-
Asked by:
Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged:
24 November 2025
-
Current status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has changed any policy or guidance for (a) the NHS, (b) schools, (c) Police Scotland and (d) the Scottish Prison Service following the Supreme Court judgment that sex, for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, is biological, and, if so, what changes have been made.
The Scottish Government has been taking forward the detailed work that is necessary as a consequence of the ruling. Since the judgment, we have:
- Engaged with Health Boards on the requirement to implement the Supreme Court judgment in line with their own legal advice. On 30 September, the Director of Health Workforce wrote to Health Boards to reinforce the importance of complying with the law, and the Supreme Court judgment implemented. Application of the law following the Supreme Court ruling remains a matter for Boards, in accordance with their own legal advice.
- Published revised Supporting Transgender Pupils in Schools Guidance, while recognising that the EHRC are also reviewing Technical Guidance for schools;
- Advanced joint work with Police Scotland, with a public consultation on the Stop and Search Code of Practice scheduled before the end of this year.
- There have been no changes to prisons guidance.
We have also:
- Updated our guidance for the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018.
- Amended the public appointments recruitment process for public bodies subject to the Act, now collating and using biological sex at birth data to apply the Act.
- Moved to an interim Trans and Non-Binary Inclusion Policy, removing a line regarding facilities use, while we develop new policy and guidance in consultation with trade unions.
- Conducted an initial review of facilities across the SG estate with a more detailed review now underway to ensure our provision meets the needs of staff and legal requirements.