Scottish Parliament member asks Finance Secretary about Equality

Submitted by Will Horwitz on 12 March 2010

We were pleased to see Bill Wilson MSP asking the Scottish Government Finance Secretary whether the 'principles espoused [in the Equality Trust website] could shape the Scottish Government's financial policies'.

In response, John Swinney cited the 'solidarity target', through which the Scottish Government have committed to 'increase overall income and the proportion of income earned by the three lowest income deciles as a group by 2017.'

The solidarity target, fairly explicitly aiming for a form of increased equality, is to be admired, although its effectiveness is up for debate since the Scottish Government doesn't have control over tax or benefits policy.