The minister praises the Changing Places Consortium and says there is more that needs to be done.

Mr Hepburn adds his congratulations to Grace Warnock for her "outstanding awareness raising campaign".

Image source, bbc

He says she has reminded us that some conditions are not visible and people with them need to use disabled toilets. 

The SNP MSP says he will look at how the Scottish government can improve signage on disabled toilets and he will keep Grace Warnock updated on any progress. 

Health Improvement Minister Jamie Hepburn says this is an important issue and World Toilet Day highlights a "global shame" with the number of people in the world with no access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

Image source, bbc

Charity Water Aid, external tells us one in three people around the world still don't have access to a safe and private toilet. 

The charity used comedy to help the nation overcome their embarrassment and take action to provide everyone everywhere with toilets by 2030, on World Toilet Day 2015 last Thursday

Labour MSP Hanzala Malik joins in the praise of Grace Warnock for her campaign on behalf of those in need. 

Mr Malik says he wishes her all the success and he hopes the minister will back the campaign.

Conservative MSP Jamie McGrigor says the title of the debate 'World Toilet Day 2015, We Can't Wait' debate is meant to be funny but having read the motion and now participating in the debate he understands it underlies a serious issue. 

Labour MSP Jenny Marra praises the "assidious campaigning" of Grace Warnock and also praises the efforts of the Changing Places organisation. 

Who are the Changing Places Consortium?

The Changing Places Consortium is a group of organisations working to support the rights of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities and/or other physical disabilities. Established in 2005, the Consortium campaigns for Changing Places to be installed in all big public spaces so people can access their community. 

The members of the Consortium are:

• Centre for Accessible Environment, external
• PAMIS, external
• Mencap, external
• Nottingham City Council, external
• Dumfries & Galloway Council, external
• Scottish Government, external

SNP MSP Mark MacDonald praised the Grace's Sign Campaign, as his own son who has autism needs to use disabled toilets and is sometimes met with raised eyebrows on leaving one.

Mr MacDonald lends his support to the campaign. 

He also calls on more places to adopt a Changing Places Toilet, external.

Image source, Changing Places

Mr Gray calls on the minister to adopt Grace's sign and make sure it brings dignity across Scotland.

Mr Gray pays tribute to Grace Warnock, a 10-year-old Prestonpans Primary School pupil, who he says has Crohn's disease and has launched a hugely impressive campaign: Grace's Sign campaign, external.

The East Lothian MSP congratulates Grace on her campaign to secure better door signs for accessible toilets in Scotland to raise awareness that they are not only for wheelchair users.

He says Grace has already made considerable progress with her campaign, including coming up with her own new design for door signs to show that they are also for people who are not visibly disabled. 

Mr Gray says in 45 countries fewer than half the population have access to adequate sanitation and that 2,000 children die each day from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. 

This year's themes for World Toilet Day are Equality, Dignity and the Link Between Gender-Based Violence and Sanitation. 

The campaign aims to highlight the threat of sexual violence that women and girls face due to loss of privacy and the inadequacy of toilet facilities to manage menstrual hygiene. 

It also highlights inequalities in usability for disabled and older people.

Labour MSP Iain Gray leads a member's debate entitled 'World Toilet Day 2015, We Can't Wait'. 

Image source, bbc

Mr Gray uses his motion to welcome World Toilet Day 2015, external, which aims to raise awareness of the need for proper sanitation and toilets and their importance to health, dignity, security and social and economic development across the world. 

The East Lothian MSP highlights, with deep dismay, reports that 2.5 bn people do not have access to proper sanitation or toilets.

MSPs unanimously back the motion and amendment from the debate calling for an end to violence against women. 

Mr Biagi says violence against women is unacceptable, there are no justifications, it's just unacceptable. 

The minister concludes saying the debate closes as 16 days of activity begins to end violence against women and girls

Image source, Science Photo Library

He ends praising Scottish Women's Aid and Rape Crisis Scotland and the many others making a real difference, such as Zero Tolerance and Engender, Close the Gap and Girl Guiding Scotland. 

Local Government and Community Empowerment Minister Marco Biagi welcomes the parliament speaking with one voice against violence against women. 

The minister says men have a critical role in ending domestic violence against women, they must speak out against any violence. 

Image source, bbc

Mr Biagi says there is no place for violence and cruelty which are unacceptable. 

He says he is proud of the Scottish government's record in tackling violence against women. 

On funding the minister highlights £11.8m in 2015-16 and a further £20m announced by the first minister in March.

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant says violence against women is caused by gender inequality. 

Ms Grant says if we want to eliminate violence against women we must eliminate inequality in pay, inequality at home and inequality in every walk of life. 

Image source, bbc

The Labour MSP praises the cup of tea consent campaign which is very powerful.

A video about sexual consent using the analogy of a cup of tea has been released by a police force as part of an awareness campaign.

Image source, Thames Valley Police

Thames Valley Police's "Consent is everything" campaign aims to better educate people about gaining sexual consent.

Scottish Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon welcomes the consensual tone in this debate about ending violence against women and girls. 

Ms Scanlon says domestic violence costs much more than money, but it does cost £2bn a year in absenteeism, turnover and lost productivity. 

She says as there are improvements in detecting domestic abuse she is pleased the focus is moving to prevention. 

The Tory MSP welcomes the introduction of Clare's Law across Scotland. 

She goes on to point out that domestic violence against men must also be acknowledged. 

Labour MSP Jayne Baxter says many women's rights groups have used the date of 25 November for their campaigns, just as the UN has with its 'Violence Against Women, 16 Days of Activism' campaign. 

The reason for that, says Ms Baxter is that it was on the 25 November 1960 that the Mirabel sisters were assassination.

Image source, See picture

All three sisters were natives of the Dominican Republic and were opposed to the dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. 

 In 1999, the sisters received recognition by the United Nations General Assembly, who designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in their honor.

This year, the United Nations Secretary-General's Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women invites you to "Orange the world: End violence against women and girls." 

Image source, UN

The UN calls on people to join the UNiTE campaign and organize , external" between 25 November and 10 December 2015.

Labour MSP Graeme Pearson says there must be real change in the way society treats women and girls. 

"On the upside at least today there is a recognition that violence against women is wrong." 

Image source, bbc

Mr Pearson, one of Scotland's former senior police officers, says however the sheer numbers of domestic abuse incidents reported in Scotland seems to climb year by year to the current figure of 60,000 incidents in a year.

The UN says from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, external is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world. 

• Otherwise known as the 'Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme', or Disclosure Scheme for Domestic Abuse Scotland (DSDAD) in Scotland Rolled out in England and Wales last year
• Since then, 3,760 applications and more than 1,300 domestic abuse disclosures have been made in England and Wales
• The Scottish trial in Aberdeen and Ayrshire saw 59 cases being considered, with 22 people so far being informed about their partner's violent past 30 of those cases were in Aberdeen, with 8 disclosures being made

Image source, bbc