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The Scottish Government is clear that abuse, violence, including gender based violence, and harassment of any kind, will not be tolerated in our schools. Misogynistic behaviour was identified as an emerging concern in the 2023 Behaviour in Schools Research, and we are taking forward a range of actions to tackle it.

In 2024, we published a national framework for schools to help tackle sexual harassment and gender-based violence. It was developed by a working group, jointly chaired by Scottish Government, Rape Crisis Scotland, and Zero Tolerance. The framework provides guidance on how schools can address the underlying causes of gender-based violence, particularly gender inequality, and ensure appropriate action is taken in response to specific incidents.

Our Equally Safe Delivery Plan builds a robust and joined up approach to the prevention of violence against women and girls across all education settings in Scotland. In addition, we provide funding to Education Scotland to deliver the Mentors in Violence Prevention programme which engages young people to consider different forms of violence, including negative attitudes and behaviours to help them understand and speak out against gender-based violence, bullying, abusive and violent behaviour, as well as being able to safely challenge the negative societal attitudes and assumptions which underpin this behaviour.

No meetings were held with organisations or stakeholders to discuss the case of For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers prior to the Supreme Court judgment as it is not appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment on live legal proceedings. Following the Supreme Court ruling on 16th April, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice met with key LGBTQI+ Equality stakeholders on 17th April to discuss the judgment and understand how the Scottish Government can support the LGBTQI+ community. The Scottish Government remains committed to advancing equality for LGBTQI+ people and will regularly meet with LGBTQI+ Equality organisations to ensure we continue to promote, protect and realise the rights of every LGBTQI+ person in Scotland.

The Scottish Government published the national relationships and behaviour joint action plan last year, which sets out 20 overarching actions that will be taken before the end of 2027. It addresses issues including violence, attendance, young people’s mental health, exclusion, recording and monitoring, and empowering staff. During its development, I asked the Scottish Government’s Gender Equality Taskforce on Education and Learning (GETEL) to consider the action plan through a gendered lens. The Taskforce worked with officials to shape both the high level ambitions and the detailed actions within the plan, which includes a commitment to continue to work closely together to ensure the Taskforce’s gender equality ambitions and behaviour in schools ambitions align throughout all phases of the plan.

Additionally, the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First Guidance explicitly highlights to employers that violence against women and girls is a workplace issue and how women’s experiences of violence and abuse can have a detrimental impact on employment. The guidance also points to good practice examples for employers, including the Equally Safe at Work accreditation programme and enhanced provision to support workers.

The Gender Equality Taskforce in Education and Learning contains representation from gender competent leaders, who were instrumental in developing ambitions for the Taskforce, which will result in girls and young women having a gender equal experience of education.

As outlined in its Theory of Change Model, the Taskforce has committed to working with leaders in the education sector to facilitate the development of leadership programmes to upskill and resource educational leaders to take a whole school setting approach to tackling gender inequality. The Taskforce’s work on this ambition is at an early stage and it will meet again in June to continue to develop ways to do so.

Work has already begun across the Scottish Government to consider the implications of the Supreme Court judgment. While we await the updated Code of Practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Permanent Secretary has convened a Short Life Working Group (SLWG), at the request of Scottish Ministers.

Addressing violence against women and girls remains a key focus of the Scottish Government through the Equally Safe strategy, which is co-owned with COSLA. The Equally Safe strategy focuses on violence and abusive behaviour carried out predominately by men and directed at women and girls precisely because they are women and girls. It explicitly lays out that to tackle this violence and abuse, we need to prioritise addressing the root causes of gender inequality, challenging outdated stereotypes and societal attitudes that allow violence against women and girls to persist. That is why Equally Safe places emphasis on challenging gender inequality and norms, and the underpinning attitudes that perpetuate and condone such violence. Under the auspices of Equally Safe, we have strengthened the law in relation to violence against women and girls; and we have taken forward a great deal of work to ensure those working in the public sector are equipped with the resource and knowledge to confidently and sensitively work with those affected.

Specifically, we are implementing the Equally Safe Delivery Plan. The delivery plan consists of 14 deliverables and associated actions which represent a commitment to act from partners across the public and third sector at a local and national level. The plan covers the period from Summer 2024 to Spring 2026. This collaborative approach is vital as it is essential that all spheres of society are involved in the work to tackle violence against violence against women and girls. Development of the delivery plan was informed by extensive engagement with our stakeholders, both internally and externally - including with Public Health Scotland, the Improvement Service, those working within the specialist violence against women sector, COSLA and its allied organisations, and the Equally Safe Joint Strategic Board.

Additionally, we have confirmed that the Delivering Equally Safe Fund will be extended into 2025-26, benefiting from a £2.4m uplift, taking the total Scottish Government investment in the Delivering Equally Safe Fund up to £21.6m for the year ahead. The Delivering Equally Safe fund supports the work of the Equally Safe strategy, which underpins Scotland’s approach to preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls. It supports 115 projects from 107 organisations across every local authority in Scotland.

Equality Law relating to equal opportunities is generally reserved under the Scotland Act 1999. It is for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) - as the regulator of the Equality Act 2010 - to produce, review and update any technical guidance in relation to such matters.

We note that the EHRC are now reviewing their guidance following the Supreme Court's ruling on the definition of woman under the Equality Act 2010. The Scottish Government are taking time to consider any implications the Supreme Court’s ruling may have on our own guidance to ensure that it is compliant with the judgment and takes account of any updated guidance that will be provided by the EHRC in due course.

We remain committed to protecting everyone’s rights and will continue to work to ensure that our guidance is inclusive of all of Scotland’s communities. This includes using communication which is plain, clear and concise, both in language generally, and in published guidance, as far as the subject-matter allows.

To our knowledge, there are currently only two public bodies operating in Scotland which allow sex markers to be changed on official documents (HM Passport Office and the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency). As both of these public bodies are reserved to the UK Parliament, it would not be within the devolved competence of the Scottish Government to mandate them to keep records of the number of documents changed annually.

The Scottish Government would not mandate any action for Scottish public sector organisations that is not legally required. It would be for respective public bodies to determine the best process for its staff and users. This includes matters relating to allowing sex markers to be changed and keeping records of the number of documents changed annually, with basic demographic information included.

However, we do expect all public sector organisations in Scotland to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, which is not a duty to achieve any particular results, but a duty to have “due regard” to the need to achieve the three goals of:

• eliminating eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation
• advancing equality of opportunity and;
• fostering good relations between different groups of people.

The NHS in Scotland uses the Community Health Index (CHI) system for patient records across its IT systems.

There are various reasons why an individual may seek to change their CHI number, including administrative corrections. No medical information is removed from the patient record as part of a CHI change.

There are currently no plans to change existing policies on how CHI records are updated and managed by the NHS in Scotland.