 The next item of business is the consideration of business motion number 15851, in the name of Jofits Patrick, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a revision to the business programme for this week. Any member who wishes to speak against motion should press a request speak button now, and I call on Jofits Patrick to move motion number 15851. Firmly moved. No member has asked to speak against motion number 15851, in the name of Jofits Patrick, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed to. The next item of business is consideration of business motion number 15840, in the name of Jofits Patrick, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a timetable for the stage 3 consideration of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax Amendment Scotland Bill. Any member who wishes to speak against this motion should press a request speak button now, and I call on Jofits Patrick to move motion number 15840. Moved. No member has asked to speak against motion number 15840, in the name of Jofits Patrick, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed to. The next item of business is consideration of business motion number 15839, in the name of Jofits Patrick, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a timetable for the stage 3 consideration of the Higher Education Governance Scotland Bill. Any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press a request speak button now, and I call on Jofits Patrick to move motion number 15839. Moved. No member has asked to speak against the motion, therefore I now put the question of chamber. The question is that motion number 15839, in the name of Jofits Patrick, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed to. We now move to topical questions. Question number 1, Christina McKelvie. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to mark International Women's Day. Cabinet Secretary, Alex Neil. Presiding Officer, the Scottish Government will be involved in more events than ever to mark this year's International Women's Day. A celebration started here in the Parliament on Saturday 5 March, when the First Minister gave the keynote address at the Scottish Women's Convention's annual event and will carry on for most of this week. The First Minister is speaking today at the Scottish Women's Aid Conference. Also today, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs is participating at the Lord Provost of Glasgow's conference co-hosted with UNICEF. From Ayrshire to Clydebank, ministers will be sharing platforms and attending events that showcase what progress has been made towards gender parity, but also highlighting where we must do more. All here will agree that the work to end gender inequality is not just for one day a year but is part of our Government's core ambitions for Scotland as we pledge for parity. Christina McKelvie. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer and welcome all those events because they all highlight things that we all believe in. Could the cabinet secretary give us an update on what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that women are properly represented in leading roles throughout not just the public sector but the private sector in Scotland too? As a member knows, both in terms of public boards but also in terms of the private and third sector, we are doing everything that we can to encourage gender balance on boards. Of course, 50-50 by 2020 is a key part of the Government's strategy. Although we do not have the legislative power to force private sector organisations to engage in 50-50, on the less, as a major user of private services, we are using all influence that we can to try to encourage companies A to do it and B to reap the benefits of having 50-50 by 2020. Christina McKelvie. I am sure that the cabinet secretary will agree with me that not just about roles in public and private sector but one of the main issues is still the gender inequality pay gap. I wonder if he could give us an update on the progress that the Scottish Government is taking to close the gender pay gap. In the public sector, the main area of outstanding is in relation to equal pay in local authorities. There are still four or five local authorities in Scotland who have not finally settled their equal pay claims. My priority as the overall cabinet secretary was responsibility for local authorities is to encourage them to complete the settlement of those claims as soon as possible. In North Lanarkshire alone, for example, there are over 4,000 people, mainly women, who have still got their equal pay claim outstanding. Given the time that it has taken since the original equal pay act was passed and since the existing negotiations were held about 12 or 15 years ago, there is no excuse now for any outstanding claims still not to be settled in this day and age. I am sure that the cabinet secretary is as shocked as I am by the university college unions report highlighting the gender pay gap in our colleges and universities. Sadly, for me, the worst figure comes from the University of Highlands and Islands, which shows that male lecturers are paid £18,637 more than their female equivalent. This is unacceptable in any walk of life, but it is especially in our publicly funded institutions. Can I ask what the cabinet secretary is going to do about it? Throughout the public sector, we want to see equal pay implemented, including in the local authority sector, as I said, but also in the academic sector, both universities and colleges. We will do everything within our power to try to encourage and ensure that those funded through the public sector, through the taxpayer, fulfil a requirement of equal pay for equal work. I support the comments that were already made in the chamber about inequalities facing women at home and abroad, but we need light as well as shade. I highlight a report that is published today that talks about underrepresentation of women in Scottish theatres. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that our cultural life and expression are important as to how we see ourselves? Will the Scottish Government support efforts for greater transparency and analysis of our understanding of women's role within the creative sector? I absolutely empathise with the comments that were made by the member. Clearly, there is no case for not having women on an equal footing with men when it comes to any aspect of our arts and culture. Indeed, since arts and culture is supposed to reflect our society, it is particularly important to ensure that women are properly represented as, indeed, any minority group is properly represented. However, women should absolutely be represented in arts and culture, including in the theatre, on television, on radio and in a whole range of other media that we have available in our modern society. That reflects modern society, where women make up more than 50 per cent of the population in Scotland. There are terrible consequences of gender inequality, domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women. When the First Minister addresses the Scottish Women's Aid conference imminently this afternoon, will she respond to the report that has come out from Scottish Women's Aid this week about domestic abuse and homelessness? Has he, as the Minister for Ultimate Responsibility for Housing, looked at the issues in that report? Will he respond positively to them? We will be taking our time to look at the conclusions and recommendations in that report, as well as the analysis. Clearly, there is some very disturbing research in that report that needs to be addressed. We will certainly be responding to the report very positively and doing whatever we can to try to ensure that all of those issues are properly addressed in terms of women and homelessness and, of course, the impact on the wider family, particularly children.