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There is existing provision on celebrants not contravening provisions on gender reassignment discrimination by refusing to solemnise a marriage if the celebrant reasonably believes the gender of the person getting married has become the acquired gender under the Gender Recognition Act 2004. This provision is contained in paragraph 25 of schedule 3 of the Equality Act 2010: Equality Act 2010 (legislation.gov.uk) which is generally reserved to the UK Parliament. The Scottish Government’s intention is this provision would continue to apply under the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has a Policy in place regarding the treatment of Trans Prisoners in custody. This Policy is in line with the Equality Act 2010. The SPS carry out comprehensive risk assessments to assess risks to both prisoners and staff in determining how individual transgender prisoners are managed. The 2010 Act is generally reserved to the UK Parliament. The Scottish Government’s intention is this Policy would continue to have effect under the provisions in the draft Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.

The draft section 8N in the Bill as published for consultation provides that, where a person has obtained ‘overseas gender recognition’ (as defined), the person is to be treated as if the person had been issued with a full gender recognition certificate by the Registrar General for Scotland. But this rule doesn’t apply if it would be manifestly contrary to public policy (for example, in a case where gender recognition was obtained overseas at a very young age).

Whether or not a public policy exception applies will depend on the facts and circumstances, and may in a disputed case be determined by the courts under new section 8P, which provides that a court may make an order determining the question, if the question arises in the course of civil proceedings before the court or on an application to the court by a person having an interest in it. This is set out in the draft explanatory notes to the Bill, which were published as part of the consultation on the draft Bill.

The National Gender Identity Clinical Network for Scotland (NGICNS) publishes a general overview of gender identity clinic waiting times in Scotland in its annual reports. The latest published annual report from NGICNS is available at: https://www.ngicns.scot.nhs.uk/about-us/midannual-reports/

The next annual report from NGICNS is due for release from May 2022.

From March 2020 unfortunately, as with other parts of the NHS, services delivered by gender identity clinics were and continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Government fully recognises the need to reduce waiting times to access NHS gender identity services. That is why we have committed to improving access to these services in our 2021/22 Programme for Government .

The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the National Neurodevelopmental Specification: Principles and Standards of Care for Children and Young People, published in September 2021, which specifies service standards that all children’s services should follow, to ensure access to support is effective and consistent across Scotland. Scottish Government have also commissioned Directors of eHealth, working with others including Public Health Scotland, to work to improve digital infrastructure, applications and data to report on all standards within the National Neurodevelopmental Specification.

In addition to these actions, and to support this work, £3.06 million has been allocated to NHS Boards, for the remainder of this year, to build professional capacity within Boards to support children and young people with neurodevelopmental support needs.

The Scottish Government has also established the National Autism Implementation Team, in partnership with Queen Margaret University, to support Health and Social Care Partnerships to consider best practice and improve service in adult autism diagnostic services. The National Implementation Team is supporting NHS Boards to examine diagnostic pathways for autism and establish regional experts to assist with improving tiered autism specialisms across health boards.

The Programme for Government 2020-21 commits the Scottish Government to consult on legislation to extend the new framework that came into force on 1 September for the licensing of animal welfare establishments, dog, cat and rabbit breeding and pet sales to performing animals and animal care services. This could include dog walking and grooming, as well as boarding services which are currently regulated under the Animal Boarding Establishments Act 1963.

We plan to bring forward consultations in this area in due course after allowing a period of familiarisation with the recent licensing changes, so that the practical experiences of local authorities in implementing these can be considered in any future proposals.

Funded early learning and childcare (ELC) is delivered across the public, private, third and childminding sectors. Since August 2021, all local authority areas have put in place an expanded offer of up to 1140 hours of funded ELC for all eligible 2, 3 and 4 year olds.

Funded ELC is delivered in a ‘provider neutral’ way, which means that families can access high quality funded ELC with the provider of their choice – in the public, private, third sector or a childminder – if that provider meets the criteria set out in our National Standard, has a space available, and is in contract with their local authority to deliver the funded hours.

Sustainable and thriving public, private, third and childminding sectors are essential if we are to realise the full benefits of the ELC expansion. The landmark multi-year funding agreement reached by Scottish Government and COSLA in April 2018 to fully fund the expansion to 1140 hours includes funding for the payment of sustainable rates that reflect the cost of delivery and enable payment of the real Living Wage to childcare workers delivering the funded entitlement. In addition, the Scottish Government announced on 4 December 2020 that qualifying day nurseries will continue to benefit from 100% relief on non-domestic rates until at least June 2023.

The Scottish Government has also taken a range of actions to support providers in the private, third, and childminding sectors during the pandemic, including making available more than £22 million of dedicated support.

On 31 August the Scottish Government published the Financial Sustainability Health Check of the Childcare Sector in Scotland . The Health Check collected evidence on the sustainability of the childcare sector, in particular in light of the impacts of COVID-19. It set out a range of actions to improve sector sustainability, including:

• Developing a programme of targeted business, financial management, marketing and human resources support for all types of childcare services.
• Developing a five year workforce strategy to support recruitment and retention in the sector and introducing a Childcare Taster Programme as part of the National Transitions Training Fund in 2021-22.
• Strengthening the process for local authorities to set sustainable rates for providers in the private, third and childminding sectors to deliver funded ELC; and
• Reviewing the administrative requirements on providers, particularly for private, third and childminding sector services.

Each of these actions will help us to support the sector to recover from Covid and get onto a sustainable footing so that they can continue playing a vital role in delivering our ambitious vision for expanding high quality early learning and childcare.

We understand the benefits of having a pet and sympathise with tenants who have to give up their pet when they move to a home where no pets are allowed. Decisions on whether pets are allowed in a tenancy are a matter for individual landlords and will be reflected in each tenancy agreement.

Landlords should however give careful consideration to policies that restrict pet ownership. We would encourage both social and private rented sector landlords to take a practical and considered approach to this and consider the benefits of reduced social isolation and loneliness that can come from pet ownership, particularly in cases where a tenant has a pet and needs to move to a new tenancy.

As part of the shared policy programme between the Scottish Government and Scottish Green Party a new deal for tenants will be the focus of a Rented Sector Strategy we will publish by the end of 2021, and consult on in early 2022. This new deal will introduce new and strengthened rights for tenants, for example giving tenants greater flexibility to decorate their home and to keep pets.