- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 24 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether the NHS will end the practice of issuing new NHS numbers and changed gender markers to individuals.
Answer
The NHS in Scotland uses the Community Health Index (CHI) system for patient records across its IT systems.
There are various reasons why an individual may seek to change their CHI number, including administrative corrections. No medical information is removed from the patient record as part of a CHI change.
There are currently no plans to change existing policies on how CHI records are updated and managed by the NHS in Scotland.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its 2045 net zero target is still credible.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2025
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 April 2025
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025
To ask the First Minister what impact the Scottish Government anticipates that the Supreme Court judgment regarding For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers will have on the implementation of the Public Sector Equality Duty in Scotland.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 April 2025
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ensure that, whenever sex is recorded, it is made clear whether this refers simply to sex, or to a person's "legal sex" based on a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024. The Scottish Government guidance provides definitions for terms such as ‘legal sex’ which can be used by users or producers of the data.
The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will continue to ask questions that combine sex and gender identity in a single question, when collecting data.
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.
Within the guidance, there are two recommended questions. The first asks people about their sex, with respondents able to answer ‘Female’, ‘Male’ or ‘Prefer not to say’. The second question asks people whether they consider themselves to be trans or have a trans history.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to mandate that data on sex be collected by default in all research and data collection that it or its non-departmental public bodies commission.
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data (for operational, statistical and research purposes) that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach with aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to undertake quantitative research to assess what the general public considers to be the meaning of key words in relation to sex reassignment that may be used in data collection, including "transgender man", "trans man", "transgender", "trans", "transsexual" and "gender reassignment".
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach which aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.
The Sullivan Review specifically recommends that the Scottish Government reviews its guidance in light of its recommendations. The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.
Ahead of this review, the Office of the Chief Statistician is engaged with wider-UK work on this topic. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team is currently developing harmonised standards for collecting data on sex and gender identity. This work will include user engagement and question testing with stakeholders and the general public, which will help to determine how users would interpret different questions and phrases. The Office of the Chief Statistician is contributing to this work, and will consider its outputs as part of its review of the Chief Statistician’s guidance.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 17 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review its guidance for public bodies on the collection and publication of data regarding sex, gender identity and trans status to take into account the recommendations of the UK Government review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender (the Sullivan Review).
Answer
The Office of the Chief Statistician published guidance for public bodies in Scotland on the collection of data on sex and gender in 2021. This guidance recommends that statistics producers should collect data that best serves the needs of users in their specific context, an approach that aligns with the guidance published by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2024.
The Sullivan Review specifically recommends that the Scottish Government reviews its guidance in light of its recommendations. The Scottish Government has previously committed to reviewing its guidance on collecting data on sex and gender by the end of 2026 as part of the Non-Binary Equality Action Plan.
Ahead of this review, the Office of the Chief Statistician is engaged with wider-UK work on this topic. The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation Team is currently developing harmonised standards for collecting data on sex and gender identity. The Office of the Chief Statistician is contributing to this work, and will consider its outputs as part of its review of the Chief Statistician’s guidance.
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether future legislation that it introduces will use the word "sex" instead of "gender".
Answer
Our future decisions around the terminology to be adopted in proposed Scottish Government legislation will be made in the light of all relevant matters. This will include matters such as the proposed legislation’s operation in conjunction with existing law, or any need to maintain consistency when the proposed legislation would textually amend provisions in another enactment.
There is published information on the Scottish Government’s approach to drafting proposed Acts of this Parliament in the second edition of the Parliamentary Counsel Office drafting manual, Drafting Matters!: .
- Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 March 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Ivan McKee on 8 April 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to protect (a) it and (b) public bodies from any internal activism that seeks to influence outward-facing policy, including through staff networks.
Answer
Civil Servants appointed to the Scottish Government must adhere to the Civil Service Code and Standards of Behaviour. They must act with integrity and impartiality, avoiding any appearance of bias or misuse of position and refrain from using their official role to advance personal interests. Failure to do so could result in disciplinary action being taken up to and including dismissal.
Network activity is governed by a network role descriptor “The core purpose of a staff network is in providing a space for peer support.” Internal Staff networks have no role in informing external policy.
This response addresses only the Scottish Government and its executive agencies. Public bodies have local responsibility for staff management.
