Question
T5. Will the Minister set out what steps she is taking to ensure compliance with the legal framework around single-sex spaces for all public bodies?
Answer
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for ensuring that public bodies honour their responsibilities and provide appropriate single-sex spaces, as well as ensuring that we have services available for everyone in our country. Government Departments have also published guidance so that we can be clear about how we will deliver on our responsibilities, but we recognise and will uphold the ruling of the Supreme Court.
Verdict: AMBER (62/100)
The reply addresses the question directly, pointing to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's statutory duty to ensure public bodies provide appropriate single-sex spaces, to departmental guidance setting out how responsibilities will be delivered, and to a commitment to uphold the Supreme Court ruling. Much of the substance, however, rests on the EHRC's role rather than on specific actions the department itself will take. A member of the public may therefore need to ask what the government is doing directly, not only what the regulator is responsible for.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the department is doing to ensure that all public bodies comply with the legal framework around single-sex spaces. | Addressed | Direct | The reply names concrete mechanisms: the EHRC's statutory responsibility for ensuring public bodies provide appropriate single-sex spaces, departmental guidance published to set out how responsibilities will be delivered, and a commitment to uphold the Supreme Court ruling. Together these describe what the government is doing on compliance, though much of the weight falls on the EHRC rather than the department's own actions. |