As reported in The Times, For Women Scotland suing ministers for failure to abide by gender ruling, we have lodged a summons in the Court of Session which was signetted (authorised for the legal process to proceed) and served on the Scottish Ministers, the Lord Advocate and the Advocate General for Scotland on the 15 August. This is not a petition for a judicial review but an ordinary action for reduction (quashing) of policies that are inconsistent with the UK Supreme Court judgment of 16 April 2025 in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16. We are initially concentrating on the following two policies:
In our view, these policies have always been in clear breach of the law, particularly in light of our first judicial review decision in February 2022, an analysis confirmed (and extended to cover those holding gender recognition certificates) by the UK Supreme Court judgment. The schools guidance for single-sex toilets and changing rooms allows pupils “to use the facilities they feel most comfortable with” (page 27) and “if PE classes are organised by sex, a transgender young person should be allowed to take part within the group which matches their gender identity” (page 30). The prison guidance allows prisoners to be accommodated in the prison estate which is not that of the prisoner’s sex, both at admission (page 9) and at any later point of imprisonment (page 23-33). It also makes provision for a male prisoner who has a history of violence against women or girls to nonetheless be accommodated in the female prison estate (page 34), or for one who has been judged too great a risk to be accommodated with female prisoners to nonetheless participate in female only activities and programmes (page 36).
We campaigned against the introduction of the prison guidance in February 2024 (submission to the Justice Committee, campaign to pause implementation) and in May 2025 the Cabinet Secretary for Justice confirmed her continued refusal to withdraw the policy in response to a letter from MurrayBlackburnMackenzie. The Cabinet Secretary for Education stated the government “will not withdraw” the schools guidance, as did the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice at a meeting in May 2025. We have since asked Scottish Government officials, including the Permanent Secretary, to withdraw both policies and numerous questions have been raised in Parliament, most recently by Annabelle Ewing and Pam Gosal, challenging the continuing operation of the policies following the UK Supreme Court judgment. Nothing has persuaded the government to take action and both policies remain stubbornly in place, to the detriment of vulnerable women and girls, leaving us little choice but to initiate further legal action.
The Scottish Ministers have 21 days to respond to the summons. If the policies have not been withdrawn by then we will lodge the summons for calling, and the government will have to defend its policies in court. We are asking the court to issue a declarator that the school guidance and the prison guidance are unlawful and that they be reduced in whole. We are also asking that both policies are suspended in the meantime.