Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the decision of the Supreme Court in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 on 16 April, whether they plan to issue guidance to ensure that judges and magistrates refer to all parties in courts and tribunals by their biological sex.

To preserve judicial independence, statutory responsibility for the guidance and training of the judiciary is held by the Lady Chief Justice, Senior President of Tribunals and Chief Coroner, under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, and Coroners and Justice Act 2009 respectively. These responsibilities are exercised through the Judicial College. It is not constitutionally appropriate for the Government to issue guidance to the judiciary.

How judges refer to people in court is a matter for the judiciary and should be done in accordance with the Equal Treatment Bench Book. Judicial College will publish the next update to the Book in the summer. It is published online at the following link: https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/diversity/equal-treatment-bench-book/.