Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill: equality impact assessment

Stage 4: Decision making and monitoring

Identifying and establishing any required mitigating action

Have positive or negative impacts been identified for any of the equality groups?:

There are positive impacts for the protected characteristics of age, disabled people and transgender people.

For older people, particularly those who are longer term transitioned may be able to apply without having to gather documentary evidence of their transition that they may no longer have to hand. For younger people, applications for a GRC can be made by those aged 16 and 17.

For disabled people, living openly in an acquired gender with documents which are consistent may improve a transgender person's mental health.

For transgender people, introducing a revised system for obtaining legal gender recognition will enable trans people to obtain legal rights without having to go through an overly intrusive system established by the current GRA. Furthermore, the policy has the potential to raise awareness, challenge stigma and increase transgender inclusion by improving their ability to legally transition which evidence shows improves their quality of life.

Is the policy directly or indirectly discriminatory under the Equality Act 2010?: No

If the policy is indirectly discriminatory, how is it justified under the relevant legislation?: -

If not justified, what mitigating action will be undertaken?: -

Describing how Equality Impact analysis has shaped the policy making process

The 2017 and 2019 consultations sought views on the EQIA prepared then. A number of consultees offered comments, in particular in relation to the protected characteristic of "sex". As outlined in the consultation and in this draft EQIA, there are a number of existing measures (e.g. exceptions in the Equality Act 2010) which can address the concerns raised.

Monitoring and Review

National Records of Scotland will publish statistics on the number of applications received, and the number of GRCs granted, under the new system. Scotland's Census 2022 will include a voluntary question asking whether individuals consider themselves to be trans or have a trans history. This data will allow for up-to-date estimation of the proportion of the Scottish population who identify as trans.