New human rights budgeting resources published ahead of Scottish Budget
The Scottish Human Rights Commission has published a suite of new resources to help decision makers put human rights at the heart of public spending ahead of this year's Scottish Budget.
The decisions made through the Scottish Budget affect people's rights every day. They shape access to public services, influence life outcomes and determine whether rights are realised in practice. A human rights based approach to budgeting can help ensure public money is used fairly, transparently and effectively.
The new resources have been launched ahead of the 2027-28 Scottish Budget and are designed to support stronger consideration of human rights throughout budget development, implementation and scrutiny.
Professor Angela O'Hagan, Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, said:
"As Scotland prepares for the next Budget, decisions about public spending will play a central role in shaping the future of public services and people's lives."
"Budgets are one of the clearest expressions of our priorities and values. They show not only what governments plan to do, but who benefits from those decisions and whether they are helping to realise people's rights.
"At a time when there is a strong focus on public service reform, a human rights based approach can help decision makers make better, more transparent choices about how resources are allocated. It can help ensure spending decisions are focused on improving outcomes for people and communities across Scotland.
"These resources provide practical support for those involved in developing, scrutinising and influencing budgets. We hope they will help embed human rights in decision making and strengthen accountability for how public money is spent."
The resource package includes:
- A Human Rights Budgeting Toolkit for those involved in developing and managing public finances.
- A Human Rights Budget Scrutiny Toolkit for those responsible for examining spending decisions and their impact on rights.
- Tailored Budget Scrutiny Toolkits for MSPs, National Human Rights Institutions, and auditors and public audit bodies.
As Scotland's National Human Rights Institution, the SHRC works to promote and protect human rights across Scotland. The new resources provide practical guidance to support the integration of human rights standards into public spending decisions and accountability processes.
By supporting more transparent, accountable and rights based decision making, the toolkits aim to help ensure public spending contributes to better outcomes for people across Scotland.
The resources are available to download now:
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For media enquiries, email media@scottishhumanrights.com.
Notes to editors:
- The SHRC is Scotland's human rights watchdog and the National Human Rights Institution for Scotland, with 'A status' accreditation from the UN.
- The SHRC's job is to work with people and communities to understand their experiences, hold public bodies to account where human rights are not upheld, and help them to do better.
- The production of this toolkit is permitted under the SHRC’s general functions, section 3 on information or guidance under the Scottish Commission for Human Rights Act 2006.