continue.
‘The following week he walked in the class saying "am not doing
anything" in which he got no response from any of the other students
including me. He stayed back that day and apologised and asked if he
could take part. I told him we would have to ask the group first.
The following week the group accepted his apologies and allowed him
back in the group and helped him get started. He later wrote "Respect
means treating others the way you want to be treated, never ill treat but
respect’.
5.
5.1
Lessons learned
Emphasis on creativity and art
The increased use of artists, dancers and musicians during the second run of
the project with the Peterhead Academy in 2010 emphasised the
effectiveness of using creativity and art as a ‘high impact’ tool for relating
equality issues to young people.
The participating schools felt that the chance to work directly with artists
made a considerable difference in impacting positively on pupils, and in
changing their perceptions and emotional maturity in grasping the impact of
social exclusion and isolation.
The suggestion was made to include writing and journalism as additional
creative art forms in future projects.
53
The final performance event provided an ideal platform to disseminate the
achievements and key messages of the project to a wider audience.
5.2
Organisation and project coordination
As in many partnership and multi-agency projects, it is crucially important that
roles and responsibilities of each participant organisation are made clear and
are agreed from the outset. This is of particular importance in projects which
operate across different work environments, i.e. the relatively restricted
school curriculum with its day-to-day time scheduling, versus the much more
unrestricted work approach of artists.
Good communication, careful project planning and coordination are important
aspects to be pursued diligently throughout the project and across the
participating project partners, to prevent disappointment and
misunderstandings in timing and workshop provision. Ideally, the involvement
of an identified project co-ordinator at senior level should be ensured from
the outset.
5.3
Measuring and attributing project impact
The study findings from interviews with representatives of the organisations
involved in the Respect 4 All project clearly show that the project was
successful in achieving impacts amongst the participating individuals at a
personal level. It was also felt that the project impacted on improvements in
general behaviour and levels of respect amongst pupils. In terms of largescale impact and significant change, however, it is thought the project was of
too small a scale and short in duration.
Respect, tolerance and the promotion of diversity and equality issues are
integral aspects of any school curriculum. It is therefore difficult to assess the
precise attribution levels of the impact which has been made by the Respect
4 All project.
54
The short term nature of the project (between 7 and 9 weeks) and the limited
amount of pupils involved further limit the likelihood that significant impact
has been made, or at least this is very difficult to assess due to attribution
issues in light of many other ongoing initiatives (including personal and social
education classes) and events influencing attitudes and behaviours.
However, it is the perception of the participating organisations that areas of
friction amongst some groups of pupils have reduced as a result of the
project, and that a considerable number of individual pupils have benefited
greatly from their engagement with the Respect 4 All activities.
Despite the additional work commitments which the project required, the staff
of the participant organisations would welcome the continuous delivery of the
initiative should new funds be made available. The Respect 4 All project was
recommended throughout as a successful, enjoyable and effective initiative,
as a Deputy Head Teacher stated:
‘An approach which works’.
6.
Implications for developing good relations work further
There is a strong desire from teachers and policymakers to integrate good
relation topics, increased tolerance, understanding and respect further into
the school curriculum. To integrate and maintain the continuous development
of good relations work in schools, the provision of interdisciplinary learning
packs and resources for teachers would be welcomed.
Although the Respect 4 All project has been very successful, it has been a
short term intervention and only targeted at one year level in each school. It
was thought that the project might be more powerful if resources could be
made available to reach all pupils at each school or at least all S1 or S2
pupils every year.
55
The importance of the external delivery of the Respect 4 All project was
highlighted by all interviewees. Because of their external status, schoolindependent delivery agents and artists have proven to be much more
effective in getting pupils to ‘hear the equalities message’ in the sense that
an unusual delivery of teaching has the potential of making better and longer
lasting impressions.
In rural areas where multi-ethnicity and visible diversity is much less common
in the population, there is a real need to facilitate the encounter with ‘real life’
representatives of different protected characteristics in order to break down
barriers of negative perception and prejudice.
It was the wish of each interviewed project participant organisation to
continue with the Respect 4 All project if funding could be made available.
56
Case Study 2: Gypsy/Travellers in North East Scotland
57
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the support of Sandra Bruce of Aberdeen City
Council, for a useful introductory interview and provision of supporting
information and for facilitating access to a meeting of the Gypsy/Traveller
Inter-Agency Group. Also thanks to Jim Hume of Grampian Police, David
Cooper of Aberdeenshire Council, Amanda Farquhar of Aberdeen City
Council, Dave Black of Grampian Regional Equality Council and Lynne
Tammi of Article 12 for further information and discussion.
58
1.
Introduction
1.1 Context
Gypsy/Traveller is an overarching term which includes those who identify
themselves as Travellers, Gypsies or Roma, and may be of Scottish, English,
Irish, Welsh or European origin. It is the term used in the 2011 Census and is
the one that is used consistently in this case study reflecting the diverse
origins of the Gypsy/Travellers with whom it is involved. The Scottish
Government recognises that Gypsy/Travellers are a distinct ethnic group and
amongst the most disenfranchised and discriminated against communities in
Scotland.
There has been longstanding concern over the treatment of Gypsy/Travellers
in Scotland. In 2001 the Equal Opportunities Committee of the then Scottish
Executive published its first report, an Inquiry into Gypsy Travellers and
Public Sector Policies. Many of the Committee’s 37 recommendations
focussed on a number of changes and initiatives to be put in place in order to
improve education and health provision, whilst others covered issues of
equalities and anti-discrimination. In 2005 a follow up report raised concerns
over continued lack of progress.
In May 2009, social research company Craigforth, commissioned by the
three Grampian Local Authorities, published the report, ‘An Accommodation
Needs Assessment of Gypsies/Travellers in Grampian’. The report initiated
an inter-agency action plan covering the whole of the Grampian area. The
Craigforth report has played an important role in encouraging and focussing
inter-agency work in Grampian and has also shaped the relevant work of
each individual Local Authority.
59
1.2 Exacerbation of an ongoing issue
The lack of adequate site provision, particularly in the North-East of Scotland,
has often been cited as the cause of increased tensions between
Gypsy/Travellers and the settled community. Although there had been
previous problems with tensions between Gypsy/Travellers and the settled
community, the summer of 2010 saw increased tensions reach dangerous
levels in some circumstances. Several incidents took place between local
youths and Gypsy/Travellers on Unauthorised Encampments. The location of
some Unauthorised Encampments appeared to be the source of discontent
within sections of the settled community and the media.
2.
Identifying the issues to be addressed
2.1 The Craigforth Reportii and Action Plan
It should be noted that the situation that arose in 2010 did not come as a
complete surprise to the region, and that local agencies had already been
working together to understand the issues and come up with solutions.
In January 2008, Craigforth was commissioned by Aberdeen City,
Aberdeenshire and Moray Local Authorities to carry out an ‘Accommodation
Needs Assessment of Gypsies/Travellers’ in the Grampian area. The
research was carried out in a number of phases, but essentially took the form
of a household survey interview of Gypsy/Travellers living in different types of
accommodation, including Council sites, unauthorised encampments, houses
and private sites. The research identified the Gypsy/Traveller population,
characteristics, travelling patterns, employment etc, use of accommodation
and needs, and also looked at quality of life issues such as discrimination
and harassment.
An Action Plan followed the publication of the report, which set out
recommendations for accommodation as well as for improving relations
between the Gypsy/Traveller populations and settled communities.
60
This has been constantly updated and refreshed by the Gypsy/Traveller
Inter-Agency Group, which comprises officers from Local Authorities, Police,
NHS and Grampian Regional Equality Council (GREC), and meets on a bimonthly basis to discuss and plan actions.
2.2 Renewed and intense pressure to act
In 2010, following the incidents in the Grampian area, pressures built in the
public arena for public authorities to deal with the situation. Specifically:

A petition was lodged with the Scottish Government Public Petitions
Committee seeking a review of existing national and local policies
relating to unauthorised encampmentsiii

Public figures, including local councillors, were suggesting the Police
take a robust stance and ‘move them on’, essentially asking Police to
act unlawfully. This gave rise to public hostility over perceived lack of
action by Grampian Police to address the settled communities’
concerns

The situation was worsened by significant media attention which had
negative impacts on attempts by Local Authorities to create
‘authorised’ sites, which were regarded as the sustainable solution to
the problem
2.3 Working Party provided new impetus
In November 2010, as a result of the heightened tension and the public
petition, the Scottish Government Minister for Housing and Communities,
Alex Neil, convened the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Gypsy/Traveller
Working Party comprising individuals and representatives of key
organisations that have a role or responsibility to work with Gypsy/Travellers,
with the remit:
‘to improve community relations by ensuring that issues relating to
unauthorised Gypsy/Traveller encampments in Aberdeen and
Aberdeenshire experienced during 2010 are resolved and / or
mitigated to the extent that incidents are significantly reduced.’
61
The Working Party identified a number of key issues and factors that needed
to be considered and addressed:
●
Reduction in encampment options over time and lack of official
provision in the area
●
Increased availability of seasonal and year-round employment options
●
Increased numbers of Gypsy/Travellers (including from outside
Scotland) being attracted into the area
●
Changes in traditional farming methods and lifestyles and previous
broad acceptance of short term encampments of Gypsy/Travellers
●
Increased housing developments sometimes affecting encampment
options
●
Increased knowledge and awareness of human rights and related
obligations placed on public agencies
●
Increased obligations on Local Authorities when considering potential
locations for permanent camping and temporary halting sites
The working group then devised an Action Planiv of short-term and longerterm actions to achieve lasting improvement, including measures to improve
community liaison and mediation arrangements, enhance current site
provision and capacity, and improve communications between key public
authorities, i.e. Councils and Police Services.
The Working Party was dissolved during the ‘purdah’ period prior to the
Scottish elections in 2011. However, some key positive outcomes from the
process include the constructive dialogue and agreement that took place
between senior strategic representatives of key organisations, and some
concrete progress towards stated objectives, e.g. new procedures for early
communication with Gypsy/Travellers and communication and sharing of
information between bodies regarding unauthorised encampments .
62
It can also be argued that the overriding objective of the Working Group has
been met – incidents have indeed significantly reduced. However, the
fundamental objective of improving site provision remains an ongoing issue.
In March 2012, Scottish Government officials met with key officers from
Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and Grampian Police to
discuss the progress of the Action Plan and specifically the ongoing issues
with respect to site provision. The continuing problem in creating new sites
was highlighted by the recent example near Stonehaven of a private
landowner who withdrew his planning application for the creation of a small
transit site in the face of public opposition. Scottish Government is interested
to explore with local partners measures that can be taken to overcome the
existing barriers to meeting the site provision objectives.
2.4 Building consensus on the issues and the responses required
Predating the formation of the Working Group, in September 2010 Grampian
Joint Police Board supported a proposed summit event to bring together key
agencies to explore issues and identify solutions to improve relations
between Gypsy/Travellers and the settled community. In January 2011,
Grampian Regional Equality Council (GREC) was asked to organise the
event.
A steering group, comprising council officers from the three Local Authorities,
Grampian Police, GREC and the clerk to Grampian Joint Police Board, was
set up to plan the event. Efforts were also made to include Gypsy/Traveller
representation, and GREC recruited a volunteer (from the Travelling
community) who helped to encourage Gypsy/Traveller attendance, and
helped to shape the structure of the day to make it more appealing to the
Gypsy/Traveller community. The Grampian Gypsy/Traveller CrossCommunity Dialogue Dayv was held in Inverurie in April 2011, with almost 70
delegates attending including around 20 Gypsy/Travellers.
63
From the outset, the overarching aim was to improve relations within the
Grampian area, with a new approach focussing on participation and dialogue,
‘to facilitate a process allowing multiple stakeholders to contribute to a
dialogue that enhances cross-community relations’.
This was reinforced by the Scottish Government Working Group and
Grampian Joint Policy Board.
Specific objectives were identified:

To encourage better community relations

To improve awareness of the needs of the respective communities

To discuss obstacles to alternative provision for Gypsy/Travellers

To increase understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the
respective agencies

To increase understanding of the Working Group Strategy and what it
might mean for the area
Discussion groups covered 10 topics, including education, sites and facilities,
policing, equalities, media and health, and each came up with suggestions
for resolving issues and moving forward. At the end of the day, a number of
pledges were made by public authorities to take forward issues that had been
discussed, to improve relations. Participants’ feedback was generally
positive, with comments including ‘good to meet some Gypsy/Traveller
families’, ‘excellent to be able to get my views across’ and ‘long journeys
begin with small steps’. Participants also voiced a need for ongoing dialogue
and questions about future plans and progress.
Many of the issues have already been incorporated into the Inter-agency
Action Plan and Working Party Strategy. The Dialogue Day can be seen in
terms of refocusing energies on the content of such strategies, and allowing
for the type of multi-stakeholder dialogue that has often been missing from
previous attempts to address the relevant issues.
64
2.5 Grampian Police reviewed its procedures
Responding to the situation in 2010, Grampian Police reviewed its procedure
for Gypsy/Traveller unauthorised encampments to help in meeting its
obligations in promoting good relations between different groups in society.
This sought to address the concerns raised by members of the wider settled
community, whilst maintaining the rights and protection afforded to the
Gypsy/Traveller community as an ethnic minority group.
According to the Full Equality Impact Assessmentvi that was conducted for
the new Procedure:
‘In meeting our duties to promote good relations, ... we must adopt a
stance of balancing of interests, planning ahead and developing our
procedures and practices in such a manner that they are not seen to
favour any one community over another. Previous evidence has
consistently highlighted that the Gypsy/Traveller community is one of
the most vilified [....] conversely, the settled community often feel that
their voices are not being heard... A positive contribution by the Force
to address the needs and concerns of all communities can only help
lead to an improved relationship between those communities and
increased understanding and confidence in the role of the Force.’
The Police used consultation with a wide range of stakeholders including
Local Authorities, Community Councils and elected representatives, using
organisations such as Article 12, GREC and Building Bridges to liaise with
the Gypsy/Travellers, to inform the creation of the procedure.
65
3.
Outcomes and achievements
3.1 Impact of Scottish Government intervention
While the Scottish Government Working Group was a short-term measure,
and dialogue has not continued through this forum, it has been recognised by
the Inter-Agency Working Group as having been useful in terms of confirming
the policy response, garnering support from senior management within the
public agencies to take action and generating good publicity.
The accompanying funding that the Scottish Government provided to
improve site provision1 was seen as crucial to many of the subsequent
achievements – improving provision is the foundation of promoting good
relations, as without addressing this fundamental source of tension, there
would be little chance of making headway with other community building
activities.
It may be that further Scottish Government intervention is required to assist
with the achievement of site objectives, and indeed there have been some
renewed discussions recently between Scottish Government and regional
public authorities around the next steps that need to be taken.
3.2 Continuing barriers to achieving site provision objectives
Some of the Scottish Government funding has been used in Aberdeen City to
improve the site at Clinterty, refurbishing and improving amenities in the
permanent site and creating four new transit plots. While these are positive
steps that improve the quality of life for Gypsy/Travellers and reduce
unauthorised encampments, there remains a shortfall in provision in the
North East region as a whole, which means that at peak points in the season,
unauthorised encampments will continue to occur.
In 2010/11 a total of £1m of funding for Gypsy/Traveller sites was rolled up into the local
government settlements.
1
66
However, the lack of statutory requirement for site provision means that Local
Authorities and private landowners, taking proposals through normal planning
channels, have difficulties achieving their objectives.
Aberdeenshire has conducted a review of land in its ownership that could be
considered potentially viable for site provision; i.e. near to main road links
and close to amenities. Having identified no suitable land under these
parameters, it may extend the review to other parts of the Council area. In
the meantime, it has been seeking to support the provision of sites on land
under private ownership. There have been applications by private
landowners and by Gypsy/Travellers with headline agreement to buy land
themselves. However, each attempt has failed, either because of public
objections or non-conformity with planning policy (e.g. green belt).
Delivering on site provision objectives is a key ongoing issue in 2012. The
search is continuing in Aberdeenshire for suitable land (widening the Council
land search, discussions with Housing Associations) but there remain
fundamental issues with the existing planning authority, local political will,
and ongoing public objection.
The Scottish Government funding remains on the table, reserved for the
provision of sites. However, it would appear that further steps need to be
taken to break the deadlock that currently exists with respect to sites.
Although the Scottish Government, under the terms of the Concordat, cannot
be prescriptive or over-ride Councils’ authority, there is a need for some
greater push to help Councils to make decisions that enable them to meet
the requirement to provide for Gypsy/Travellers needs.
67
3.3 Refreshed Gypsy/Traveller Unauthorised Encampments Procedure
In 2011, Grampian Police refreshed its Procedure relating to unauthorised
encampments, to clearly specify the role of Grampian Police in the
management of these encampments for the benefit of Officers and the
general public.
While the underlying approach is consistent with previous procedures, the
processes for dealing with encampments are now firmly based on interaction
and dialogue, both with the Gypsy/Traveller and settled communities. Greater
emphasis is placed on media engagement as well as on linkages with Local
Authorities to share information on encampments.
New internal guidance was also produced for Grampian Police, and this was
rolled out in a series of briefing sessions, for managers, frontline and control
room staff.
The new Procedure has worked well. Critically, it encourages communication
between Local Policing Teams, settled communities, Gypsy/Traveller
communities and key partner agencies to inform decision making and
considerations in respect of unauthorised encampments. This allows views to
be taken into consideration when issues arise around the establishment of an
unauthorised encampment. It also aims to reduce negative stereotyping of
the Gypsy/Traveller community as a whole. National ACPOS guidance has
been rewritten to reflect the Grampian Police procedure, with the materials
and Frequently Asked Questions adopted and adapted in other areas.
3.4 Progress in improving attitudes to Gypsy/Travellers
Negative press coverage has been seen as a key challenge in improving
general relations between Gypsy/Traveller populations and the settled
communities.
68
The Inter-Agency Group has an ongoing commitment to work together to
counter racist media coverage, provide consistent responses to press
enquiries about Gypsy/Travellers and encampments and coordinate legal
action where necessary. A noticeable toning down of press coverage has
been observed since the flash point of 2010, which has been attributed to the
development of media strategies and consistent pressure from all sides, as
well as increased understanding generated through, for example, the
Dialogue Day.
The public agencies and partners have also taken some actions of their own
in the area of public relations, with Aberdeen City Council producing a Myth
Buster poster campaign in schools and production of a DVD ‘Faur Ye Bin &
Faur Ye Gaun?’. There was negative media reaction to the poster campaign
which was seen as being too one sided, resulting in the posters being
withdrawn from Aberdeenshire schools. However it was commended by the
Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) and adapted for
use within the police.
Taking learning from that, the DVD does take a more balanced view in
acknowledging the issues and tensions on the part of both Gypsy/Travellers
and settled communities. Each school in the area is using the DVD as part of
the Curriculum for Excellence.
Future avenues are being explored include:

Peer education: Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Councils are working
with Article 12 (a young person led network that works to promote
young people's participation and information rights as set out in
international human rights charters) to develop an education project
based at the Clinterty site, to carry out an awareness raising service in
schools, and to organise a conference in 2012 that will bring together
young people from Gypsy/Traveller and settled communities for
dialogue
69

Scottish Churches Racial Justice Group (Action of Churches Together
in Scotland) is currently considering new approaches to promote good
relations with Gypsy/Travellers. The Inter-Agency Group has entered
initial dialogue with ACTS, recognising the role that churches can play
in embedding constructive community relations.
3.5 Progress in building participation and influence
The Dialogue Day is regarded as having been a very constructive event that
brought increased understanding and enabled all the relevant stakeholders to
communicate constructively and tackle issues that have been on-going for
some time. Some other workshops have been held to bring communities
together and have had similar positive results.
The more difficult nut to crack is how to embed this type of dialogue that
ensures that Gypsy/Travellers are able to have ‘participation and influence’
on a more systematic basis so that a balance and sustainable ‘voice’ is heard
throughout the national policy dialogue.
It was desired that there should be Gypsy/Traveller representation at the
Inter-Agency Group and community bodies. However, despite efforts to
achieve this, travelling patterns as well as the heterogeneity of the
Gypsy/Traveller population, make it difficult to find individual(s) that can
commit the time and/or represent the diversity of people affected. It was
suggested by Article 12 that, given their ongoing contact with
Gypsy/Travellers even when they are not based in the region, it would be of
benefit to allow them a seat at the table for strategic discussions.
Article 12 played this role to good effect in the Scottish Government Working
Party.
Although formal representation by Gypsy/Travellers on standing forums has
not been achieved, some workable solutions have been adopted at
operational level:
70

The GREC Gypsy/Traveller Liaison Worker (GTLW) (Aberdeenshire)
and Aberdeen City Council Liaison Officer regularly take soundings
from people in encampments regarding new policy development. For
example, in conjunction with council officers in environmental health,
housing and planning, one such consultation has involved asking
Gypsy/Travellers staying in unauthorised encampments about
potential short stay sites (i.e. their location and possible facilities).
GREC also gathered 80 responses to feed into the Local Housing
Strategy. Part of the advantage of GREC is the use of volunteers –
very effective work has been done with the help of a member of the
Gypsy/Traveller community which significantly helped in breaking
down barriers and reaching people that normally could not be reached

The re-vitalisation of the community centre on Clinterty Traveller site is
intended to form the basis for developing and addressing many
issues, for example public health promotion and further education, as
well as providing increased possibilities for community engagement.
GREC’s Gypsy/Traveller Liaison Worker is currently recruiting a small
team of volunteers to help take forward the project at Clinterty. The
community centre also offers significant opportunities for engagement
work and the possibility of setting up a residents group that may be
willing to engage with the wider public by sending representatives to
public meetings
In addition, initiatives have been undertaken in the areas of education and
health to improve understanding of needs and correspondingly, the provision
of services, to Gypsy/Travellers.
Education
Aberdeenshire is working together with GREC to improve education provision
for Gypsy/Travellers. There is a written procedure for education-related
71
communications before and after the GREC GLTW makes an encampment
visit.
It has recently been agreed that the GTLW should be the Named Person
(relating to the Scottish Government’s Getting it Right for Every Child and
Young Person) for Gypsy/Traveller children staying on unauthorised
encampments.
A meeting was recently held at Clinterty Community Centre with residents as
well as the GREC GTLW, Aberdeen City Council’s Gypsy/Traveller Liaison
Officer, Article 12, NHS (Aberdeen City) public health staff and education
officials from Aberdeenshire Council. The meeting centred around asking
residents what they would like to see happen with the community centre on
the site. Residents expressed an interest in seeing some kind of secondary
education provided for older children (parents on the site tend not to want
their children to attend secondary school, for a variety of reasons). Those
agencies present will continue to work together (and with the residents on the
site), to see what can be developed.
Article 12 has also been trialling a workshop session in a Secondary School
and its Primary feeders in Aberdeenshire in an area close to a
Gypsy/Traveller site. The primary session takes the form of a story-telling
workshop where children compose short stories around a picture of
Gypsy/Travellers. This then lends itself to question and answer sessions,
enabling children to get a better understanding of Gypsy/Travellers’ real
culture and to think about how they are viewed in society. The secondary
session takes the form of a conflict resolution workshop model, designed so
that young Gypsy/Travellers can easily follow the process of delivery. As
well as being delivered to classes, it has also been delivered to Kemnay
Academy’s pupil council, so that the pupil council can set up a ‘buddy
scheme’ for Gypsy/Travellers in the feeder primary schools with the aim of
encouraging them to take up secondary education in the knowledge that they
will have a ‘buddy’ from the settled community who understands their
culture.
72
Article 12 would like to roll this model out across the region to be
incorporated into Curriculum for Excellence (Personal and Social Education).
However, approaches to a number of schools based near Gypsy/Traveller
sites have not received any response. This indicates the need for greater
strategic level involvement from the Local Authority to support the fostering of
good relations in the educational sphere.
Health
Much in the same way as with education, the GREC GTLW has agreed a
written procedure for the encampment visits with the public health teams in
NHS Grampian. The main aim is to link up the GTLW role with that of health
visitors. Health visitors are promoting the use of Handheld Health Records to
enable more consistency of care from different providers. The GTLW also
informs local Health Visitor teams when the family moves on, enabling
relevant issues to be passed on to the next provider.
A small working group has been set up with a public health coordinator from
Aberdeenshire North (with a remit for Gypsy/Travellers in Aberdeenshire), a
member of NHS Aberdeenshire Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, and the
GTLW. Initially this group discussed ways in which a more positive approach
could be taken to engage Gypsy/Travellers with wider health issues (such as
preventative health).
An initial pilot event was organised (with the assistance of a member of the
Travelling community) and this took place in late summer 2011. The team
worked with a member of Community Learning and Development who
provided a van (equipped for community engagement) for the event at the
Greenbanks Site in Banff. Various methods of engagement were used – for
example, a Wii Fit for the children to use and a healthy barbeque – and some
health officials were present who spoke to Gypsy/Travellers about health
issues such as healthy eating. Some health checks were also undertaken.
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The success of this informal approach led to the planning of a 3-month health
engagement project in 2012. This involved similar partners working together
and taking the project to unauthorised encampments around Aberdeenshire
on a weekly basis over the period.
It is hoped that another partner will be recruited in order to include some
engagement around photography and film. This will enable improved
engagement with families (especially children) and is also a way of
documenting the project that will allow insights of the community to be shared
with the wider community, therefore serve as a means of opening dialogue
and breaking down barriers.
In addition, Article 12, in response to an expressed need, will be delivering a
programme on mental health and wellbeing with women from the Clinterty
site. Following evaluation, this will also be used as a model for rolling out
across Scotland. It’s an important development, as the issue of isolation and
its impact on Gypsy/Traveller women’s mental health is raised frequently by
members of the community.
4.
Lessons learned from this experience
Clearly, there has been significant progress in promoting ‘good relations’ with
respect to Gypsy/Travellers in the North East since the incidents in 2010.
Underpinning the progress has been the partnership working across the
region and the establishment of procedures that reflect ‘good relations’
principles.
This is not to deny that challenges remain - the lack of statutory requirement
for site provision means that Local Authorities and private landowners face
an uphill battle in achieving their objectives to provide new sites.
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4.1 Challenging prejudicial views and beliefs
When the flashpoint arose in 2010, it exposed, in the reactions of members
of the public, elected members and press alike, issues of prejudice and lack
of understanding of the law, of Gypsy/Traveller rights and of their basic
needs.
It was recognised that these views need to be challenged directly, in order to
achieve a more balanced platform for making progress on the issues that had
arisen with respect to unauthorised encampments.
Initiatives such as the Dialogue Day, the media strategy and the public
awareness raising DVD, as well as direct challenges in public meetings to
people using inappropriate language, have been necessary to mitigate
against some strong voices that were creating barriers to good relations in
the North East.
4.2 Communication is key
A strong theme throughout this case study has been the range of dialogue
and promotion of an inclusive approach to achieving sustainable good
relations between the settled and Gypsy/Traveller communities.
In preparing its new Procedures, Grampian Police conducted a full
consultation with Councillors, MSPs, businesses, settled communities and
Gypsy/Traveller groups, enabling all to feed in. Every response to the
consultation was followed up personally. The Procedure itself has a strong
emphasis on ensuring early dialogue with Gypsy/Travellers and settled
communities when unauthorised encampments take place.
The challenge now is to maintain forums for ongoing dialogue – one off
events can be catalytic, but ongoing dialogue is more successful through
liaison and relationship building.
75
The use of both dedicated public sector officers and third party resources
(GREC) to liaise with Gypsy/Travellers has enabled the establishment of
relationships of trust, improved Gypsy/Traveller connections with services
and enabled sustained two-way engagement with service providers. This
ongoing contact is in turn leading to the establishment of improved
procedures and services that recognise and respond the particular
circumstances of Gypsy/Travellers.
Article 12 is also keen to provide an ongoing strategic level input on behalf of
Gypsy/Travellers, in much the same way that it successfully contributed to
the Scottish Government Working Party. It seems well placed to take on this
role, ensuring a continuity of representation from an important stakeholder
group.
4.3 Addressing the source of tension
This case study flags up the need to address sources of discontent to make
headway on other good relations objectives. In this case, the provision of
adequate sites is key to reducing tensions in a sustainable way. However,
Local Authorities are having difficulty meeting their objectives to increase site
provision, as proposal after proposal meets objections through the planning
process.
While relations are much improved since 2010, it need only take another
major incident involving Gypsy/Travellers to re-ignite the tension. If statutory
requirement is not an option, then this necessitates more intensified dialogue
and political will within the community to overcome barriers to getting
applications through the planning system. It is a harder route, but
achievement would demonstrate a genuine culture change. Further
intervention from Scottish Government may assist in providing momentum in
this area.
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5.
Implications for developing good relations work further
5.1 Requirement for high level intervention
The events of 2010 did not come as a surprise. There has been longstanding
awareness of the challenges, particularly in relation to adequate site
provision and entrenched prejudice. At official level, interagency working had
been pursued long before the flashpoint of 2010, and the Scottish
Government Working Party provided new momentum to address the key
issues. However, there was, and remains, a lack of political impetus to
resolve site provision issues and provide strategic level backing to
mainstream some of the good relations work that has been undertaken at
pilot level in the fields of education and health.
In terms of sites, at each turn the current planning law is shown to be
inadequate in achieving positive outcomes for site applications, in the face of
public opposition. As site provision is a fundamental pre-requisite for
sustaining good relations, there remains a need for additional political weight,
at local and potentially national levels, to break the deadlock that is
preventing progress.
5.2 Establishing procedures based on good relations principles
We have highlighted the work of Grampian Police in reviewing and revising
its Procedures for Unauthorised Encampments. This showed good practice in
entering a genuine dialogue with all interested parties during the
review/development phase, in basing the Procedure on the provision of
appropriate communication within communities, and information sharing with
other agencies. Again, Grampian Police can be shown as a good model for
embedding guidance and training across the Force to ensure a consistent
approach region-wide.
77
In addition, new procedures for partnership working with GREC have been
established with education and health teams so that there is a consistent
process for liaison and follow up with Gypsy/Travellers to ensure their needs
are better met.
These procedures should help to ensure that there is a consistency of
approach in the long term.
5.3 Better results through partnership working
Throughout the case study we have highlighted areas of progress that have
been made through partnership working. Part of the value of the Scottish
Government Working Group has been in bringing together strategic level
representation to agree on key areas requiring attention. At the operational
level, the Inter-Agency Group has passion and commitment for improving
relations, but this is not necessarily mirrored in other parts of the
organisations, and part of their efforts are taking steps to educate and
encourage colleagues to share objectives and support activities. Inter-agency
working has been critical for ensuring a consistency of approach, sharing
good practice, and sharing resources.
The participation of groups like GREC and Article 12 in partnership working
can be invaluable, as they often provide a ‘bridge’ to statutory organisations,
being perceived as more approachable. Both GREC and Article 12 have
been successful in recruiting Gypsy/Traveller volunteers to act as voices for
their interests, to increase understanding of their culture, and in gathering
wider responses to help shape policy development.
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Case Study 3: Greater Glasgow & Clyde Anti-Stigma Partnership
79
Acknowledgements
In preparing this case study we are grateful for the support of Greg Usrey, Nuzhat
Mirza and Lee Knifton of Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS. We have also benefited
from a rich source of documentary evidence and materials published online
(www.mosaicsofmeaning.info) which has substantially informed this case study.
80
1. Introduction to Good Relations Activity in Mental Health
1.1
Context
According to Scottish Government researchvii, just over one in four (28%) people will
experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives.
Those who suffer from mental health problems and mental illness are likely to
experience discrimination and social exclusion because of stigma. The stigma of
mental ill-health has been called ‘one of the last great taboos’. People with mental
health problems often report that the reactions of family, friends, neighbours, work
colleagues and employers are harder to deal with the illness itself.
Stigma can range from being ignored and excluded to verbal and physical
harassment and abuse. 81% of people with lived experience of mental ill-health told
‘see me’ (Scotland’s national campaign to end the stigma and discrimination of
mental ill-health) that they had experienced stigma.
1.2
The Anti-Stigma Partnership
Established in 2005, the Anti-Stigma Partnership is core funded by Greater Glasgow
and Clyde NHS (GGCASP) and brings together over 100 local, regional and national
organisations into a community of practice and learning. Since its formation, the initial
activity, which started as an attempt to better reflect ethnic minority needs in
addressing the stigma of mental health problems, has led to a panoply of activity
focusing on different target groups and using a multitude of channels to engage tens
of thousands of people.
1.1
Mosaics of Meaning: focus of this case study
The full breadth of activity of the GGCASP is too great to condense into a short case
study. We have therefore selected a groundbreaking and innovative project that
focused on mental health issues in ethnic minority communities, Mosaics of Meaning,
which provides good illustration of the key principles, activities and learning that has
been achieved.
81
The initial concept of Mosaics of Meaning was generated by Nuzhat Mirza (equalities
team) and Lee Knifton (mental health team) of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in
2005. They, together with a wider steering group comprising representatives from
NHS Health Scotland, Glasgow Association of Mental Health, Mental Health
Foundation, Voices of Experience (VOX), ‘see me’ and East Glasgow Community
Health and Care Partnership, provided the drive and leadership for the five year
programme.
2. Identifying the issues
2.1
Aims and Objectives
The aim of Mosaics was to support the largest settled ethnic minority communities in
Scotland (Pakistani, Chinese, African and Caribbean) to address mental health
stigma through a participatory research and action approach.
The key principles underpinning the project were that:

project partnership should help communities to address stigma, not dictate the
answers

dialogue would be a two way process: the community research would highlight
to practitioners the specific challenges faced by ethnic minority people in
relation to mental health and in return mental health practitioners would take
the opportunity to increase community organisations’ understanding of mental
health issues

building capacity in local organisations was a key objective

the key to building capacity is building relationships
These principles could be widely applied in fostering good relations in any context.
2.2
Building the Evidence
Stage 1 of the Mosaics programme involved two main research methods:
82

Action research: The Steering Group developed an outline proposal and took
to community organisations, focusing on main ethnic minority communities,
suggesting they get training and support and materials and use their
communication channels with the communities to engage them in the research
process. Initially, seven ethnic minority community organisations signed up for
the action research, whereby local leaders and workers were trained to enable
them to facilitate focus groups to investigate mental health and stigma in their
communities. Ten focus groups were held during 2006 and findings of each
were written up and synthesised for each ethnic minority group and by theme.
Validation sessions were held involving all the participating community
projects, giving them the opportunity to shape the recommendations. A
conference was then held to develop the proposed model of intervention more
fully. The findings were shared with focus group participants and disseminated
widely though events, publications, partner websites and organisational
meetings.

A literature review was undertaken to research published evidence on
attitudes towards mental health in Pakistani, Indian, Chinese and African and
Caribbean communities and cultures, both in the UK and elsewhere in the
world.
Notably, this was the first time that many of the national partners and community
organisations had worked together to undertake action research into mental health. It
was important to reflect on the process in order to learn and reflect these lessons in
future. A short report was produced to this effect.
The research produced a number of useful findings that informed the action stage of
the programme:

A key cause of mental health problems was seen as social circumstances,
which included deprivation and isolation, as well as cultural conflicts, migration
and racism

Beliefs about the causes of mental health problems varied, but could be
described as cultural, religious, social or medical
83

All communities described the impact of stigma as profound. Ethnic minority
mental health sufferers sometimes faced dual stigmas of racial discrimination
and social disadvantage in addition to mental health – strategies for mental
health improvement need to address both aspects of stigma concurrently

There was wide perception of collective stigma, affecting whole families,
frequently connected to culture and community and extended family structures

Ethnic minority people frequently delay seeking medical help, either because
they anticipate stigma and are pessimistic about recovery or because they do
not see the problem as a medical health issue. It is common to approach faith
leaders first, based on beliefs about the cause of the problem. Other barriers
include language, concerns about confidentiality and perception of cultural
insensitivity within services

Scotland’s existing national anti-stigma campaign had not reached Glasgow’s
ethnic minority communities. Concerns about ‘see me’ included:
o people from ethnic minority backgrounds were not seen in campaign
materials
o complex and subtle language is only useful if English is a first language
o no use of press, radio and television outlets popular with ethnic minority
communities
o the term ‘see me’ is individualistic.

Mental health initiatives targeting ethnic minority communities need to reflect
the beliefs about mental health held within those communities. The mix of
beliefs held in ethnic minority communities demands a wide-ranging set of
responses, all of which need to be designed in partnership with communities
and led by them
These findings were consistent across ethnic minority groups, although younger
participants were generally more positive than older generations. Participants
outlined a range of ideas and solutions, including the use of appropriate imagery, role
models and media.
84
2.3
Model of engagement with communities
Based on the findings of Stage 1, the Steering Group produced a full Action Plan to
take forward various strands of activity that emerged. Stage 2 comprised a range of
projects developed and delivered through partnerships with local community leaders
and workers:

Community Conversation: workshops on mental health awareness,
exploring ideas about mental health and stigma

Storytelling: enabling ethnic minority users of mental health services to share
personal experiences of stigma

Arts and Film: using cultural engagement to explore mental health issues

Faith Leaders: involving consultations with religious leaders in Glasgow
ethnic minority communities and a national conference

Social Marketing: a focused programme of social marketing to address
mental health stigma with ethnic minority communities
3. Outcomes and key achievements
3.1
Partnership
Strong long-term partnerships have been a key feature and success of the Mosaics
model. This remained a key organising principle as the project developed - between
2005 and 2010 some 40 organisations have supported and engaged with the project.
The community organisations have had a lead voice in the creation and shaping of
the various strands of activity that followed the action research.
‘Building partnerships was critical – we couldn’t have relied on the core
partners to achieve our objectives. In developing our network we were able to
build on previous relationships, which helped a lot. But partnerships are not
always easy, we encountered suspicion about our motives at times; the
community conversations helped to build understanding and dialogue and
sometimes the initially reluctant participants ended up having very good
conversations.’
Nuzhat Mirza, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde (during project based within
the Equality& Diversity Team)
85
3.2
Findings, materials and models are open source and being adopted
Everything produced by the Anti-Stigma projects is open source and available freely
online for other groups and areas to use. Key sites include:

www.mosaicsofmeaning.info

http://library.nhsggc.org.uk/mediaAssets/Mental%20Health%20Partnership/An
ti%20Stigma%20Catalogue%202009.pdf

http://www.seemescotland.org/getinvolved/takeaction/linkstotoolkit/resources/c
ase-studies/developing-anti-stigma-strategy

3.3
http://www.mhfestival.com/
Research and evaluation
Various strands of activity have been evaluated, with reports published and
disseminated widely.
Community conversationviii: Variation between ethnic minority populations
indicates that intervention models need to be developed by, not for communities.
Post-workshop responses showed significant change in attitudes - people were
better informed, more willing to open up about problems, felt less isolated and more
optimistic about recovery.
‘The community conversations experience strongly suggests that community
approaches to tackling stigma are more valuable than top-down public
education, and could form the basis of national initiatives’.
Storytellingix: Storytelling was found to be therapeutic and empowering for the
people who told their stories. The published book has been used as an educational,
awareness raising, engagement or professional practice enhancing tool. The stories
were viewed as useful for supporting people to gain a more thorough insight and
understanding of the mental health needs of ethnic minority people, especially for
staff that have less knowledge or experience of working with people from ethnic
minority backgrounds.
86
Arts and Film: Evaluations of the festival's reach and impact show that festival
events attract people from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds as well as
from ethnic minority communities themselves. Festival events have helped audiences
to appreciate the social stresses on ethnic minority communities and their potential
impact on mental health. Events in different languages, and which draw upon
traditional art forms and cross-cultural art, are particularly attractive.
3.4
Imitation, the best form of flattery
In the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area alone, Mosaics has spawned a number of
other anti-stigma initiatives targeting other groups. Each has a programme team
involving statutory and voluntary organisations, and has built capacity in community
organisations to undertake action research and implement engagement activities.
These initiatives include:
Sanctuary: action research to identify patterns of stigma and discrimination
experienced by asylum seekers and refugees, and to implement a peer education
programme, using workshops along the ‘community conversations’ model, and
devising a programme of staff training to address knowledge gaps among key
service providers on the particular mental health needs of this group. A ‘storytelling’
film was also produced.
There’s More to Me: a project examining the mental health issues of lesbian, gay
and bisexual LGB people. Nine discussion groups led by trained researchers
identified attitudes and beliefs towards mental health and access to mental health
services. The research produced a number of recommendations for improvements to
health services.
Peer Support in Later Life: developed a depression awareness course led by older
people in local communities, and involved a needs assessment with 60 people, peer
led workshops on depression delivered to later life groups across East Glasgow, and
a later life drama group, Evergreen, which has performed for community groups and
at the Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. The work of the group has also informed
the redesign of later life service delivery.
87
‘As a research and intervention model, the Mosaics approach works because
it builds capacity and allows communities to decide both what and how
questions should be asked. The Mosaics experience shows that people open
up when talking to their peers. The model also provides encouragement as
community researchers know there will be a programme of action that
communities can be involved with’.
Neil Quinn, Mental Health Improvement Lead, East Glasgow CHCP and
Chair of the Anti-Stigma Partnership
3.5
Wider achievements of the Anti-Stigma Partnership
Although we have focused here on the Mosaics project as a flagstone initiative of the
Anti-Stigma Partnership, it is worth highlighting the much broader range of activity
and achievements, which link and contribute directly to the four domains of good
relations:

The development of a mental health curriculum pack for secondary schools,
providing four lessons for each year group (S1-S6) within the personal and
social education programme, which has been rolled out to all schools within
Glasgow city and gained interest nationally. Pre-and post evaluations
demonstrated positive learning outcomes in relation to peer support,
reductions in stigmatising beliefs about social distance, blame, fear and
recovery. The pack can help schools to implement Curriculum for Excellence
with respect to health and wellbeing outcomes. It has been adopted nationally.

The development of an anti-stigma workplace training pack and training
partnership, with delivery to over 1000 key front line workers from housing,
benefits, money advice, employment providers and British Telecom, as well as
mentoring of new trainers and production of a ‘training for trainers pack’ to
broaden the delivery base.

The development of anti-stigma training for practitioners and the production of
an anti-stigma DVD for future practitioners.
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4. Lessons learned
4.1 Good relations start with listening
A key strength of the Mosaics model was that it enabled the development of
innovative approaches to tackle mental health in ethnic minority populations and to
take a starting point from fresh understanding of beliefs about mental health at the
grassroots level. The action research highlighted the plurality of beliefs and cultural
influences within different ethnic minority groups, therefore the responses to the
issues need to be developed in partnership with local communities.
4.2
The nature of partnership working is key
The ‘hands on’ approach and inclusion of community organisations not directly
connected to mental health issues within the action research process has been
shown to be an effective way to bring mental health stigma into open discussion, to
challenge perceptions and to change attitudes.
The project initiators were highly conscious of the power differential between large
organisations like the NHS and community groups. The Mosaics project was a
deliberate attempt to avoid the standard commissioning approach to develop new
interventions, rather to take a far more collaborative approach that genuinely used
the views and experiences of people on the ground to shape the activities. One
aspect of this approach was to reduce the impact of funding on the power differential.
This was deliberately not funded with a large budget from the top, rather, with small
pots of NHS cash (this amounted to only around £10,000 per year), and community
groups were each asked to make a contribution, usually in kind, towards the process.
Without the active participation of the community groups, engagement with the wider
community to the extent that happened would not have been possible.
Lee Knifton, one of the lead actors in the project stated:
‘The ethos of community participation and reaching a collective way forward
would simply not have been possible to pursue in a commissioning model. The
approach taken was more challenging in many ways, we had to be intensely
involved in the process and be open to failure, but over time we have been able
to develop something that is truly participative and capacity building.’
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4.3 Personalising issues can help to illustrate, inform and stimulate an
emotional response
Through the ‘Storytelling’ project, personal stories have been demonstrated to be
useful for increasing awareness and understanding of the cultural aspects of mental
health problems amongst a range of service providers across Scotland. Storytelling is
also a powerful medium for highlighting to people (who lack a perspective on the role
of culture on mental health problems) the negative impact stigma can have on ethnic
minority peoples’ lives. Similarly, arts events were shown to engage people
emotionally as well as intellectually, influencing beliefs and attitudes and creating a
greater willingness to seek help and engage people with mental health problems.
5. Implications for developing good relations work further
The Mosaics of Meaning model has already been successfully adopted by projects
focused on the mental health needs of other groups, including asylum seekers and
refugees (Sanctuary Programme), lesbian, gay and bisexual people (There’s More to
Me) and people in later life (Later Life Peer Support Project).
We can clearly see how this work relates to the Commission’s ‘good relations’
themes, as illustrated below.
5.1
Changing attitudes
All of this work has been motivated by a desire to change attitudes to people
suffering from mental health problems – it is an anti-stigma campaign. In terms of
reaching the general public, the work of the mental health arts and film festival is
indicative of the challenges in achieving universally positive results. Researchx found
a positive impact on the relationship between arts and mental health. Events
increased positive attitudes, including positive representations of people’s
contributions, capabilities and potential to recover. However, they did not decrease
negative attitudes. Intended behaviour change was modest and on one occasion, a
film event actually increased the audience’s perception of the danger of mental
illness.
90
Similarly, community conversations had a positive impact on changing attitudes.
According to researchxi:
‘The increased recognition that mental health problems are common,
alongside a willingness to tell someone, is arguably a reduction in secrecy and
shame. This is accompanied by a reduction in desire for social distance, with
an increased willingness to talk to someone and allow someone to marry into
the family, an area of particular concern in the literature. The reduction in
blame and increased recovery optimism suggests that a community
conversation model has the potential to engage communities and promote a
culture of greater openness and acceptance towards mental health issues’.
Looking at this in light of the public sector equality duty, the public sector has helped
to provide platforms for challenging and changing attitudes, but importantly, the
creation of these opportunities has been strongly embedded in a community-led
approach, which keeps the initiatives more ‘real’ and personal, and therefore more
effective.
5.2
Embedding interaction with others
The ‘community conversations’ and ‘faith leaders’ strands in particular, as well as all
the action research that established the operating model for Mosaics, was predicated
on establishing forums for interaction with community groups to get them to engage
with the issue of mental health, to be challenged on pre-conceived notions, and to ‘be
part of the solution’ – bringing forward their resources to improve attitudes and
behaviours in their communities.
This proved the close relationship between interaction and increased levels of
understanding of mental health issues, and from this towards more positive
behaviours.
5.3
Achieving participation and influence
The model was built on achieving a sense among participants of being able to
influence decisions.
91
The deliberately low budget and mobilisation of community resources helped to
address the imbalance of power between large and community organisations. The
‘storytelling’ strand gave mental health sufferers a real voice and was empowering for
individuals (the act of opening up enabled the storytellers to feel inspired and
empowered to promote the anti-stigma message themselves within their own
community), as well as of educational value, especially for staff that have less
knowledge or experience of working with people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The ‘storytelling’ work has informed the development of a set of educational tools,
promoting equality through awareness raising and staff training.
92
Case study 4 - The Scottish Prison Service
93
Acknowledgements
In preparing this case study, I am grateful to Priscilla Marongwe and all
members of the SPS Equality and Diversity Managers group chaired by Dan
Gunn for their engagement, support and kind welcome. I would also like to
recognise the individual contributions of David Gatherum, Lisa Purdie, Susan
McKechnie, Morag Stirling, Lisa Hogg, Seamus Kealey and Emma Liddle for
taking the time to tell me about the specific initiatives that they are or have
been involved in within HM Prison Perth, HM Prison Addiewell, HM Prisons
Barlinnie / Greenock and HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont.
94
1. Introduction to good relations activity in Scottish prisons
1.1
Context
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) vision for correctional excellence 2011
recognises the need to:
‘work with offenders to make Scotland a safer place [through] the
programmes we deliver and the work we do in preparing prisoners for life on
the outside. We aim to ensure that the prisoners we deal with are less likely to
re-offend’.
SPS equality and diversity managers across the individual prisons and the Prisons
Directorate’s central equality and diversity business team, recognise that good prison
ethos and positive relationships among staff and prisoners are core contributors to
the achievement of this vision. At an operational level, positive relationships are
seen to help maintain order and safety, reduce the likelihood of incidents that can
escalate, ensure wider engagement / integration of prisoners and create a prison
environment in which staff can do their jobs well and prisoners are more likely to
achieve meaningful rehabilitation outcomes.
This shared understanding is formalised in the Standards used in the inspection of
prisons in Scotland issued by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons (2010) which
states:
‘The ethos and culture of the prison are important features of the rehabilitative
environment. A culture that diffuses violence, aims to deal whenever possible
with disputes by mediation and with disciplinary actions by problem solving, will
be an environment that promotes in prisoners an understanding and reflective
approach to life’s difficulties’.
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1.2
Relationship to equality and diversity? - A shift in focus
Although equality and diversity managers within the SPS demonstrate understanding
of the Equality Act 2010 and the duties it places on prison managers and staff, there
has, to date, been less emphasis on its good relations provisions than on its
requirements to eliminate discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity.
Indeed, the widespread acceptance of the importance of positive prison relationships
as drivers of the SPS vision that has already been outlined, does not seem to have
naturally translated into the specific concept of good relations as described in the Act.
This is changing with the launch of the Prisons Directorate business plan for 2011/12.
Within the equality and diversity section, a clear new target was set for all prisons
to:
‘Arrange at least two establishment events or other activities to foster good
relations between people who share a protected characteristic and others who
do not share it’
This target replaced the previous annual requirement which was based only on an
interpretation of earlier race equality duties, which was to “arrange at least two nonUK based multi-cultural events”. The change demonstrates clear leadership and has
the potential to bring about a major shift in thinking at local levels around equality and
good relations and the contribution each makes in achieving the prison service’s
overall objectives.
1.3
Reasons for the change
A number of factors are mentioned that at different levels have contributed to this
change:

The prison and prison staff population is becoming more diverse so that it is
no longer understood as being just about the (still relatively small number of)
ethnic minority prisoners being ‘different from the majority population’.
o There is greater awareness of what was previously ‘invisible’ diversity
relating to factors such as sexual orientation or experience of mental illhealth
o The age profile of prisoner populations is changing with more older
prisoners
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o There are also changing trends in the prison populations of ‘foreign
national’ and ethnic minority prisoners themselves.

While a previous organisation focus on ‘multi-cultural events’ may have been
intended to promote equality through allowing different prisoner groups to
celebrate relevant cultural occasions they may actually also inadvertently
reinforce separatism and stereotypes and undermine closer relationships
between different groups.
o Anecdotal examples of this from SPS staff reflect separate research
conducted by Coretta Phillips in English prisons for the Economic and
Social research Council (ESRC) in 2011xii. This identified that ‘some white
prisoners resented race equality policies and events - seeing these as
offering preferential treatment to minority ethnic prisoners’.

Legislation now covers many more protected characteristics and there is an
explicit duty to foster good relations between people who share these and
people who do not.

The relationship between the over-arching strategy of the SPS and localised
delivery initiatives in prisons is changing. The focus on a de-centralised
structure seeks to ensure the transfer of good practice and consistent prisoner
experience. Commitment to this approach came through strongly from the
work of the equality and diversity managers group and individual staff in
prisons.

The external inspection process has raised a number of issues related to
prisoner interactions and community tensions such as this example from Her
Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons annual report in July 2011: ‘Violence within
prisons remains a concern which I will be looking at more closely this coming
year. Is this due to overcrowding? [……] or is this due to the prisoner 'mix' and
the tensions in communities being reflected in prison?’
1.4
Specific local examples of good relations activity
Against this wider strategic context, the case study uses three different initiatives
from three distinct environments to illustrate the recent SPS approach to good
relations. A short introductory description of each follows and further reference is
made under each of the sections of this case study:
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
HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont – Walk like a Warrior
This programme has been running for just over a year. It explores male identity
and how men in Scotland today interact effectively with the world around them. It
is targeted at prisoners who are under-18 through a joint partnership with
Caledonia Youth and Barnardos. It is deliberately linked to an equality and
diversity programme which explores how the individual identities and actions of
participants interact with those of others and what that means in terms of their
attitudes, their personal safety and their place in society. Five youth workers work
with small groups of participants combining learning and leisure in an ‘out of
classroom’ environment that is specifically intended to influence the wider group
culture.

HMP Addiewell – Understanding and addressing hate crime
This is an initiative which has been set up jointly with Lothian and Borders police
in the last 18 months to recognise and address hate crime with Sodexho
employees who work at one of Scotland’s privately run prisons. There are 7-8
training sessions that use tutorials and experiential learning to cover topics from
awareness of protected characteristics through to prejudice and stereotyping. The
programme aims to raise awareness of what constitutes hate crime, explore what
personal attitudes and behaviours drive it and provide practical approaches to
dealing with it effectively. It is linked directly to a third party reporting scheme with
the police that has been established in the prison.

HMP Perth – Muslim awareness
This activity has been run over the last year and engages mainly white Scottish
prisoners and prison staff in awareness-raising and myth-busting sessions about
Islam. It is run separately by an external partner for three different prisoner groups
– untried, convicted and vulnerable. The woman who facilitates the sessions
provides a structured but informal forum for discussion and is considered to be
particularly effective in appropriately and sensitively challenging participants’
attitudes and stereotypes. This work was developed in recognition of the fact that
the prison population comes from a largely rural area where many people have
had little if any interaction with Muslims.
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A further area of specific work was highlighted for consideration and followed up as
an addition to the examples described above. This work is being undertaken with
prisoners in a large city jail who experience mental health problems, learning
impairments or addiction issues. The work focuses on providing additional support
and alternative activities to these high dependency prisoners, many of whom have
significant behavioural issues, within a defined (and separate) hall of the jail. The
work is lead through health delivery services and aims to improve the mental and
physical well-being of these prisoners as well as provide meaningful daytime activity
for those prisoners whose circumstances mean they are unable to work alongside
the mainstream prisoner population.
Although suggested as an example of good relations work, further consideration
suggested this was not how it was seen by those involved in its set-up and that it was
driven more by the equality considerations of providing appropriate support to a
defined group with particular needs. To some extent, the separate nature of this
particular service had actually inadvertently attracted a certain level of stigma
amongst the prisoner population that runs contrary to good relations considerations.
Some prisoners who it had been felt might benefit from the additional support the
environment offered, had declined being transferred to this hall and were quoted as
saying things to the effect of ‘I’m not going in there’. Staff, however, were highly
motivated to work in this area believing it offered positive opportunities to engage
proactively and beneficially with individual prisoners whose circumstances made
them more vulnerable in a jail environment.
2.
Identifying the issues to address
From the research undertaken, it appears that good relations activity in the SPS is
being shaped by three distinct drivers at different levels. National strategy and
outcomes frameworks are defining direction. A changing operational environment is
highlighting service-wide areas of policy or political focus. Local prisons are
identifying particular issues of relevance to their prisoner or staff populations. Any of
these three levels could be the starting point for good relations activity but it appears
that the best and most relevant work reflects all three.
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2.1
Aligning with national objectives and existing outcomes
A key influence in identifying the most relevant issues to address through good
relations activity and getting senior buy-in for it, is a high level alignment with the
existing framework of national objectives and outcomes within which the SPS
operates. Case study participants refer to good relations work having to further the
overall aims of the Scottish Prison Service. Relevant aims include maintaining good
order, caring for prisoners with humanity and encouraging prisoners to take
opportunities which will reduce the likelihood they re-offend and help to reintegrate
them back into their community.
People also mention the Scottish Government’s nine National Offender Outcomes
which are developed from evidence that certain factors reduce the chance of an
individual re-offending. Those working on good relations initiatives with prisoner
groups referred to at least 6 of these outcomes in relation to their initiatives. Effective
good relations activity for prisoners was felt to have a positive impact on:

Improving participants’ physical and mental well-being

Increasing participants’ employability prospects

Maintaining or improving relationships with families, peers and community

Being able to access and sustain suitable accommodation

Being able to live independently if they choose

Improving the attitudes or behaviour which lead to offending and developing a
greater acceptance of responsibility in managing behaviour and understanding
of the impact of offending on victims and families
This ability to look at the national offender outcomes through a lens of good relations
illustrated that people delivering this type of work could easily match the national
performance measures of their particular area of work (in this case prisons) against
the four drivers of good relations (namely attitudes, personal security, interactions
and participation / influence).
2.2
Recognising changing environments and demographics
The equality and diversity managers group provided many local examples to illustrate
the increasing diversity of the prisoner population.
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These included specific issues relating to prisoners reflecting all of the protected
characteristics, although the longer legacy of the good relations requirements from
the Race Relations Amendment Act coupled with the previous objective around multicultural events meant that much of the discussion was still around issues of race.
Participants acknowledged that the demographic diversity in Scottish prisons is still
less than in prisons in some other parts of the UK, but equally recognised that it will
only continue to increase. There was also an increasing understanding of the
implications of non-visible difference on good relations. However in discussing the
opportunities and challenges of effectively meeting the new national good relations
target within the SPS, they also widely agreed with a statement from a group
member that:
‘In the main, prisoners as a population are inherently socially conservative
often with little prior experience of diverse interactions or environments’.
There are also significant data challenges for managers with not all data relating to
prisoners’ personal characteristics either collected or widely / consistently accessible.
Additional information relating to a prisoner’s crime may also have a direct bearing on
good relations (for example offences aggravated by hate) but such information may
not be consistently recorded on the individual prisoner record. This means prison
managers and staff may not have a full picture of the relevant issues. If unaddressed,
the changing demographics and data challenges clearly offer the potential for
problems not only in ordinary daily interactions within prisons but in respect of
specific operational tasks. Specific examples given included:

Risk assessments for cell sharing

A rise in complaints about perceived unfairness in differentiated treatments

The potential for openly gay prisoners to have to be housed in accommodation
designated for ‘vulnerable’ inmates to avoid homophobia

Policy conflicts between existing fire or health and safety regulations and use
of certain reasonable adjustment aids for disabled prisoners

Greater self-segregation between different groups as they grow in numbers

Tensions over priority use of the limited number of accessible cells for
disabled people
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
Dissatisfaction arising from educational or leisure provision failing to meet the
needs / expectations of an increasingly diverse prison population with some
groups feeling they miss out.
All of these are clearly urgent and important issues to address and without actions
could lead to serious consequences. These provide very effective illustrations of the
types of practical challenges that could be addressed through effective good relations
initiatives.
2.3
Responding to local needs - drivers for example initiatives
Most prison equality and diversity managers were able to quickly identify areas
where there was room for improvement in relations between different groups. Even if
there were no actual points of tension, there were examples that showed lack of
interaction or integration between existing groups or open expression of negative
attitudes in respect of people who were not (openly) represented in their local prison
population.
Each of the specific examples used to illustrate the national approach in this case
study was developed on the basis of identified local need. However this need was
not always easily evidenced or quantified and the momentum for the activity was
sometimes reliant on key individuals with a strong belief:

HM YOI Polmont – Walk like a Warrior
Many of the young men in Polmont have been convicted for violent offending
behaviour that is closely linked to their own sense of identity and lack of
personal skill in finding alternatives to aggression. They can be influenced by
‘gang culture’ and ‘turf wars’ and lack confidence in developing a positive and
secure sense of self. Attitudes around gender, group identity and violence
were seen to be closely linked. Working early on these issues with the under18 group was identified as being a proactive way to develop coping skills with
a target group at early risk of continued violent offending. Further evidence
came in the Chief Inspector of Prisons annual report 2010/11, where it was
stated:
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‘the foremost aim must be to reform and rehabilitate and so reduce the
risks of re-offending. This is particularly important for Young Offenders.
Most worryingly young offenders reinforce the view that parts of
Scotland encourage a culture of violence, a culture that also suffers
from the added scourge of religious bigotry’.

HMP Addiewell – Understanding and addressing hate crime
When HMP Addiewell opened, early meetings between the prison, the police
and local residents highlighted an increased fear of hate crime. A number of
prison staff were subject to racist incidents and in March 2011 The Chief
Inspector of Prisons publicly expressed concern about the level of assaults on
staff at the prison. The Director was keen to establish a clear understanding
among everyone in the prison that hate crime is a criminal offence whether it
takes place in a prison or other environment. They also wanted to provide the
staff with specific support in recognising and addressing hate crime and
challenging the prejudiced attitudes that motivate it.

HMP Perth – Muslim awareness
Although there had been no particular anti-Muslim incidents at HMP Perth,
there had also been very few Muslim prisoners there. Staff had been
impressed at seeing the programme in action at HMP Castle Huntly and felt
there was an opportunity to be proactive in creating greater awareness around
Islam rather than simply reacting whenever a problem might occur. Although
there was no evidence of need or specific objectives for this programme at the
outset, there was a strong local belief that, particularly in more rural
environments, you have to take the initiative in order to build positive
understanding of issues that aren’t part of the everyday experience.
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3.
3.1
Expected outcomes and key achievements
The national challenge
Having established a new national target within the Prisons directorate business
plan, success for SPS now lies in continuing to develop practice around the good
relations agenda in local prison operating practices and in the educational and leisure
pursuits offered and followed by prisoners. This is recognised as including the
development of skills for future employment and sustainable accommodation
arrangements, as well as the social and community skills needed for prisoners to reintegrate within civil society.
To achieve that, there will also be a need to raise awareness of good relations issues
among prisoners and take structured steps to increase their ease with diversity. This
might include understanding the impact a failure to deal with these issues may have
had on their past lives, and the opportunities and challenges these issues raise for
them, within the prison, and in their relationships with their wider community both
before and after release.
Currently there is an emerging understanding of what success might broadly look like
with regard to good relations, and an increased sharing of specific practice in this
area among members of the equality and diversity managers group that can be
reflected nationally through the prison directorate’s equality and diversity business
partner. As more prisons start to meet the new target of two good relations activities
per year, there will be a growing bank of knowledge and skills in the service and a far
greater capacity to set and meet further clear good relations outcomes in the future.
However, beyond ensuring that the activity happens, little work has yet been done on
how this target might be measured nor how it translates beyond the realm of equality
and diversity into the wider operational imperatives of the local prison environment.
Similarly, on a national level, more consideration might need to be given as the work
evolves into how achievement of this specific and quantitative national target
translates effectively into the broader achievement of good relations seen through
measureable improvements in the attitudes, safety, interactions and engagement of
prison populations.
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3.2
Local experiences from example initiatives
The three local good relations initiatives are all still at early stages and from the
outset had differing levels of clarity around the specific outcomes they expected to
deliver and how (or even whether) these would be measured:

HM YOI Polmont – Walk like a Warrior
Despite a clear shared vision of what this programme could achieve, at the
beginning the programme provider and the prison found it difficult to define a
realistic set of outcome measures that balanced qualitative against
quantitative criteria of success. Caledonia Youth and Barnardos work on
outcomes driven by the Scottish Government’s national strategy ‘Getting it
right for every child’. The young offenders institution has a focus on improving
the core skills and life skills of those in custody. Working together they have
developed an initial measurement framework with criteria for success that
assesses programme participants’ progress against a range of measures
including social and emotional literacy, confidence, dealing with authority,
adaptability, reliability, problem solving, teamwork, assertiveness and taking
responsibility. Results from this programme then tie in to their learning
assessments in other areas such as health and wellbeing or citizenship,
relationships and personal development. As the programme develops, those
involved are working together to establish a more tailored measurement
structure. In spite of some of the specific measurement challenges, the
programme is felt by all involved to be addressing a very real problem in a
positive way and having direct benefit from the young men who are reviewing
it favourably. Although still early on the journey, there appear to be some very
clear benefits and useful learning that could be shared elsewhere within the
prison service and more widely.
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
HMP Addiewell – Understanding and addressing hate crime
Few specific measures were set for this activity at the outset with the main
focus being on making it happen and getting people to participate. Attendance
has been good with 100 new staff and all existing staff participating, and it has
proved a helpful route to addressing recruitment and performance challenges
in a few specific instances. Following their participation, staff are expressing
more confidence in challenging inappropriate behaviour both from colleagues
and prisoners, and the third party reporting system has been effectively used.
People are more aware of where their own attitudes might be inappropriate or
offensive and individuals who had previously been subject to abuse are
reporting improved interactions and a greater sense of workplace security.
The programme has now been extended to social work and health employees
operating within HMP Addiewell to ensure a consistent culture and ethos is
reflected across the prison.

HMP Perth – Muslim awareness
No specific objectives were set for this activity at the beginning although in
general terms it was intended to raise issues of integration and difference.
Prisoners who have participated in the sessions were engaged and appeared
willing to reconsider some of their own attitudes. Many of them spoke about it
to others who weren’t there which is seen as a positive in the prison
environment. Having felt that the sessions on Islam worked well, staff are now
exploring the possibility of developing or commissioning further sessions
around sexual orientation to enable a similar awareness-raising and
educational experience.
4.
Lessons learned from the Scottish prison service
4.1
Need to develop wider understanding of good relations
Having created a national target specifically addressing good relations, further work
is now needed to build a shared understanding of what good relations actually looks
like within a prison environment – both in terms of individual and small group
interactions as well as part of a ‘whole jail ethos’.
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At present the driving force is coming from equality and diversity leads who are
themselves still developing their expertise in this particular area of the Equality Act.
Those people who were already delivery specific good relations work said one of
their main tasks was still
‘getting other staff colleagues on board and getting them to understand the
value and purpose of the work so that what was learnt and discussed in one
place [such as a group activity] was then reflected in the rest of their jail day’.
4.2
Identities and group relationships are complex
Particularly in a prison environment where the very fact of incarceration means that
individuals do not have personal control over many aspects of their lives, issues of
self-identity can become even more acute. The research referred to earlier by
Coretta Phillips for the ESRC found that
‘identities played a key role in preserving a sense of self, ontological security
[ontology=the nature of being or existence], and social cohesion among
prisoners’.
It went on to say specifically in relation to young adults that
‘regardless of ethnicity, local identities were predominant. Value was placed
on neighbourhood, often leading to aggressive defence of territory. Local
allegiances provided a sense of self and belonging beyond the prison’.
Such views were also very evident in relation to the Scottish experience from
participants in this research.
Participants made it clear that where promoting good relations entails exploring
attitudes (to self and others), looking at the way people interact and how safe or
confident they feel in doing that and ensuring that everyone’s voice is valued and
heard, this has to be approached with some expertise and sensitivity to get the
desired results in a prison context.
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4.3
Evidence is key but measurement can be difficult
In order to properly assess the impact of good relations activity on groups and
individuals with different protected characteristics, there is a clear need for data
across those characteristics. This does not always exist and when it does it is not
always easy for managers to access or disaggregate at a local level.
There was also recognition internally and from external partners that SPS has
traditionally tended to be interested in ‘numbers only’ in terms of its measurement
approach. This does not lend itself easily to assessing the impact of the more subtle
changes in ethos, culture or behaviour that good relations activity seeks to bring
about.
‘I sense with this target, the governors want to see high profile big events
justified by numbers of ‘bums on seats’ in the gym however I think we’re all less
clear on how such events will make a difference to good relations outcomes’.
4.4
Specific benefits and challenges of good relations in prisons
Prison as a closed environment can have its own culture and norms that are either a
concentration of what is found in wider society or unique to the prison context. This
can make good relations work particularly relevant but it can also create situations
that fall outside wider society’s general understanding of positive interactions. A
2011report from the Prison Reform Trust states that:
“good relations is an area with particular resonance for prisons. Victimisation,
bullying and harassment are more likely in an environment where autonomy
has been removed and people are deprived of liberty and personal resources”.
However two extreme examples of the prison environment’s unique challenges arose
during the research. One came in references to being ‘jail gay’ - where prisoners
have same sex relations due to their incarcerated situation but maintain (or even
accentuate) their hetero-normative and homophobic attitudes as a result. In the worst
examples this extended to rape and coercion.
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The other reflected the harsh reality that some prisoners are extremely violent
criminals and respondents discussed having to carry out ‘enemy-checks’ before
group work sessions to ensure they wouldn’t be dealing with attempted murder
instead of good relations. These are clearly not the same good relations challenges
that have to be addressed in other environments.
5.
Implications for developing good relations work further
The Scottish Prison Service has taken clear leadership in setting a national target for
work on good relations and is now developing and sharing the experience, evidence
and measurement structures to enable them to deliver consistently against that in a
wide variety of different contexts. In his annual report 2011, Scotland’s Chief
Inspector of Prisons stated:
‘One of the ways to improve its reputation is for the SPS to improve the way it
passes on 'good practice'. I make specific efforts to highlight such practice in
all of my reports, yet rarely do I see similar efforts to include such practice
where it is relevant and would be helpful. I urge that 'good practice' is
communicated much more effectively than currently’.
This research clearly shows that there is emerging good practice around good
relations in SPS that merits sharing and celebrating both internally and externally.
There are also some transferable lessons that can help other public sector bodies
develop their good relations work, whether they are working in similar or different
environments.
5.1
Take good relations beyond the ‘equality and diversity’ label
Although the term good relations is codified in the general equality duty of the
Equality Act 2010, research with the SPS showed that the principles of good relations
were already an inherent (although unacknowledged) part of that organisation’s
overall vision and key outcome measures. There were also numerous examples as
listed earlier that showed where core operational activities contained a strong good
relations element.
109
One of the key opportunities is to develop a wider understanding of good relations
beyond equality and diversity staff and demonstrate how it can be better integrated
into everything a public body undertakes. Re-framing the SPS objectives outlined in
the first section of this case study within a good relations context might be a helpful
way to ‘bridge the gap’ between what the organisation sees as its primary purpose
and the part that good relations plays in this.
5.2
Building effective partnerships
Work that is specifically looking at changing attitudes and interactions between
different groups in society so that all can feel that their voice is heard and their
position is secure, is best done in partnership with those who can bring relevant
insight and appropriate expertise. It also needs to reach all of those who work in a
particular environment to ensure a consistent message. Sometimes all of this can be
done within an organisation, but the Scottish Prison Service has also been
particularly effective in developing both local and national partnerships to achieve the
best results. There is clearly a positive working relationship with Capability Scotland
at a national level which brings specific expertise to access assessments as well as
more policy driven issues that could impact on good relations. Local examples
demonstrate partnerships with organisations as diverse as Caledonia Youth,
Barnardos, Lothian and Borders police, NHS health services, social work and a
variety of community organisations relevant to individual prisons.
5.3
Understanding and measuring the difference you want to make
It was clear from the research with the SPS that the development and measurement
of clear outcomes for activities that they were undertaking differed widely. This was
due to diverse opinions on the quality and value of existing measurement systems as
well as challenges that people had encountered in quantifying the impact of good
relations activity that was widely felt to be more driven by qualitative measures and
subtle, human scale indicators.
‘We all know when it’s working well but that’s not easy to translate into
numbers’.
110
Whatever approach was used, it is clear that having the core data and evidence
enhances the ability of the people involved to properly target their activity and to see
its effect.
111
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The Equality and Human Rights Commission aims to reduce
inequality, eliminate discrimination, strengthen good relations
between people, and promote and protect human rights.
You can find out more or get in touch with us via our website :
www.equalityhumanrights.com
The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do
not necessarily represent the views of the Commission. The
Commission is publishing the report as a contribution to
discussion and debate.
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