UK: Scotland: gender representation on public authority boards

The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2018 were laid before the Scottish Parliament today and bring into force, on 1 December, certain provisions of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 including section 2 (key definitions),  section 7 (guidance on the operation of the Act) and schedule 1 (public authorities).

The Act contains a gender representation objective for public authority boards - 50% of non-executive members who are women - and will, when fully in force, impose duties on those appointing such members to give, in specified situations, preference to female candidates where this will help achieve (or make progress in achieving) the gender representation objective. The explanatory notes accompanying the Act are available here (pdf).