A/HRC/41/54/Add.4 31. Department of Education have also published a research report which details common strategies that specific schools have found to be effective for combating bullying along with more detailed case studies to show the practical actions taken by the schools. This includes an example of a school in England who have undertaken work to increase understanding of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in order to challenge stereotypes and support pupils to understand and respect those from different backgrounds and communities. 32. Since the SR’s visit a suite of policies have been announced and Government will continue to work to identify new policies to tackle ethnic disparities. Policies announced since the SR’s visit last summer include: a consultation on mandatory ethnicity pay reporting, increasing ethnic minority senior leadership levels, working with the higher education sector to tackle ethnic disparities in higher education entry and attainment, and to increase ethnic diversity of the academic workforce. 33. In 2017, the Scottish Government published updated anti-bullying guidance, Respect for All: The National Approach to Anti-bullying for Scotland’s Children and Young People. Subsequently, a working group was established to develop a consistent and uniform approach to recording and monitoring incidents of bullying in schools. This will be fully implemented by August 2019. The bullying and equalities module on SEEMiS, the schools management information system, has been updated to reflect the new approach. The list of characteristics that can be reported on within SEEMiS includes bullying based on race, religion or belief. Scotland’s anti-bullying service, respectme, continues to provide direct support to local authorities, youth groups and all those working with children and young people to build confidence and capacity to address all types of bullying effectively, aligned to Respect for All. The Scottish Government funded the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights to work collaboratively with respectme to produce guidance, in line with Respect for All, for schools to address bullying based on race. Addressing Inclusion: effectively challenging racism in schools was published in January 2019. In addition, the Scottish Traveller Education Programme has produced a bullying resource for Traveller children and young people – Let’s talk about bullying. In relation to further and higher education, the Scottish Funding Council conducts analysis in access and equality for black and minority ethnic groups and has committed in the Scottish Government Race Equality Action Plan to use this to influence other partners in this area, specifically in relation to employment outcomes, and to develop the evidence base in order to inform Scotland’s Race Equality Framework. 34. Para 28- 29 - The SR notes concerns in regard to racial disparities that are prevalent in healthcare context. Government have a strong framework of anti-discrimination legislation in place in England to ensure equitable access to health services for all. The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination on grounds of nine protected characteristics including race. In addition, all public authorities, including National Health Service organisations, are required to have due regard to the aims of the public sector equality duty of the Equality Act 2010 in exercising their functions. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 introduced additional legal duties on health inequalities on National Health Service commissioners and the Secretary of State for Health requiring them to have regard to the need to reduce inequalities between patients in access to health services and the outcomes achieved. However, Government recognises that there are inequalities in the access to health and mental health care services in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities, and Government is committed to addressing them. The independent Mental Health Taskforce in the Five Year Forward View recommended that the Department of Health address race equality as a priority and appoint a new equalities champion to drive change. National Health Service England are working with BAME groups to understand some of the reasons behind them not accessing services. 35. The NHS Long Term Plan sets out that more can be done through, for example, the NHS’s employment of local people and through local procurement decisions by better use of the Social Value Act. The new health inequalities challenge is how to prevent life expectancy from declining among poorer and more disadvantaged groups, such as people who are homeless and rough sleepers, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, vulnerable migrants and sex workers; and groups with protected characteristics – Black and Minority Ethnic groups and people living in deprived areas. 7