The Local Government and Communities Committee are seeking views on the Period Products (Free Provision) Scotland Bill.
The Bill was introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 23 April 2019. It is a Member’s Bill, i.e. a non-Government Bill, that has been put forward by Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland. The Bill and accompanying documents can be found here.
The aim of the Bill is to ensure everyone in Scotland who needs to use period products can obtain them free of charge through a "period products scheme" which the Scottish Government would have to set up. The Bill requires primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities to make period products free in all appropriate toilets and enables Ministers to place a similar duty on other organisations. Those using the scheme must be able to obtain period products "reasonably easily" and with "reasonable privacy", and can choose to have products delivered or collected. The scheme must also ensure that a choice of different types of period products are available. Under the Bill, Scottish Ministers must publicise the scheme and may compensate those obliged to provide free products.
The call for written views is running from 16 September to 5 November 2019 and the Committee would particularly welcome responses on the following issues. (You don’t have to respond to all of them if you don’t wish to.)
- The Bill has been brought forward partly in response to concerns about "period poverty" - difficulty in being able to afford period products. Do you think period poverty is a serious issue in Scotland? Please provide any relevant information you may have to support your views.
- Do you support the overall aim of the Bill - that no one in Scotland should have to pay for period products and that this should be set out in law?
- The Scottish Government already has a scheme for free period products across schools, colleges and universities. Some public bodies also provide free products voluntarily. Do you have any experience of such schemes? If so, do they seem to you to be effective?
- The Bill would allow the Scottish Government to require organisations other than schools and colleges to provide free period products. Do you support this? If so, what other organisations should be legally made to provide free products?
- The Bill requires the setting up of a scheme for making free period products available. Do you have any views on what elements a scheme should include? In answering this question, you might want to take account of factors such as the importance of privacy, accessibility, value for money and the environment.
- Do you have any other comments you wish to make about the Bill?
How to submit your views
Before making a submission, please read our Privacy Notice about submitting your views to a Committee. This tells you about how we process your personal data.
Please note that in most cases your written submission will be published on the Scottish Parliament's website and may be quoted in the Committee's report or in the Committee meetings (which are public and broadcasted).
If you wish to request that your submission be published without your name, please contact the Committee clerking team via telephone (0131 348 5206) or email: [email protected]
To submit your views please use the template provided below to format your submission. We welcome written views in English, Gaelic, Scots or any other language. Due to the time required to process and analyse evidence, late submissions will only be accepted with the agreement of the Committee Clerk. The closing date for receipt of submissions is Tuesday 5 November 2019.
Written responses should be sent electronically, in the template format to [email protected]. Ideally submissions should be no more than four sides of A4.
If you cannot submit electronically, you may send in a hard copy of the written submission. Please send them to:
The Local Government and Communities Committee
Room T3.40
Scottish Parliament
EH99 1SP.