EHRC guidance might be delayed for over a year

[OhBuggerandArse]

Ministers really can't cope with acknowledging the law, can they?

https://www.thetimes.com/article/d7cd9e2f-2635-409d-a624-a833611a09fc?shareToken=f3f89ea86fb5c264c18866395c93194d

I hope this is just a flag they're sending up to evaluate how much pushback there might be - let's make sure that the pushback is noisy, articulate and effective.

Hansard from the House of Lords question today:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-11-05/debates/33DF0162-75ED-447D-9384-EE32A6422193/EqualityAndHumanRightsCommissionDraftUpdatedCodeOfPractice

Claire Coutinho also asked Phillipson a Q in Women & Equalities Qs today; clip available on X but not in Hansard yet.

https://x.com/ClaireCoutinho/status/1986076172015276357

Got some updates on the oral and written question here:

Oral Question (Starred Q, 12:05): Baroness Hoey of Ashton-under-Lyne (Non-Affiliated, GC-leaning) asked Minister for Women and Equalities (via Baroness Hayman): "What progress her Department has made on laying the revised Equality and Human Rights Commission statutory code of practice on services, public functions and associations before Parliament?"
Hayman's Response: "The Department is carefully considering the draft code submitted on 4 September, including its equality impact assessment. We are committed to ensuring the guidance is clear, workable, and supports all protected characteristics. No timescale yet, but we will update Parliament soon." (Echoed Phillipson's Nov 4 Guardian: "Can’t put a timescale.")
Follow-Up (Hoey): "Given the Supreme Court's clarity in April, why the delay? Women in refuges and hospitals suffer while you appease lobbyists."
Hayman: "The judgment provides clarity; we're ensuring implementation protects everyone, including trans people under gender reassignment."
Impact: Brief (1 exchange); Hoey tweeted post-Q (11:45): "Pressed gov't—still stalling. #TheLawIsTheLaw demands action." (50 likes early).

Written Question (Tabled Nov 5, Answer Expected Nov 12): Lord Blencathra (Conservative) asked: "What assessment she has made of the potential merits of revoking the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s 2011 Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations in light of the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers." No answer yet; likely to reference EHRC's Oct 15 letter.

Thumbs firmly up bums. Sigh.

Very good to have this in PMQs as well
https://x.com/ClaireCoutinho/status/1986076172015276357
(same link as above)

https://x.com/JournalismSEEN/status/1986073592228991178
Philipson on Times Radio.

Will not say when it will be resolved.

Blames EHRC.

The government best hope that there isn’t a Nicola Sturgeon type moment for them then. It’s only a matter of time before there’s an incident in a mixed sex school changing room or hospital ward. Wont be a good look for them.

Good news today I think, the issue has not fallen off the radar despite many other things happening

There’s already been lots of incidents in school toilets. Some schools have unisex cubicles and unisex sinks. This has led to obvious problems.

"Oral Question (Starred Q, 12:05): Baroness Hoey of Ashton-under-Lyne (Non-Affiliated, GC-leaning) asked Minister for Women and Equalities (via Baroness Hayman): "What progress her Department has made on laying the revised Equality and Human Rights Commission statutory code of practice on services, public functions and associations before Parliament?""

I'm a bit confused here @SingleSexSpacesInSchools
The only Baroness Hoey is Baroness Hoey of Lylehill and Rathlin and I can't find any mention of the oral question you have posted in Hansard or in the Lords' schedule. Can you provide a link to the question or the post on X please?
Many thanks in anticipation.

I have linked upthread to the Hansard record of Baroness Nicholson's question which was earlier today.

Please ignore that post I pasted the wrong thing and meant to replace it with your own link - https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-11-05/debates/33DF0162-75ED-447D-9384-EE32A6422193/EqualityAndHumanRightsCommissionDraftUpdatedCodeOfPractice

Thats the more accurate one mine is jumbled and incomplete

How are they to blame?

I am beginning to think that Labour thinks that they will find it easier to lean on Mary-Ann Stephenson.

Although apparently she doesn't start work unitl 1 December.

Or maybe they are just being complete shits and dont want to give Baroness Falkner the satisfaction of having completed the work. ie so they can then say her period of office ended in flavour.

Having seen the behaviour of the WEC I wouldn't be at all suprised as such vindictive behaviour.

In fact they too could be putting pressure on Government pointing out it is doing nobody any favours to have this stuck in limbo.

From Baroness Nicholson (link above) On a renal transplant unit recently in a major NHS hospital, two trans people insisted on having beds, which the current faulty code allows, and two transplant patients were moved on to the general ward, as a result of which one patient lost his new kidney and nearly died. These are the impacts that failure to act by the Government are actually having on patients.

Nothing I can say about that which won't get me banned.

Fucking appalling.

That's an absolute disgrace. 🤬

https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/cebb377a-cf43-47e4-88b5-05817a7ba37b

I think it's at 11.38. Baroness Nicholson asks the first question. Then it runs for about 10 mins. There should be a transcript alongside the video.

Did everyone notice the full
Impact review has been watered down quite a lot? To some other smaller check of some sort?

Yes, just listened. A costs analysis apparently.

I thought the answer to the last question was quite revealing. A conservative peer asked whether the baroness answering the questions on behalf of the Women and Equalities office believed it was optional for organisations to adhere to the Supreme Court judgment. She said no and advised that they take legal advice if they are unsure how to proceed <pass the buck>

Calls to hurry up bringing in new guidance on transgender people’s use of certain spaces has been rejected by a women and equalities minister, Baroness Smith of Malvern.

Jacqui Smith argued for the need to “get it right” rather than introducing it in “an untimely fashion”.

Speaking at Westminster, Lady Smith said: “The Government is considering the draft updated code. If the decision is taken to approve it, the Secretary of State will lay it before Parliament.

“Parliament will then have a 40-day period to consider the code when it is laid. It’s important that the correct process for laying the code is followed.”

She added: “Let me be absolutely clear, the EHRC has not been asked to carry out a full regulatory impact assessment, but rather to provide a minimum, proportionate cost assessment to evidence exclusion from a full regulatory impact assessment and to enable us to take an informed decision.

“Understanding costs and impacts is not new.”

She also told peers that the Government was “considering the benefits and the risks” of revoking the existing code as requested by the EHRC.

Lady Smith added: “I think it is right, given the significance of this code that the Government takes the time to get it right, rather than to satisfy those who are calling for it to be laid in what would, I think … be an untimely fashion.”

https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/25599354.transgender-guidance-must-not-hurried-says-baroness-smith/

Sounds like a climb down to me : “Let me be absolutely clear, the EHRC has not been asked to carry out a full regulatory impact assessment, but rather to provide a minimum, proportionate cost assessment to evidence exclusion from a full regulatory impact assessment and to enable us to take an informed decision.

Can the EHRC just say £50, fuckoff? Can they say no?

What on earth does all that burble even mean?

a smaller shorter check of the working nothing more

I wonder if they actually talk to each other like this all the time? Trying to find out who wants another biscuit must take bloody hours. No wonder they can't get anything done.