A LABOUR MSP will today launch a bid to press the Scottish Government to go further in ending period poverty and make sanitary towels and tampons free to all.
Last month, Scotland became the first country in the world to give out free sanitary products with a £42,500 pilot project in Aberdeen targeting 1000 women and girls from low-income households.
Labour’s inequalities spokeswoman Monica Lennon, who will launch a consultation on her Member’s Bill today, also wants to see schools, colleges and universities given a duty to provide sanitary products in toilets.
Lennon said it was important that access to pads and tampons was not means-tested. She said: “Scotland has the opportunity to be a world leader in ending period poverty. Access to sanitary products should be a basic right.
“That’s why I intend to introduce a legal duty on the Scottish Government to develop a universal system in Scotland which will provide free sanitary products for anyone who needs them.
“My proposal also includes a statutory duty on schools, colleges and universities to provide free sanitary products in their toilets.”
Lennon’s proposal is similar to the NHS C-Card scheme, which gives 13- to 24-year-olds access to free condoms.
Scottish Government Communities Secretary Angela Constance welcomed the Labour consultation, saying: “It is unacceptable for any girl or woman not to have access to sanitary products.
“I welcome Monica Lennon’s work on access to sanitary products and will be happy to engage further with her as we look at what more can be done to tackle the issue, within the current powers of the Scottish Parliament.”
Gillian Martin, the SNP MSP who was instrumental in getting the government to launch the pilot, said: “I am delighted that period poverty is finally something that all the parties are now recognising.”
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