Key questions and answers from the earlier ministers' evidence session - no prizes for guessing who asked them:
Rosie Duffield: Anneliese, I am going to focus on employment law, which you have said is your area. Obviously, there is no way we can comment on current cases, but you will be aware of the tribunal involving nurse Sandie Peggie, and the Darlington nurses’ case. Do you agree that they have important implications for the operation of single-sex exemptions in the Equality Act with regard to women’s privacy and dignity in the workplace?
Anneliese Dodds: Of course, the case that was mentioned is one that is currently in the courts, so it would not be appropriate for me to comment on it. Furthermore, it relates to the Scottish NHS, which is an area that is devolved to the Scottish Government. However, on the broader issue of single-sex exceptions, the new Government have been very clear that we back the Equality Act. Initially, that Act was a Labour Government Act—it was one of the last actions of the previous Labour Government. We are determined to ensure that there is clarity around this. Of course, there is the ability for service providers to ensure that they provide single-sex services, and we have been seeking to ensure that that is very clear. For example, I visited a single-sex women’s refuge quite soon after I started in post to make sure that the Government are making that message clear as well.
Rosie Duffield: Thank you. What are your views on clarifying sex in the Equality Act, as called for by Sex Matters and the 100,000 people who have signed the petition?
Anneliese Dodds: It is really important that there is clarity around particularly what service providers understand of the law. We have been seeking to try to ensure that, especially around the availability of single sex services, where they are required. Of course, that applies in conditions like the one I mentioned—refuges—and other circumstances where it may be particularly important for safety and privacy, and we have been making that very clear. There is also the ongoing For Women Scotland case, which is specifically about these issues related to the definition of sex within the Equality Act. Colleagues will understand that I cannot go into that in detail, but we are very clear that there has to be clarity around this so that service providers, in particular, understand what the law means.
Rosie Duffield: You will also be familiar with the settlement reached last month—so it is no longer an ongoing case—between Eleanor Frances and two Government Departments. She was forced out of her career in the civil service because of her gender-critical views. These Departments, having spent six-figure sums of taxpayers’ money to resolve the case, are now overhauling their policies to ensure that they are lawful. What steps is your Department taking to ensure that lessons are learned from these cases and that no more taxpayers’ money is wasted to defend unlawful policies?
Anneliese Dodds: Well, policies must be lawful rather than unlawful— that is, of course, important. In fact, there is now case law making it clear that belief is a protected characteristic, as we know, again going back to the Equality Act, which was produced by the previous Labour Government. Obviously, as a new Government, we also want to make sure that taxpayers’ money is protected, and that is going to be very important.
Rosie Duffield: One tiny last question: Bridget, have you or any of the other Ministers engaged with the sex equality and equity network—the SEEN groups—across the civil service?
Anneliese Dodds: I am not completely sure what comes under that definition. I have met with a number of groups within the Foreign Office who have asked me to meet with them. That has included, for example, the cancer network. I have also met with the LGBT+ network. I was particularly keen to have a discussion with it because, of course, in many countries we see that homosexuality, for example, is illegal, and that there can be very unsafe environments for gay, lesbian, bi and trans people, and it was important for me to understand that situation for those staff.
Bridget Phillipson: I am not aware that I have, but I am happy to check and come back on that point. Just to re-emphasise the point that Anneliese was making around the approach that the Government take in these areas, when it comes to single-sex exemptions, we want providers to have absolute clarity on what is covered by the law. Before I was an MP, I managed a women’s refuge. I know how incredibly important it is that women have access to safe, timely and dignified support. I want to make sure—and we do across Government—that everyone who requires support in whatever context gets what is required while being clear that there are circumstances in which single-sex provision is absolutely legitimate and necessary under the law. I want to be absolutely clear on that point.