Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-05420

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2026
Current Status: Due to be taken in the Chamber on 28 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures value for money when allocating funding within the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture portfolio.

Question reference: S6O-05401

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2026
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2026

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect women from rape and sexual assault in hospitals.

Question reference: S6O-05262

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the impact of its export growth strategy, A Trading Nation, including what metrics it has used to assess this.

Question reference: S6T-02747

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its justification is for pursuing legal action in relation to its policy on transgender prisoners, in light of the judgment in the case, For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S6O-05061

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether British Sign Language receives parity of treatment with Gaelic within its Languages portfolio, in light of evidence given by stakeholders to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee, as part of its inquiry into the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, that, although BSL plans are delivered locally by listed authorities, strong national coordination, oversight and dedicated funding are still essential if the aims of the Act are to be met.

Question reference: S6O-05050

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of its revised guidance on supporting transgender pupils in schools, whether it can guarantee that, effective immediately, single-sex spaces, including toilets and changing rooms, have been made available to all girls during school hours.

Question reference: S6O-04949

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has engaged with the Equality and Human Rights Commission in relation to the 19 public bodies and organisations that were found to have misrepresented the Equality Act 2010.

Question reference: S6W-39864

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that people are protected against misogyny, in light of the decision not to proceed with the introduction of the proposed Misogyny Bill.

To ensure there are protections for women and girls in law, we have laid in draft an SSI to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. This ensures that women and girls will have the same protections as other groups protected by that Act. If passed, it will make it an offence for a person to stir up hatred against women and girls, and where an offender is motivated by, or demonstrates, malice and ill-will towards women and girls in committing a criminal offence, that offence will be aggravated by prejudice relating to the characteristic of sex.

This SSI is subject to super affirmative process and is therefore subject to consultation prior to the final version being laid in Parliament. The draft SSI, accompanying explanatory note, policy note and consultation paper can be found online at Draft SSI to add 'sex' as a characteristic to the hate crime and public order (Scotland) Act 2021 - gov.scot and the consultation itself can be found online at SSI to add "sex" as a characteristic to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space. The consultation will run until 10 October 2025.

Further, we continue to take forward a range of actions in schools to address gender based violence and sexual harassment. Our Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) Scotland Programme is working to tackle gender stereotyping and attitudes that condone violence against women and girls, and addresses a range of behaviours including name-calling, sexting, controlling behaviour and harassment. We have also published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Rape Crisis Scotland also provide a national sexual violence prevention programme to local authority secondary schools across Scotland. The programme aims to provide consistency in approaches to the prevention of sexual violence and contributes to Equally Safe (our strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls). Since the programme started in 2016, it has reached over 48,000 pupils.

Question reference: S6W-39865

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 8 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36754 by Angela Constance on 8 May 2025, whether it will provide an update regarding the specific date on which it plans to lay the SSI to propose adding the characteristic of “sex” to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

On 28 August 2025 we laid in draft an SSI to add the characteristic of sex to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021.

If passed, it will make it an offence for a person to stir up hatred against women and girls, and where an offender is motivated by, or demonstrates, malice and ill-will towards women and girls in committing a criminal offence, that offence will be aggravated by prejudice relating to the characteristic of sex.

This SSI is subject to super affirmative process and is therefore subject to consultation prior to the final version being laid in Parliament. The draft SSI, accompanying explanatory note, policy note and consultation paper can be found online at Draft SSI to add 'sex' as a characteristic to the hate crime and public order (Scotland) Act 2021 - gov.scot and the consultation itself can be found online at SSI to add "sex" as a characteristic to the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space. The consultation will run until 10 October 2025.

Question reference: S6W-39694

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered the implications of the High Court decision relating to Northumbria Police participating in Pride marches for the impartiality of school teachers in Scotland.

It is a legal requirement for all teachers in Scottish schools to be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS), the independent regulator for teachers in Scotland.

Registered teachers must adhere to the GTCS Professional Standards and Code of Professionalism and Conduct, which require them to uphold values of integrity, trust, and respect, and to act impartially in their professional practice.

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