Gender policy coherence: annual statement 2025

Key Achievements

• We published a Women’s Health Plan and appointed Scotland’s first Women’s Health Champion
• We invested over £17million to support a Sexual Assault Coordination Service (SARCS) in every health board area
• We have invested around £1 billion in high quality funded early learning and childcare every year since 2021We are developing two new strategies – Scotland’s first Equality Strategy for Women and Girls and Scotland’s first Gender Strategy for Agriculture
• We are investing £522 million in 2025-26 to deliver three benefits to support unpaid carers. 73% of carers in the 2023-24 census were women
• We are investing £155 million in 2025-26 to increase the pay of eligible care workers from £12 to £12.60 per hour. Women are at least 70% of the eligible workforce
• 8 of our 10 Cabinet Secretaries are women.

Since 2018, we have passed five Acts and introduced four Bills which will improve equality for women and girls

Acts:

• The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 created a specific offence of domestic abuse that covers physical and psychological abuse
• The Forensic Medical Services (Victims of Sexual Offences) (Scotland) Act 2021 provides a statutory basis for health boards to provide person centred, trauma informed forensic medical services for people who have experienced rape or sexual assault
• The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 sets an objective that 50% of a public board’s non-executive members are women
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 requires public authorities to act compatibly with children’s rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
• The Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021 requires local authorities and education providers to make period products free and easily obtainable

Bills:

• The Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill (passed by the Scottish Parliament and awaiting Royal Assent) will remove restrictions preventing charities, law centres and citizen’s advice bodies from directly employing solicitors to provide certain legal services to some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens
• The Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill is intended to improve the experiences of victims and witnesses in Scotland’s justice system and to therefore improve access to justice for women and girls experiencing men’s violence
• The Criminal Justice Modernisation & Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill includes provisions to create the statutory framework for Scotland’s first national multi-agency domestic homicide and suicide review model
• The Housing (Scotland) Bill includes a proposed duty on social landlords to have a domestic abuse housing policy