Non-Binary Equality Working Group recommendations: Scottish Government response

Access to Services

Building Design

Recommendation 27

Review building regulations to ensure that public spaces are useable and accessible for all, and provide funding to ensure that modern accessible buildings are available across Scotland.

Decision

PARTIALLY ACCEPT

Scottish Government Response

Building regulations apply only to new buildings and new building works and are not retrospectively applied to existing buildings or to the management and operation of facilities within buildings which remain the primary responsibility of building owners and operators. As such, the recommendation is much broader than the legislative scope of building regulations.

While building regulations in Scotland do not prohibit building designers from making provision for gender-neutral facilities, we recognise the importance our standards and guidance have in supporting the creation of an inclusive and safe environment for all building users. On that basis, we partially accept this recommendation.

The Scottish Government is committed to ongoing review of building regulations and welcome from the Group any specific observations and evidence of barriers that can inform future reviews to standards and guidance.

While management and operation of buildings is not the subject of regulation by the Scottish Government, we expect public buildings to be inclusive, and we will take discussions forward to investigate how the Scottish Government could make buildings more accessible through other means outside the scope of building regulations.

Crisis and Support Services

Recommendation 28

Introduce a homelessness prevention pathway specifically focused on LGBTI+ young people.

Decision

DECLINE

Scottish Government Response

Developed by A Way Home Scotland, the national coalition to end youth homelessness in Scotland, the Youth Homelessness Prevention pathway includes a section on LGBT Youth Homelessness.

There will be opportunities for stakeholders and experts, including representatives from the non-binary community to be involved in developing the implementation plan and actions.

Recommendation 29

Embed the needs of non-binary children, and all LGBTI+ children, into the delivery of a Bairns' Hoose in Scotland.

Decision

PARTIALLY ACCEPT

Scottish Government Response

Whilst the Bairns' Hoose model is at its heart a rights based approach and therefore aligns with this recommendation, the reason for partially accepting this recommendation is in relation to the call in the Group's main paper for a scoping exercise to be carried out: "This should include a scoping exercise to understand the specific detriment that non-binary children (and all LGBTI+ children) may experience, both as victims or witnesses to abuse or violence, and when accessing services as a result."

This is not considered to be necessary given that the needs of LGBTI+ children in the Bairns' Hoose will be given full consideration through the impact assessments which are being carried out as part of the development of the policy. A stage 1 Children's Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) has been completed and subsequent stages will be completed in the coming months as well as an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA), which will help shape our policy development and understand the impacts of Bairns' Hoose on specific groups including LGBTI+ children and non-binary children.

These will be carried out in the context of the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland, published in September 2021. The Guidance describes the responsibilities and expectations for all involved in protecting children and will support the care and protection of children. An EQIA was carried out as part of the development of that guidance.

Recommendation 30

Include non-binary people in Scottish Government strategies, policy frameworks, and resource allocation designed to eradicate gender-based violence.

Decision

CONSIDER FURTHER

Scottish Government Response

This recommendation will be a long-term commitment as it requires further research and engagement with a range of stakeholders from the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector and non-binary people.

The Scottish Government welcomes that the working group supports the Scottish Government's focus on women and girls within our policies which work to eradicate gender-based violence, which evidence shows is most commonly perpetrated by men and experienced by women.

We will continue to work across the VAWG and LGBTI sectors to ensure that the support needs of non-binary people experiencing gender-based violence are fully understood.

Recommendation 31

Improve data collection on sex/gender, sexual orientation and trans status within support and crisis services.

Decision

PARTIALLY ACCEPT

Scottish Government Response

The Scottish Government expects and encourages all support/crisis service providers to gather meaningful equality data, including that around gender identity.  

Our Chief Statistician's guidance on collecting data on sex and gender encourages organisations to think about they are going to use the data to improve services and promote equality.

We already encourage this work by requiring all DES funded projects to develop an LBTI (or GBTI) inclusion plan.

In our Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan Annual Report (October 2021) we have committed to a review of our homeless data collection. This will include the consideration of changes that can be made to improve our understanding of the causes of homelessness and data on protected characteristics.

There will be an opportunity for stakeholders to comment on the proposed changes to our homeless data collection before they are finalised.

Sport

Recommendation 32

Agree key policy principles, underpinned by equality and human rights considerations, on how to improve participation in sport and leisure for trans and non-binary people.

Decision

DECLINE

Scottish Government Response

We believe the UK's Sports Councils guidance aims to ensure greater inclusion for transgender people across sports by supporting and facilitating governing bodies and other groups to make their own decisions around inclusion, recognising that there will be different solutions for different sports.

Recommendation 33

Fund specific work to reduce barriers to trans and non-binary people's participation in sport.

Decision

PARTIALLY ACCEPT

Scottish Government Response

We believe sportscotland are already undertaking work around this, including work with governing bodies and relevant partners to raise awareness around transgender inclusion in sport and review and develop their policies in line with the needs of their sport.

In addition, Programme for Government makes a commitment to using increased investment to ensure more people can enjoy active lives and we are working with sportscotland and partners to understand how best to increase investment in physical activity and sport, while ensuring we address inequality of access.

Education

Recommendation 34

Work with the developers of SEEMiS to (a) ensure that there are options other than male or female for recording pupils, alongside a field for recording pronouns; (b) review automatic linking from SEEMiS; and (c) produce updated guidance for schools to reflect these changes.

Decision

PARTIALLY ACCEPT

Scottish Government Response

SEEMiS is a local authority-led system, maintained on their behalf. Officials will engage with SEEMiS to discuss how we can take this recommendation forward as well as considering the impacts on linked systems and processes.

Recommendation 35

Evaluate the ongoing work of implementing LGBT Inclusive Education after one year, collaboratively with non-binary pupils, to investigate the specific impact of the work for them, and any changes needed to ensure that they equally benefit from the work in the future.

Decision

ACCEPT

Scottish Government Response

We will look at aligning this with existing work on LGBT inclusive and personal and social education.