Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the Written Statement of 22 September 2020 entitled Government Equalities Office Update, HCWS462 what steps she is taking to help ensure that (a) her Department, (b) the Equality and Human Rights Commission and (c) other public bodies produce statutory guidance on the provision of single-sex exemptions consistent with the Equality Act 2010.

The government believes that the protection of single-sex spaces, as provided for in the Equality Act, is important. The Act makes clear that providers have the right to restrict the use of spaces on the basis of sex, and exclude transgender people, with or without a Gender Recognition Certificate, if this is justified.

At this stage, we are not proposing further legislative guidance but we will keep this under review. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is independent of the government and makes its own decisions in relation to drafting the guidance that it creates and publishes.