Schools and colleges have been handing out sanitary products since Holyrood funded a scheme to fight period poverty

Scotland will become the first country to give women and girls free sanitary products by law if MSPs press ahead with legislation.

Schools, colleges and universities have been handing out tampons in the year since the Scottish government put £5.2 million into a voluntary scheme to fight period poverty. Plans to extend it across all public bodies by law are now being considered at Holyrood.

Under the Period Products Bill, introduced by the Labour MSP Monica Lennon in April, the government would compensate organisations for the cost of providing the products.

Alys Mumford, of the women’s campaign group Engender, said that activists looked forward to a time when the availability of free period products for women in public places was “no more remarkable