Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) is strongly committed to promoting race equality in the way that HMIE staff go about performing their role within Scottish education. Scottish society reflects cultural, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity and Scottish education should be accessible to all. No-one should be disadvantaged or excluded because of their ethnic background or their cultural or religious identity. People in Scotland live with many cultures. This race equality scheme is designed to demonstrate how HMIE is putting into practice its commitment to the promotion of race equality and how, in particular, it intends to address the statutory duties under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. It is an "Associate Scheme" that operates within the general context of the Scottish Executive's corporate Race Equality scheme.