Response 3756433

Response to request for information

Reference

3756433

Response date

25 June 2025

Request

I am writing to inquire whether you are fully compliant with the provisions of the Equality Act 2010, particularly in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland v. Scottish Government (UKSC16).

As you will be aware, the Supreme Court has ruled that the legal definition of woman, within the Equality Act, is based on biological sex. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) interim guidance confirmed that if facilities are provided for women these facilities are reserved for biological women.

I would be grateful if you could provide the following information.

1. Previous or Current Service Delivery: Please provide copies of any policies, guidelines, internal memos or external communications that set out the Council’s approach to allowing males who identify as women (either with or without a GRC) to use spaces or services designated as for women. These services can either be commissioned or provided directly by the Council.
2. Policies: Provide a list of all policies and practices that are under review to ensure they align with the Supreme Court’s clarification of the Equality Act 2010 following the For Women Scotland ruling. If no policies are currently under review has there been a decision about when this work will be undertaken?
3. Equality Impact Assessments: Provide a list and copies of all Equality Impact Assessments that are under review to ensure they are in line with the Equality Act 2010, particularly with regard to policies that affect women and sex-based rights.
4. Monitoring and Compliance: What measures are in place to ensure that, going forward, women’s rights are not compromised under any of the Council’s policies once existing policies have been updated to reflect the ruling of the Supreme Court?

Response

1. Previous or Current Service Delivery: Please provide copies of any policies, guidelines, internal memos or external communications that set out the Council’s approach to allowing males who identify as women (either with or without a GRC) to use spaces or services designated as for women. These services can either be commissioned or provided directly by the Council.

   • The Council does not have any specific policies or guidelines on this matter. In terms of facilities the council has 5 leisure centres and a municipal golf course.

     Rushcliffe Arena, Bingham Arena and East Leake leisure centre all have a mix of single sex male and female toilets and changing facilities, alongside unisex accessible facilities. The pool changing villages are unisex spaces with individual cubicles. Each Changing village incorporates separate male group changing area and a female group changing areas.

     Cotgrave and Keyworth leisure centre comprise of individual self-contained unisex toilets. These sites have the same pool changing arrangements as our other sites.

     The Municipal golf course has separate male and female toilets and changing and a unisex accessible toilet and shower.

     Users to all sites can select to use female only facilities, male only facilities, or unisex facilities.

2. Policies: Provide a list of all policies and practices that are under review to ensure they align with the Supreme Court’s clarification of the Equality Act 2010 following the For Women Scotland ruling. If no policies are currently under review has there been a decision about when this work will be undertaken?
   • There are currently no policies under review and at the moment no plans in place for when this work will be undertaken. We aim to wait until the relevant Code of Practice is updated and will then ensure we follow the Code and therefore ensure compliance.
3. Equality Impact Assessments: Provide a list and copies of all Equality Impact Assessments that are under review to ensure they are in line with the Equality Act 2010, particularly with regard to policies that affect women and sex-based rights.
   • Equality Impact Assessments are carried out against all new policies, projects etc as required to understand impacts on different groups. There are no Equality Impact Assessments under review in line with the Equality Act 2010 at the moment. As and when we implement any future policy or guidance relating to this an Equality Impact Assessment will be completed at this point
4. Monitoring and Compliance: What measures are in place to ensure that, going forward, women’s rights are not compromised under any of the Council’s policies once existing policies have been updated to reflect the ruling of the Supreme Court?
   • The Council has a Equality Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group which includes officers from all departments of the Council who ensure the Council are complying with regulations and delivering activity to support EDI. This group reports on an annual basis to the Councils Corporate Overview Group Scrutiny Committee.