Sport England: Equality Act 2010

Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green Excerpts

Monday 19th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Garnier (Con)]

The Supreme Court’s judgment is not difficult to understand, is it?

[Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green (CB)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I apologise. I did not hear the end of the sentence, which had the question.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The ruling clarifies the position under the Equality Act. It aligns with what the Government have always said about single-sex spaces. There has been interim guidance from the EHRC, and it is launching a six-week consultation on its draft updated statutory code of practice for services, public functions and associations tomorrow. I encourage all noble Lords to take part if they have views that they would like to feed in.

[Baroness Hunt of Bethnal Green (CB)]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that Sport England is committed to ensuring that LGBT people get as many opportunities and as much support to get active as others, as she has confirmed. I am slightly confused by the initial snapshot provided by the EHRC, and I wonder whether she can help clarify that. It suggests that trans men can use neither the men’s changing rooms nor the women’s changing rooms, so I am wondering how a trans man might be encouraged to get involved in sport on that basis.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

We are keen, as I know the noble Baroness is, to make sure that all people, including trans people, can take part in sport. As I have said previously, it is for sports bodies themselves to determine the specific policies, but this will be done in line with guidance that is coming out in due course, on top of the interim guidance from the EHRC, which will be launching a six-week consultation tomorrow. I hope that this will resolve some of the issues that have been raised in relation to the interim guidance. We have ongoing discussions with every relevant body, to ensure that the law is applied in a humane, just and fair way.