Meeting of the Parliament 15 November 2023
The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill aims to align the 2018 act with the Court of Session ruling last year, which stated that the act’s inclusion of the definition of “woman” was outwith the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and was therefore not law. The bill, if passed, will provide clarity by removing the redundant definition from the statute book.
We looked at all other planned legislation and did not find a suitable bill to take this aim forward. We appreciate that it is unusual to have such a short bill, but it is a simple, small, technical fix to the statute book. The bill does not change the policy intention of the 2018 act. We still wants boards of public bodies to better reflect the population of Scotland.
The Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee was the committee that worked on the 2018 act, and it is appropriate that it will work on the bill. The thrust of the 2018 act is an equality issue. The timetable for the Parliament’s scrutiny of the bill is a matter for the Parliamentary Bureau. It is up the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee to decide how it scrutinises the bill. I support the motion to refer the amendment bill to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee.