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Undoubtedly, that is a complex area, and we continue to work through it. For instance, the UK Supreme Court’s 2021 judgment on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill highlighted the complexities of human rights incorporation in a devolved context. We want to work with the UK Government to explore those complexities in relation to the scope of the duties that we propose in the human rights bill.

In March, the centre for public policy at the University of Glasgow hosted an event that brought together academics, officials and other interested actors from Scotland and across the UK to discuss issues that have arisen from the 2021 Supreme Court judgment, including the incorporation of human rights. We will continue to work with the UK Government and provide further updates in due course.

It remains our intention to introduce the human rights bill in the next parliamentary session—subject to the outcome of the 2026 election, of course. In the meantime, before the summer recess, in order to facilitate further extensive engagement with stakeholders, we will publish a discussion paper that sets out our proposed approach to the bill.

I understand your frustration. The enforcement lies with the EHRC. You are right to point out that there was an interim update but that guidance has not been issued. The EHRC is working at pace and I believe that it will issue its guidance towards the end of June. In the meantime, the Scottish Government is reviewing a wide range of areas—I think that Cat McMeeken specified all of them. That will enable us to be in a state of readiness so that, when the EHRC issues its guidance, we will be able to move forward at pace.

We are identifying the six priority groups that are at the highest risk: lone parents, minority ethnic families, families with disabled adults and children, families with young mothers who are under 25, families with children under one and larger families such as those with three children or more. We are focused on supporting those groups because we know that 90 per cent of all children in poverty live within those six priority family types. We are building our knowledge and understanding of the barriers to moving out of poverty that those families face.

Of course, there is also intersectionality across those groups. For instance, an ethnic minority family might have three or more children and one of those children might also be disabled.

Thank you for that. There is a wider point about women’s political representation as well. We want to be—well, we are—committed to achieving that fairer and more equal political representation so that everybody’s voices can be heard.

We recognise that we need to do better in representing the diversity across Scotland. We are doing other work alongside that. We are, of course, engaging with the EHRC on its forthcoming guidance. As I said in my earlier answer, we will be in a state of readiness for when we get that. In the meantime, it is the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice who is having that dialogue with the EHRC, and she welcomes working with it.

We are taking action to have more diverse representation in the Parliament and in local government. For instance, we have called on the UK Government to introduce gender quotas for elections across the UK, or for us to have the power to do that. We also fund organisations such as Elect Her, and I know that the member has appeared at promotion events that it has held. We provide funding to Engender to make sure that it progresses its equal representation project. We also provide funding to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to support the work of the cross-party barriers to elected office special interest group and the young women lead project.

A wide variety of work is going on to make sure that women are included and to maximise their participation in political life.

I will have a go at answering it and I will try to unpick some of the elements. Yes, the police were recognised as being institutionally racist. There is a clear distinction, however: that does not mean to say that the people working in the police force are all racist. We know how institutions and structures can reinforce and compound discriminatory practices.

Once we have that acknowledgement, my pragmatic piece is to move on. Our focus is on improving outcomes; that is what we need to do. The police take a community-first approach and they invest in community police officers to build those relationships within the communities and to be embedded within them. I know that they do amazing work in community centres, on the street, in our schools and so on. However, it is incumbent on us all to reach out and build that mutual trust and confidence, although I understand that there will be challenges when people are operating in a deficit model.

Nick Bland mentioned our work on new Scots, and we are also doing a lot of work around hate crime. The police play a crucial role in making Scotland a safe and cohesive place. I refer again to the events of the summer, when the police were involved in extensive briefings and their response was largely well received by the communities. I think that, by and large, they struck that balance between providing a supportive presence and not being oppressive or taking a disproportionate approach. Of course, we have to remember that the police are completely independent, and what they do in that regard is up to them, in that sense.

Nick, do you want to come in briefly?

I cannot comment on anything specific, as the member will be well aware. However, I point out that there are also the regulations on health and safety in the workplace. There are lots of regulations in place.

This is certainly a role for the EHRC, which is the enforcer, as it were, with jurisdiction over this area. I will be meeting the commission very soon, possibly even next week. We have always had a close working relationship, and I am looking forward to meeting it to explore these issues of interpretation and enforcement. I am sure that those issues will come up.

I am sure that the health portfolio can provide further information about hospitals in particular, but my general understanding is that the estate is moving towards single-sex provision. It is a big estate that is moving away from mixed wards towards the provision of single-sex wards. Particularly as new hospitals are built, certain buildings are moving towards the provision of single rooms in order to ensure that patients’ dignity is intact.

I am not sure. I will bring in Nick Bland, because I need to check the technical aspect to your question.

Thank you. As the Scottish Government, we fund a wide variety of organisations and procure the delivery of certain services from organisations. Our funding for any organisation will not necessarily be 100 per cent, because it will provide only specific services that we have commissioned. I just want to make that clear. Thank you for raising that point.