Equality, diversity and inclusion

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion statement

Since its foundation in 1931, the National Trust for Scotland has been promoting access, a principle of the legislation which established our charity. In our 90-year history, we have cared for and offered greater physical – and increasingly digital – public access to buildings, places, objects and art, much of which was once in private ownership and accessible to few. We have championed countryside access rights many decades before the statutory Right to Roam (Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003), have taken responsibility for and opened to the public grand houses, and represent through some of our properties the lives and work of wider past communities.

Issues of access and inclusivity are accelerating around the world. Not everyone has equal access to the heritage that is in our care. We too want to increase our commitment to recognising the diversity of Scotland’s past and present across our work, in support of a more equal and just future for all.

The National Trust for Scotland is committed to doing more to reach and represent Scotland’s diverse society. We want to change this by creating as much opportunity as possible for everyone to have a deep and meaningful engagement with our shared heritage and with the Trust’s wider work.

Over the past few decades, we’ve done some interesting and important work to address equality, diversity and inclusion, through highlighting the connections between our properties and slavery, giving more prominence to the stories of women and girls, and involving and representing a wider range of society in our activities, research and stories. We recognise that that there is more we can do to make sure that our founding principle of conservation and access is relevant to all communities in Scotland and beyond.

To help us in our work, we have established an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Taskforce (EDIT) made up of people from across our organisation and external experts. The taskforce’s purpose is to inform, support, monitor and report on the work of the Trust in combating inequality, lack of diversity, and exclusion in all we do.

Find out more about our Facing Our Past project

Taskforce members

• Michael Terwey, Director of Public Engagement & Research (Chair)
• Janet Brennan, Trustee
• Sarah Cuthbert Kerr, Head of Communications (Interim)
• Craig Ferguson, Head of People Policy, Operations & Advice
• Diarmid Hearns, Head of Public Policy
• Jill Miller, Trustee
• Ana Sanchez-De la Vega, Visitor Services Manager
• Stephen Small, Solicitor & Trust Secretary