Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: equality impact assessment

Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill - Equality Impact Assessment Record

Title of policy/ practice/ strategy/ legislation etc.

Gender Representation on Public Boards (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill

Minister

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice

Lead official

Gender Equality Policy team

Officials involved in the EQIA

Gender Equality Policy team

Directorate/Division/Team

Directorate for Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights, Gender Equality Policy team

Is this new policy or revision to an existing policy?

New policy

Screening

Policy Aim

The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 (“2018 Act”) to remove from the statute book the definition of “woman” in section 2.

This follows the decisions of the Court of Session on 18 February and 22 March 2022 (and which had effect from 19 April 2022) in the judicial review and reclaiming motion brought by For Women Scotland which challenged that definition. The court found that the definition was not within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament and therefore was “not law”, so reduced it. However, notwithstanding the court’s decision, the definition has remained on the face of the statute book which could be misleading.

The definition to be removed is: “woman” includes a person who has the protected characteristic of gender reassignment (within the meaning of section 7 of the Equality Act 2010) if, and only if, the person is living as a woman and is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of becoming female.”

This Bill will otherwise not change the 2018 Act. The 2018 Act set a gender representation objective that 50% of the non-executive members of the boards of listed public authorities should be women. A number of duties are placed on Scottish Ministers, public authorities and appointing persons requiring action to be taken to achieve the objective.

The scope of this Bill is extremely limited as it is a technical Bill which is being made in light of a court decision, and it simply removes a redundant definition from the statute book. Any legal changes to the 2018 Act were as a result of the court’s decisions in February and March 2022. This Bill makes no legal changes to the 2018 Act. Therefore we have carried out an appropriate assessment of the equality issues affected by the Bill which has not required consultation with external stakeholders or the gathering of additional evidence at this stage.

Who will it affect?

The 2018 Act requires a range of activities to be undertaken to increase the representation of women on the boards of Scottish public authorities. However, this Bill does not affect the operation of the 2018 Act. It simply ensures that the text of the 2018 Act reflects the change to that Act which was made by the court’s decisions and which has been effective since 19 April 2022.

This Bill will therefore have only limited effect. Removing the redundant definition of “woman” in section 2 of the 2018 Act from the statute book will ensure that no one is misled.

What might prevent the desired outcomes being achieved?

Nothing is foreseen which will prevent the desired outcome of the Bill (to remove a redundant definition from the 2018 Act) being achieved.

Framing

Results of framing exercise

Given the extremely limited scope of the Bill, there has been no need to consult externally nor gather in additional evidence.

Extent/Level of EQIA required

This EQIA has been made with due regard being taken to all the requirements of the public sector equality duty and no further evidence is required at this stage.

Assessing the impacts and identifying opportunities to promote equality

Having considered the data and evidence you have gathered, this section requires you to consider the potential impacts – negative and positive – that your policy might have on each of the protected characteristics. It is important to remember the duty is also a positive one – that we must explore whether the policy offers the opportunity to promote equality and/or foster good relations.

Do you think that the policy impacts on people because of their age?

Do you think that the policy impacts disabled people?

Do you think that the policy impacts on men and women in different ways?