Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021

7 Consultation

(1) Before preparing a statement under section 6, each responsible body—

(a) must consult the persons mentioned in subsection (2), and

(b) may consult any other body or person the body thinks appropriate,

about the responsible body’s exercise of the functions conferred on it by section 1, 2 or, as the case may be, 3 and by section 8.

(2) The persons referred to in subsection (1)(a) are, in the case of a responsible body with functions under—

(a) section 1—

(i) such product users who live or are otherwise likely to be present in the local authority’s area as the local authority thinks appropriate,

(ii) such persons who may seek to obtain period products on behalf of product users as the local authority thinks appropriate,

(b) section 2, such product users who are pupils or, as the case may be, students at institutions managed by the education provider as the education provider thinks appropriate,

(c) section 3, such product users who are likely to be in the premises of the specified public service body as the body thinks appropriate.

(3) Consultation under subsection (1) must in particular include consultation—

(a) about the ways in which product users ought to be able to obtain period products free of charge,

(b) about the matters mentioned in subsection (4), and

(c) about the types of period products which ought to be obtainable free of charge.

(4) The matters referred to in subsection (3)(b) are—

(a) where the consultation relates to the exercise of functions under section 1—

(i) the premises, and

(ii) the locations in those premises,

in which period products ought to be obtainable free of charge,

(b) where the consultation relates to the exercise of functions under section 2—

(i) the locations in buildings of the type mentioned in section 2(3), and

(ii) any other locations in the education provider’s premises,

in which period products ought to be obtainable free of charge,

(c) where the consultation relates to the exercise of functions under section 3, the locations in the specified public service body’s premises in which period products ought to be obtainable free of charge.

(5) In this section, “product users” means—

(a) persons who need to use period products, and

(b) except in subsections (2)(a)(ii) and (3)(a), persons who may need to use period products in the future.