John Swinney MSP First Minister of Scotland

We aim to maintain positive working relationships with all of you, as well as other ministerial colleagues and their teams, towards achieving effective respect for the human rights of all in Scotland. [...] As such we are Scotland’s human rights watchdog, with a mandate to monitor how everyone’s rights are respected, protected, and fulfilled according to applicable international human rights instruments and treaties. [...] The Commission’s Strategic Plan 2024-2028 commits us to: • Delivering our mandate to support the Scottish Parliament to apply human rights scrutiny to its work on proposed legislation and policy; • Monitoring the human rights position in Scotland through an annual state of the nation report to Parliament and through United Nations and Council of Europe processes; Bridgeside House, 99 McDonald Road. [...] Relatedly, the Commission would take this opportunity to highlight that, in our assessment, and whether via a Human Rights Bill or another route, the statutory mandate of the Commission must now be strengthened. [...] We share a copy of this letter with the offices of the Cabinet Secretary and the Minister to support these discussions.