Scotland Bill — Clause 32 — Gender Balance Among Members of the Scottish Parliament and Members of Boards of Scottish Public Authorities — 6 Jul 2015 at 20:37

The majority of MPs voted against allowing the devolved administration in Scotland to introduce a requirement for gender balance among the members of the Scottish Parliament and members of boards of Scottish public authorities.

MPs were considering the Scotland Bill^[1]

The amendment rejected in this vote was:

• Amendment: 123, page 34, line 13, at end insert,
• “including a requirement for gender balance among the members of the Scottish Parliament and members of boards of Scottish public authorities;”

This would have impacted Clause 32(3) of the Bill^[2] which proposed adding an exception to those powers "reserved" to the UK Parliament via Schedule 5 Part II heading L of the Scotland Act 1998:

• Under the heading “Exceptions”, at the end insert—
• The subject-matter of Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010 (socio-economic inequalities). : Equal opportunities in relation to the Scottish functions of any Scottish public authority or cross-border public authority. The provision falling within this exception does not include any modification of the Equality Act 2006 or the Equality Act 2010, or any subordinate legislation made under those Acts, but does include—
• (a) provision that supplements or is otherwise additional to provision made by those Acts;
• (b) in particular, provision imposing a requirement to take action that the Acts do not prohibit;
• (c) provision that reproduces or applies an enactment contained in those Acts, with or without modification, without affecting the enactment as it applies for the purposes of those Acts.”

The rejected amendment would have added text to element (b).

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• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Scotland Bill
• [2] Clause 32 of the Bill as at the time of the vote (note line numbers not as used in amendment)

Debate in Parliament | Source |