Contents
- Attendance
- Management of Transgender Prisoners
- Subordinate Legislation
Subordinate Legislation
Gender Recognition (Disclosure of Information) (Scotland) Order 2023 (SSI 2023/364)
Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Amendment Rules 2023 (SSI 2023/366)
Our next agenda item is consideration of two negative Scottish statutory instruments that relate to the new transgender prisoner policy that we have just been discussing.
I refer members to papers 1 and 2. I remind all members who are present that only committee members can participate in this process. Motions to annul the instruments have been lodged in the name of Russell Findlay. I will invite the committee to dispose of the motions to annul.
I invite Russell Findlay to move motions S6M-11816 and S6M-11817 and to make any brief additional comments that he wishes to make.
I am sure that I speak for many MSPs and members of the public when I say that today’s session was pretty frustrating and fell short of really meaningful scrutiny. That is no criticism of the convener or the clerks, given the time that we had available, but, ultimately, the SPS policy puts the rights of male prisoners who identify as women above the rights of voiceless and vulnerable female inmates. It allows for an acceptable risk of harm to women, and it is a retread of the previous flawed policy.
If I understand it correctly, SSI 2023/364 allows staff to disclose information about prisoners’ trans status in the execution of their duty, which seems to be entirely proper.
On SSI 2023/366, although the default rule is that a trans-identifying male prisoner would be expected to be searched, or could be searched, by a female prison officer, the SSI allows for a prisoner of that definition to seek to be searched by someone of their birth sex. That is not in itself controversial. However, what is much more concerning in relation to the searching issue is that, despite repeated attempts, I was unable to elicit from the Scottish Prison Service today an answer as to whether prison officers in the female estate will have an opt-out when it comes to searching people who are male-bodied.
Obviously, we do not have a vote on the policy in its entirety: if we did, I would vote against it for all the reasons that we have touched on and many more that we have not had time to touch on. However, I do not intend to move the motions to annul the two SSIs.
That is fine. Can you confirm that you wish to withdraw your motions on both SSIs?
Yes.
Thank you. Unless any member wishes to object or comment, that completes our deliberation of those SSIs.
Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2023 (SSI 2023/369)
Agenda item 3 should only take a short moment, so I ask members to remain in their seats. I remind all members that this business is not part of our deliberations on transgender prisoners.
Are members content that the amendment regulations should come into force?
Members indicated agreement.
Next week, we will return to the Victims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, with evidence from survivors of sexual crimes with experience of the criminal justice system, and from victims and survivors organisations. That concludes our meeting.
Meeting closed at 14:18.Previous
Management of Transgender Prisoners