Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-37271

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what measures it plans to implement to provide visible and strong leadership through the Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning (GETEL) to achieve a gender-competent experience of education and learning for all girls.

Question reference: S6W-37270

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to ensure that all parties apply a gendered lens to discussions on school behaviour, in light of data showing that women make up approximately three quarters of the teaching profession.

Question reference: S6W-37272

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what commitments it plans to make to educate children, young people and school staff on the importance of gender equality by ensuring that schools explicitly teach students about misogyny and misogynistic attitudes.

Question reference: S6W-37269

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 April 2025
Current Status: Answer expected on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it plans to take to address violence against women due to gender inequality.

Question reference: S6W-36217

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to mandate that organisations that allow sex markers to be changed on official documents keep records of the number of documents changed annually, with basic demographic information attached such as age and sex.

To our knowledge, there are currently only two public bodies operating in Scotland which allow sex markers to be changed on official documents (HM Passport Office and the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency). As both of these public bodies are reserved to the UK Parliament, it would not be within the devolved competence of the Scottish Government to mandate them to keep records of the number of documents changed annually.

The Scottish Government would not mandate any action for Scottish public sector organisations that is not legally required. It would be for respective public bodies to determine the best process for its staff and users. This includes matters relating to allowing sex markers to be changed and keeping records of the number of documents changed annually, with basic demographic information included.

However, we do expect all public sector organisations in Scotland to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, which is not a duty to achieve any particular results, but a duty to have “due regard” to the need to achieve the three goals of:

eliminating eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation
advancing equality of opportunity and;
fostering good relations between different groups of people.

Question reference: S6W-36213

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 25 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to update (a) its language generally and (b) any of its guidance to use the word "sex" instead of "gender".

Equality Law relating to equal opportunities is generally reserved under the Scotland Act 1999. It is for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - as the regulator of the Equality Act 2010 - to produce, review and update any technical guidance in relation to such matters.

We note that the EHRC are now reviewing their guidance following the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of woman under the Equality Act 2010. The Scottish Government are taking time to consider any implications the Supreme Court’s ruling may have on our own guidance to ensure that it is compliant with the judgment and takes account of any updated guidance that will be provided by the EHRC in due course.

We remain committed to protecting everyone’s rights and will continue to work to ensure that our guidance is inclusive of all of Scotland’s communities. This includes using communication which is plain, clear and concise, both in language generally, and in published guidance, as far as the subject-matter allows.

Question reference: S6W-36218

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS will end the practice of issuing new NHS numbers and changed gender markers to individuals.

The NHS in Scotland uses the Community Health Index (CHI) system for patient records across its IT systems.

There are various reasons why an individual may seek to change their CHI number, including administrative corrections. No medical information is removed from the patient record as part of a CHI change.

There are currently no plans to change existing policies on how CHI records are updated and managed by the NHS in Scotland.

Question reference: S6O-04603

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its 2045 net zero target is still credible.

Question reference: S6F-04003

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025

To ask the First Minister what impact the Scottish Government anticipates that the Supreme Court judgment regarding For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers will have on the implementation of the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-36216

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that, whenever sex is recorded, it is made clear whether this refers simply to sex, or to a person's "legal sex" based on a Gender Recognition Certificate.

The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024. The Scottish Government guidance provides definitions for terms such as ‘legal sex’ which can be used by users or producers of the data.

The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.