1. Introduction 

The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 was introduced to help address the historic and persistent underrepresentation of women in public life. 

Section 1 of the Act sets the “gender representation objective” for a public board that 50% of non-executive members are women. Schedule 1 lists the public authorities covered by the Act, this incudes WICS.  As such, we are required to report on the gender representation of our Board every 2 years, with 30 April 2021 being the first reporting deadline.

The ‘Appointing Person’ as stated in the statutory guidance as responsible for appointments to the WICS board is Scottish Ministers.

This report covers the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 and provides information on our Board membership and appointment arrangements.

2. WICS Board membership

The WICS Board comprises four non-executive members and our Chief Executive.

The recruitment exercise for WICS Board members is run by the Scottish Government’s public appointment team with support from our Scottish Government Sponsor department.

Appointments are for fixed terms of up to four years with the possibility of re-appointment subject to evidence of effective performance and satisfying the skills, knowledge and personal qualities required on the Board at the time of re-appointment.

The gender representation of the WICS Board 1 April 2020 to 30 Jun 2020 was:

WICS Board gender representation 

Member	Total	Female	% female
Non-executive	4	1	25%

Shortly before this reporting period, the Scottish Government ran a recruitment exercise for our Board. In July 2020 Scottish Ministers appointed a further female to our Board. The WICS Board now comprises the following:

• Chair Donald MacRae – appointed 1 May 2018 until 30 April 2022
• Non-Executive Member – Robin McGill appointed 1 January 2020 until 31 December 2023
• Non Executive Member – Ann Allen appointed until 1 July 2020 until 30 June 2024
• Non-Executive Member – Jo Armstrong reappointed on 1 July 2020 until 30 June 2024

The gender representation of the WICS Board 1 July 2020 to 31 March 2021 was:

WICS Board gender representation 

Member	Total	Female	%  female
Non-executive	4	2	50%