Government accused of delaying crucial single-sex spaces guidance after Supreme Court ruling on transgender women
The government has been accused of delaying the publication of key guidance on single-sex spaces, with conflicting accounts emerging from the equality watchdog about when draft advice was received.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner of Margravine, who recently completed her term as chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said: Times The government has had draft guidance since April.
This contradicts Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden’s claim that the advice was only received in September.
Baroness Falkner criticized the Government for failing to publish legal guidance following the Supreme Court’s decision in April.
This decision clarified that the terms “woman” and “gender” in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
Mr McFadden said the Supreme Court ruling “will be implemented” but refused to give an “arbitrary date” for its publication. He maintained that the government received the EHRC’s draft guidance in September.
Organizations across the country are still awaiting updated guidance, which requires ministerial approval before being presented to Parliament. Once submitted, a period of 40 days must pass for the law to come into force.
This recommended code of practice aims to inform businesses and other organizations about the provision of single and gender-specific services, including facilities such as toilets and changing rooms.
Baroness Falkner told Sky News: Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips program: “They have been experiencing this situation exactly since April 8.
“This isn’t just about sex and gender. This is an update to the 2011 regulation, which I think you probably wrote, which is outdated for 14 years, covering nine protected characteristics: disability, age, race, the whole gamut.
“They had it all. We spent two years starting from 2022 on this, they did it all on April 8.”
He added: “So the Supreme Court decision came on April 16, a few days after we gave it to them, but they worked on it. They knew we were going to update 10 percent to 10 percent of the 315 pages. That’s all we had to update in terms of the Supreme Court decision.”
“They responded on June 30 with various proposals, handing over control this way and that, ‘do you want to look at this example or that example again?’”
Sky journalist Sir Trevor was the founding chairman of the EHRC from 2006 to 2012.
Baroness Falkner also told the programme: “Let me make this clear for your viewers: guidance is just a navigation tool. The law of the land was set on 16 April, so almost eight months.”
“All the guidance does is tell a service provider that if you have a shopping center in this area and you offer these toilets, if you want to offer single-sex spaces they have to do x, if you want to offer unisex spaces they have to do y.
“It’s a practical navigation tool. It’s not law.”
Mr McFadden denied the Government was stalling on issuing guidance.
He told the programme: “It’s about doing it right.
“The Supreme Court has clarified the situation but the guidance will need to be applied to a wide range of sectors and organisations.
“It’s important to get this right, because if you don’t do it right, organizations will be exposed to more legal jeopardy.”
He said the government had received draft guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission since September.
He added: “As a result, the Supreme Court decision will be implemented, which will mean change.”
Asked when the guidance would be published, Mr McFadden said: “Rather than just giving a random date, we’ll get it right.”
