What has the Scottish Parliament done?
Here are a few examples of what has been done in this area:
Legislation
This act seeks to pardon persons convicted of certain historical sexual offences and to provide a process for convictions for those offences to be disregarded.
Summary (139KB pdf)
This act seeks to promote the use of British Sign Language (BSL). It requires the Scottish Government to prepare and publish a BSL National Plan for Scotland. It also requires certain authorities (including the Scottish Parliament and councils) to prepare and publish their own BSL Plans. The first national plan was published in October 2017 and the first authority plans are scheduled for publication in October 2018.
Summary (178KB pdf)
This act specifies the steps recruiters should take in terms of representation of women on public boards.
This act reduced the voting age to 16 at elections for membership of the Scottish Parliament and local government elections.
Summary (114KB pdf)
Committee inquiries
The committee heard evidence that Scotland’s ethnic minorities are on average more likely to be unemployed or in low-paid work. The committee called on the Scottish Government to commit to long-term, practical action, such as encouraging the use of public sector procurement contracts to open up jobs to ethnic minority groups who are under-represented in certain industries.
What is the Scottish Parliament doing?
Here are some examples of what is currently being done in this area:
The purpose of this Bill is to allow different sex couples to enter a civil partnership. The Bill would remove the same sex requirement in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 to achieve this. It also makes changes to other legislation to carry through the effect of the main change.
The purpose of the Bill is to strengthen statutory protections for women and girls at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM). The Bill creates a new FGM Protection Order, a form of civil order which can impose conditions or requirements upon a person for the purpose of protecting a person or persons from FGM, safeguarding them from harm if FGM has already occurred, or for the general purpose of reducing the likelihood the FGM offences will occur.
Follow the work of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee on its webpage.
Official Report
What is said in public in committees and in the Chamber, including debates and statements by Scottish Government Ministers, is recorded in the Official Report.
Use the Official Report search to find details of MSPs’ discussions in the Parliament on a particular issue.
Questions and motions
MSPs ask questions and lodge motions, some of which are debated, to gather information and raise awareness of issues.
Enter a keyword in the search to find out what MSPs have said about a specific subject.