Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018
110.Paragraph 8 of schedule 2 adds Consumer Scotland to the list of bodies in schedule 1 of the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 (“the 2018 Act”).
111.This means that in appointing members to Consumer Scotland, the Scottish Ministers must ordinarily give preference to a woman if there are equally qualified candidates – one who is a woman and one who is not – where appointing a woman would result in, or be a step towards, 50% of the body’s membership being women (see section 4 of the 2018 Act).
112.In addition, the 2018 Act requires that steps be taken to encourage women to apply to be members of Consumer Scotland (see section 5 of the 2018 Act), and further steps to be taken to promote gender balance in the membership if the 50% target has not been reached by particular dates (see section 6 of the 2018 Act).