Meeting of the Parliament 26 March 2024
The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill seeks to remove the section 2 definition of “woman” from the original Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018. That follows decisions of the inner house of the Court of Session, which were effective from 19 April 2022. The court decided that the section 2 definition was outwith the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and was not law and, accordingly, had no legal effect. At that time, our counsel told the court that we would remove the redundant definition from the 2018 act. If the bill is passed, it will provide clarity by removing the definition from the statute book to ensure that no one is misled.
I appreciate that it is unusual to introduce such a small bill. We looked at all other planned legislation but did not find a suitable vehicle to implement the change. Further, the necessary change could not be made through secondary legislation.
Given the importance of fulfilling our obligations to the court, the bill is intended to do that. The bill simply clears up the statute book to ensure that it is not misleading. Removing the definition from the statute book will eliminate the possibility of any confusion for readers of the 2018 act who are unaware of the court’s orders in 2022.
I was pleased to read the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee’s stage 1 report on the bill. The committee was satisfied that the bill provides a small technical fix to clear up the statute book. It was also content to recommend that the Parliament agrees the general principles of the bill. I thank the committee for its considerations.
The committee also noted that the majority of respondents to the call for views agreed with the general principles of the bill. The bill does not change the policy intention of the 2018 act. We still need to ensure that the boards of Scotland’s public bodies better reflect the population of our country.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees to the general principles of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill.