Watching the neighbours: gender budgeting in Scotland and Wales

Figures & data

Table 1. Favourable conditions for gender budgeting in Scotland and Wales up to 2019.

Favourable conditions	Scotland	Wales
Pro-equality climate	X	X
Responsiveness/receptiveness to external influences	X	X
Political change/opportunities	X	X
Women’s Policy Agency	-	_
Positive approach to governance	X	X
Engaged women’s organizations	X	X
Understanding of budgetary processes	-	-
Engaged actors	X	X
Political will and leadership	X	X
Clear conceptual framework	-	X
Positive institutional arrangements	X	-
Strategy for continuity	+/-	+/-
Gender-aware budget	-	-
- Gender mainstreaming in policy analysis	+/-	+/-
- Gender analysis in government processes	+/-	+/-
- Gender-aware budget documentation	X-	X-

Table 2. Structures and practice supporting gender budgeting in Scotland and Wales up to 2019.

Favourable condition	Scotland	Wales
Engaged women’s organizations	SWBG, along with other feminist advocacy and research organizations—including Engender, Close the Gap, the WISE Centre for Economic Justice, Women’s Enterprise Scotland, the Women’s Centre, and others—in a context of vocal and highly organized feminist movement in Scotland.	There was no WBG in 2019 in Wales, but plans were in place to progress, with support from WBGs in other UK nations; this was realized in 2020. Other organizations, including Chwarae Teg, the Women’s Equality Network, and Welsh Women’s Aid are all engaged in promoting gender budgeting and gender equality.
	Continued commitment from First Minster Nicola Sturgeon and the current cabinet. The Phase One report from National Advisory Council for Women and Girls recommended further and accelerated action on gender budgeting.	Commitment from former First Minister for Wales, Carwyn Jones, to become a leader in gender equality, which was realized as the GER, led by Chwarae Teg, and led to the Gender Equality Roadmap published in 2019.
		Commitment of Welsh Government to ‘Principles of Feminist Government’.
Engaged actors and positive institutional arrangements	EBAG has existed in different formations since 2000. In 2018 an independent chair was appointed and since then the group has had a renewed focus across the Scottish Government, with closer scrutiny on key areas of spend such as social security, housing, social care and childcare, and the processes informing the National Performance Framework and revenue and taxation policy. Membership includes external bodies including Audit Scotland, the Scottish Human Rights Commission, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the SWBG, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and the Fraser of Allander Institute. The name and scope was changed to the Equality and Human Rights Budgets Advisory Group in 2022 to reflect the increased focus on Human Rights ahead of the incorporation of international conventions.	A number of institutional arrangements exist, including the Strategic Budget Unit in the Welsh Government and a number of committees in the Welsh Assembly (for example the Children, Young People and Education Committee, the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, and the Finance Committee).
		There are several engaged actors, including Chwarae Teg and other feminist organizations but no specific gender budget group.
		The BAGE, now the BIIAG, provides advice, feedback and evidence to ensure the improvement of budget and tax processes and outcomes over the longer term.
Clear conceptual framework for gender budgeting	Equalities mainstreaming approach can dilute analysis of the gendered dimensions of public policy. Focus on poverty through the Fairer Scotland Duty has been integrated to the Equality Budget Statement and requires care to ensure the gender dimension remains central to analysis of policy and the measurements within the National Performance Framework.	The PSED, the Wales specific duties and the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act offers clear legislative underpinnings
		The GER and its outcomes of the Roadmap, creates a clear framework that the Welsh Government can be measured on and can be used by civil society to pressurize.
	The absence of a gender equality strategy requires increased scrutiny inside and from outside government.
	Requires clear process for embedding gender analysis in budget process and related exercises, including medium-term financial frameworks, forecasting and other medium-term spending plans across services and policy areas, such as health and social care.
	Arguably, this should include improvements in availability and accessibility of data; training for policy-makers across government departments, transparency in the budget process and the sustained engagement of civil society in scrutinizing the budget.
Strategy for continuity	Legislative underpinning protects gender budgeting from the vulnerability of the electoral cycle but existing platforms such as PSED and the newer Fairer Scotland Duty need to be more robustly and consistently implemented and compliance also understood as enabling improved practice and outcomes for people.
	EBAG is working across government to develop processes to underpin gender—and equality—analysis in the Scottish Budget Process. The recommendations of the Budget Review Group are central to this.
Key legislative and structural drivers	The Scotland Acts 1998, 2012, 2016 Scottish Parliament committee system of pre-budget inquiries and evidence gathering by all policy committees, and specific guidance from the Finance, Equality and Human Rights Committees Equality and Budgets Advisory Group (EBAG) SWBG, other women’s organizations and the statutory equality and human rights commission. Scottish Budget Review 2016-2017 National Performance Framework Equality and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement	The Government of Wales Acts 1998, 2006 National Assembly for Wales committees, including the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee BAGE, now the BIIAG. The Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015 and its goals, ways of working, and national indicators and milestone frameworks The GER and its associated principles for a feminist government and vision for a gender equal Wales Strategic Integrated Impact Assessments The PSED and specific Welsh duties