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Equalities and Human Rights Committee convener Christina McKelvie says the very word quota makes people nervous but it should not.

Only a statutory quota willl ensure equality on boards, insists Ms McKelvie.

She says the Tory position is inexplicable.

"There are no losers in this Bill."

Continuing Annie Wells' speech, Alison Harris points to remaining ambiguities in the Bill which Ms Wells' believes will prevent it from being a robust piece of legislation.

Mandatory quotas constitute positive discrimination and are therefore unlawful, Ms Harris says.

The Bill goes further than aspiration, she adds.

Annie Wells believes there should be more of a focus on the deep-seat issues which prevent women from getting on public boards, private boards and even employment more generally, Alison Harris says.

Deputy presiding officer Christine Grahame praises Ms Harris for stepping in, suggesting it is an excellent way to avoid taking interventions.

"I'll remember that one," she jokes.

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Tory MSP Alison Harris, stepping in for the stricken Ms Wells, says her colleague recognises the good intentions of the Bill, but cannot be persuaded it will address the barriers to women applying for these positions in the first place.

Ms Harris says her party will be voting against the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Bill at decision time.

This Bill is essential and necessary, Monica Lennon argues, and she urges the Scottish Conservatives' to change their stance.

Legislation to strengthen the right of women to be represented is "bold", she says.

"The slow march towards true equality of representation for women has still some way to go."

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Former Scottish Police Authority board member Moi Ali resigned after clashing with the then chairman Andrew Flanagan over board meetings being held behind closed doors.

Ms Ali said Mr Flanagan had told her that expressing disagreement publicly was a resignation matter, and told MSPs that her "removal from the board was straightforward punishment for speaking out".

She told MSPs that she felt she had been bullied, describing her exit from the board as "a really horrendous experience" and saying Mr Flanagan was "not fit to continue on any public board".

The public audit committee said Mr Flanagan had acted in an "inappropriate matter", and said the "default position for such an important body is that its committees should meet in public".

Labour MSP Monica Lennon says voluntary measures do not have the same effect but rather preserve the status quo.

Women remain underrepresented at every level of public life in Scotland, she notes.

Representation needs an intersectional approach, she says, addign that is important there is also a cultural change.

She raises the experience of former SPA board member Moi Ali, who believes she would not have been bullied were she a man.

Tory MSP Annie Wells has a sore throat clearly but is bravely trying to open for the Tories.

Ms Wells is struggling to speak as she has lost her voice, but she manages to remind us her party did not vote for this Bill's general principles.

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Labour MSP Rhoda Grant raises a point of order to ask if Ms Wells could have her speech read by a colleague, a point the presiding officer agrees to.

He puts on record for Ms Wells that "despite personal difficulties you did persevere."

Labour MSP Monica Lennon says she has had a sip of water and she hopes to hear from Annie Wells through the medium of Alison Harris.

Angela Constance welcomes the efforts of Labour MSP Mary Fee on advocating for the explicit inclusion of trans women in the Bill.

The Bill will not inhibit the representation of other groups on public boards, she says, and it should also help to improve diversity more broadly.

Labour MSP Kezia Dugdale and Ms Constance criticise the Scottish Conservatives for opposing the Bill.

Ms Constance adds that it will send a message to girls about their ability to achieve.

Noting this year is the centenary of women winning the right to vote, she says the best way of honouring suffragettes is to continue pushing for gender equality.

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Tory MSP Jamie Greene welcomes the significant progress made to date on this issue and asks why the cabinet secretary feels the need to use legislation to get the 4% needed for equality on boards.

Ms Constance says passsing legislation will send a very strong message and it will mean the direction of travel is secured for the future.

She says: "This is about locking in the gains we have worked hard to achieve."

Ms Constance quotes Zadie Smith: "“Progress is never permanent, will always be threatened, must be redoubled, restated, and reimagined if it is to survive."

Equalities Secretary Angela Constance says the Bill will make Scotland the first country in the UK to legislate for more women to be on public sector boards.

Women represent to majority of the population in Scotland, she says, and women's voices must be heard in decision-making spaces.

Appointments to public bodies are made on merit and will continue to be made on merit, the cabinet secretary says.

Highlighting improvements on gender representation in recent years, she highlights other measures can also help - such as having inclusive appointment processes.

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MSPs will now debate the Bill as whole, before making a decision on whether is becomes law at decision time at 17:00.

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Equalities Secretary Angela Constance explains that her amendments to the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Bill are technical in nature.

Here are the marshalled list of amendments, external and the groupings of amendments., external

MSPs back all the amendemnts unanimously.

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MSPs will begin with a debate on amendments to the Bill, all of which have been lodged by Equalities Secretary Angela Constance.

View these amendments here., external

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Transport Secretary Humza Yousaf agrees ScotRail must work on minimising stop-skipping.

Ms Grahame calls for the minister to end to procedure.

The minister says stop-skipping occasionally has to take place so it does not impact the wider network.

However, he accepts the communication around this must be improved to allow people to plan ahead.

Transport Minister Humza Yousaf says he understands the frustrations around stop skipping, adding he has stressed this repeatedly to ScotRail managing director Alex Hindes.

He points to a review which will be used to make steps for improvement.

99.2% of services did not skip any stops, he says.

Christine Grahame asks how many stop-skippings were due to breakdowns of other rail providers.

She wonders if the network and ScotRail ought to be combined.

Mr Yousaf confirms 54% of delays are due to Network Rail infrastructure and he notes Network Rail is still controlled by the UK government.

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According to The Scotsman, the number of ScotRail trains skipping stops has increased to as many as 20 a day.

The growth in the number of journeys where trains fail to stop at stations they were scheduled to according to the timetable has led to a rising tide of anger among commuters left waiting at those stations or unable to disembark when their train fails to stop.

In many cases the decision to skip a stop is taken after passengers have begun their journeys.

Transport minister Humza Yousaf tweeted that the situation is “simply not good enough”.

Read The Scotsman article here., external

SNP MSP Christine Grahame raises concerns regarding stop-skipping by ScotRail.