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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-37189

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2025
Current Status: Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 13 May 2025

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-36216 by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025, and in light of the UK Supreme Court ruling regarding For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers, whether it will provide an update on 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.

Work has already begun across the Scottish Government to consider the implications of the Supreme Court judgment. While we await the updated Code of Practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Permanent Secretary has convened a Short Life Working Group (SLWG), at the request of Scottish Ministers.

The SLWG is considering the implications of the Supreme Court judgment in areas such as legislation, guidance and funding. The SLWG has already met and consists of senior civil servants across the Scottish Government.

The outputs of the SLWG, along with the updated EHRC Code of Practice, will inform our next steps in determining updates to relevant guidance affected by the Supreme Court judgment.

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: Answered by Jenny Gilruth 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.

The Scottish Government is clear that abuse, violence, including gender based violence, and harassment of any kind, will not be tolerated in our schools. Misogynistic behaviour was identified as an emerging concern in the 2023 Behaviour in Schools Research, and we are taking forward a range of actions to tackle it.

In 2024, we published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence. It was developed by a working group, jointly chaired by Scottish Government, Rape Crisis Scotland, and Zero Tolerance. The framework provides guidance on how schools can address the underlying causes of gender-based violence, particularly gender inequality, and ensure appropriate action is taken in response to specific incidents.

Our Equally Safe Delivery Plan builds a robust and joined up approach to the prevention of violence against women and girls across all education settings in Scotland. In addition, we provide funding to Education Scotland to deliver the Mentors in Violence Prevention programme which engages young people to consider different forms of violence, including negative attitudes and behaviours to help them understand and speak out against gender-based violence, bullying, abusive and violent behaviour, as well as being able to safely challenge the negative societal attitudes and assumptions which underpin this behaviour.

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-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-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-36211

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 plans to review its guidance for public bodies on the collection and publication of data regarding sex, gender identity and trans status to take into account the recommendations of the UK Government review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender (the Sullivan Review).

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 that aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.

The Sullivan Review specifically recommends that the Scottish Government reviews its guidance in light of its recommendations. 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.

Ahead of this review, the Office of the Chief Statistician is engaged with wider-UK work on this topic. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team is currently developing harmonised standards for collecting data on sex and gender identity. The Office of the Chief Statistician is contributing to this work, and will consider its outputs as part of its review of the Chief Statistician’s guidance.

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.

Question reference: S6W-36219

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 continue to ask questions that combine sex and gender identity in a single question, when collecting data.

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.

Within the guidance, there are two recommended questions. The first asks people about their sex, with respondents able to answer ‘Female’, ‘Male’ or ‘Prefer not to say’. The second question asks people whether they consider themselves to be trans or have a trans history.