Scots schools that previously offered only gender-neutral toilets to make major change
The majority of schools in Scotland offer both single-sex and gender-neutral toilets
LOO RULES Scots schools that previously offered only gender-neutral toilets to make major change
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
SCHOOLS that previously offered only gender-neutral toilets are set to make a major change following a legal ruling.
Around 18 schools in Scotland will reintroduce single-sex facilities in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling in April that a woman is defined by biological sex.
Sign up for Scottish Sun
newsletter
Sign up
1
Schools across Scotland will reintroduce single-sex facilities following April's Supreme Court ruling
Credit: PA
This then meant that guidance around toilets, changing rooms and other facilities had to be reviewed to exclude trans people where single-sex services are provided.
Now, schools in Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Scottish Borders and Shetland will create separate bathrooms for boys and girls.
It comes after the Scottish government said that local authorities have a statutory responsibility for the school estate, including the provision of toilets.
The majority of schools in Scotland offer both single-sex and gender-neutral toilets.
But data obtained by BBC Scotland News revealed that 52 schools across 11 council areas have only gender-neutral toilets.
Ten of these are located in Shetland, which now plans to add separate provisions.
Scottish Borders, Aberdeenshire and Argyll and Bute councils are also following suit.
The rules around gender provision in school toilets have not been updated since the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967 came into force.
Seven councils are yet to confirm whether their schools will comply with the ruling.
Dumfries and Galloway Council's legal team is reviewing its position.
Landmark UK Supreme Court rules 'woman' means biological female in humiliating defeat for SNP
Meanwhile, City of Edinburgh Council is "considering what changes need to be made" with an update expected this summer.
Five other councils - Clackmannanshire, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, Midlothian and Perth and Kinross - all confirmed that they had at least one school in which offered no single-sex facilities.
They did not confirm whether changes would be made.
South Ayrshire, Moray, Stirling and South Lanarkshire councils said none of their schools had any gender-neutral toilets.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Statesman
an hour ago
- New Statesman
Do our politicians understand the supreme court's gender ruling?
Illustration by Gary Waters / Ikon Images It was ironic that Sarah Owen MP opened her public questioning of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) chair by telling the public that the Women and Equalities Committee prided itself on 'listening, understanding and challenging respectfully to find progress on the matters we hold dear'. Over the two-and-a-bit hours that followed, there was little respect shown and not much listening going on at all. The hostile tone was set from the start. What was Baroness Kishwer Falkner going to do to improve the damaged reputation and loss of public trust in the EHRC, Owen asked in the session on Wednesday (11 June). Falkner responded: 'it's a real pleasure to be here… I don't think I could agree with your characterisation of the EHRC, and I hope as the time goes on in the next two hours that I will be able to prove those sentiments with hard facts.' Then the facts came: rather than trust being damaged, Falkner argued, it had rocketed under her leadership from just 35 per cent of the public holding the EHRC in a positive light when she assumed her role in 2020 to 81 per cent now. The Women and Equalities Committee, of which Owen is chair, has regular sessions with the leaders of the EHRC. This particular meeting comes after the Supreme Court's judgment in April that sex in the Equality Act 2010 meant biological sex. Predictably the judgment and the EHRC's response to it dominated proceedings. But few MPs seemed to understand what the judgment actually meant, let alone what the law is. 'Please do not be fearful,' Baroness Falkner said, explaining that in spite of the ruling, trans people are still able to invoke the provisions on direct discrimination, harassment, and indirect discrimination. They had not lost any rights, she insisted, as had the Supreme Court justices. It took more than 45 minutes for the Women and Equalities Committee to mention 'women and girls'. That was left to Conservative MP Rebecca Paul, who, with Rosie Duffield, sat physically apart from and in stark contrast to the rest of the committee. 'You said trans people have not lost a right, but they have,' Catherine Fookes, Labour MP for Monmouthshire, responded. 'They've lost the right to use the toilet of their choice.' 'I think we have a slight danger here of shooting the messenger', Baroness Falkner replied, explaining to the committee that in fact that 'right' had never existed in law. 'The Equality Act has always had exemptions for separate and single-sex spaces' and that these 'limited people to using only those facilities of their biology.' 'Whose rights win?' Sarah Owen asked, trans people or women? 'Trans people' rights are not going to change,' Falkner explained again. 'Women haven't won new rights. What has happened here is that a statute – the [Equality] Act has been interpreted by the highest court in the land, and it has been clarified. The rights remain extant as they always were when Parliament… passed the Equality Act.' Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe It took the Labour MP for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, Rachel Taylor, close to eight minutes to establish that it was not – under the law – possible to have a women's only walking club that included trans women. 'I think I'm clear on your answer that if I want to set up a women's walking association that excludes cis [non-trans] men, then I cannot include transgender women. Is that what you've said?' Falkner nodded in reply. During the exchange, Owen chimed in: 'How could you tell, and how could Rachel tell whether I was a cisgendered woman or whether I was a trans woman, can you tell Baroness Faulkner by looking at me?' 'I could make an informed judgment,' the EHRC chair replied. 'Society is not based on policing outside toilets,' she continued. 'Society is based on trust', Falkner explained, 'on trust that in a workplace which provides single-sex toilets, that the people who will use those toilets will generally… abide by that.' Responding to a question from Rosie Duffield about intimidation and bullying of EHRC members, Baroness Falkner's voice faltered with emotion. 'What bothers me more than my own personal security is that our staff should be able to come to a place and work in safety', she told the committee, 'and that has been somewhat lacking in the last several years.' She began to share a 'reflection' – comparing the 'dignified, respectful' responses of women who felt their rights had been threatened, to those advocating for trans rights. Women, Falkner said, had frequently used the 'last resort of a tribunal or a court to pursue justice for themselves or their loved ones.' Yet, while appreciating that trans people were a vulnerable group, 'the level of agitation they can cause in terms of personal attacks, libellous attacks, defamation,' and attacks on EHRC staff's family members stood in stark contrast. 'It has got to stop', Falkner said. During this impassioned statement, Owen cut her off, to audible gasps and shocked sighs of 'no' from some of those listening. The committee chair wanted to make sure there 'wasn't an inadvertent, unwitting tarnishing of all campaigners and activists'. Kishwer Falkner leaves the EHRC in November, as her (already extended) term ends. The government kept her in post for another year to provide stability in leadership of the equalities regulator. But the signs are that her preferred successor, Mary-Ann Stephenson, will receive no more civil a response from Owen's committee when they question her later in the year. Immediately after her candidature was announced on 5 June, trans rights activists began scouring for evidence of potential unsavoury views and behaviour. 'Dr Stephenson has a reputation for transphobia,' one Reddit user wrote, urging others to help compile a list of alleged misdemeanors. 'Please don't put vague things… it needs to be along the lines of 'she did transphobic thing X at date Y in location Z.' So far, the offences Stephenson has apparently committed include signing a couple of open letters in the Guardian in 2015 and 2017, defending the right to free speech and saying that women should not face violence for voicing their opinions, and in 2020 appearing on a podcast for feminist charity FiLiA and at a Woman's Place UK conference (where she spoke about women in the workplace). Stephenson also appears to have donated to lesbian barrister Allison Bailey's employment tribunal, in which she accused her chambers of discriminating against her for holding gender-critical beliefs, in part because it was unfairly influenced by Stonewall, Europe's largest LGBTQ charity. Even well-known trans campaigners have questioned whether this amounts to anything. 'There is no question that FiLiA has strong gender-critical tendencies, as had WPUK,' Steph Richards from TransLucent commented. 'However, FiLiA is a genuine feminist group with a wide range of campaigns. Likewise, the now-defunct WPUK was not a single-issue organisation… neither FiLiA nor WPUK are/were single-issue organisations dedicated to removing the human rights of trans people.' Regardless, a co-ordinated letter-writing campaign is underway to launch objections to Stephenson taking up the EHRC role. The clerk of the Women and Equalities Select Committee has responded almost immediately to those who have written to object, even taking the time to do so on a weekend. 'Thank you for writing to the Committee. The Committee notes your demands,' he said to one letter writer. 'The Committee expects to cover the concerns you raise when it meets with the EHRC next week,' he replied to another – something that appeared to have been borne out by the session with Baroness Falkner. In a further reply, the clerk pointed out that while 'select committees do not have power of veto in appointment hearings… if they really didn't like a candidate, a failure of the committee to support the appointment could make the government further reflect on whether to take it forwards.' To some, it might seem odd that anyone would object to Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson's candidature. She has impeccable credentials for the role: 30 years of experience working on equality and human rights issues within the UK and internationally, and a PhD in equality law. Before her current role as director of the Women's Budget Group, she has been director of the Fawcett Society, chair of the Early Education and Childcare Coalition and a board member of Coventry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (CRASAC). It will be up to Falkner's successor to make sure, following the Supreme Court judgment, that the new code of practice for service providers who have duties under the Equality Act is followed. The consultation on it has already received 5,000 responses, with a couple of weeks left to run. Falkner and John Kirkpatrick, the CEO of the EHRC who gave evidence alongside her, insisted they were in the mood for listening. But one thing it would not result in is a challenge to the highest court in the land. 'We are not going to issue a letter to government saying we think the Supreme Court has got this wrong and you need to establish a new Supreme Court,' Falkner made clear. 'That's not going to happen.' As MP after MP demanded to know how the EHRC was planning to win back the trust of trans people, Baroness Falkner made perhaps the most prescient point of the hostile encounter. 'I'm going to be slightly personal here,' she replied. The trans community, she said, supposedly had a great deal of trust in her predecessor, David Isaac, who had also been a chair of Stonewall. 'Perhaps we have to recognise that when people are lobbyists or advocates for a particular cause, the cause that they represent generates greater trust from that particular group.' But it was the EHRC's job to be impartial. 'Trust is something that we all want, but it is a commodity which is built up through credibility, impartiality and fairness.' If trans people accepted that the EHRC's job was to interpret the law of the land, then they will find the final code of practice is something they can trust, Falkner said. The session ended where it began, with Falkner civil, the chair, Sarah Owen otherwise. 'We're hoping that the settlement of this issue by the Supreme Court will lead to a calming down of the atmosphere,' Falkner said. Many share that hope. But committee hearings like this will certainly not help. [See more: Inside the SNP civil war] Related
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Does Dumbarton fate prove Scottish game needs independent regulator?
And, as administrators for Dumbarton prepare to dissolve one of Scotland's oldest clubs and start again as a newco, years of mismanagement of the League Two club have reinforced the conviction of the local MSP that football clubs should be offered some form of protection from rapacious owners. Whether they want it or not. 'My experience with Dumbarton Football Club strengthens the case for an independent football regulator. 'In the past few years, Dumbarton has lost out to too many owners whose true interest lay beyond the club itself. 'I would like, at the very least, the SFA to be given greater responsibility and power to clamp down on speculative owners. However, inaction by the football authorities makes the case for an independent regulator stronger.' While independent regulation is common in other industries, the Scottish football authorities are member organisations run by clubs for clubs. And those same clubs don't care for the idea of an independent regulator telling them how to run their business. Owners and directors might be subjected to fit and proper checks more stringent than a self declaration form or the limited rules set down in Article 10.2 of the SFA handbook. Clubs might see a light being shone on their darkest alcoves. The game might be forced to confront sectarian singing or bottles, vapes and fireworks being lobbed around grounds by adopting strict liability, a justice system clubs virulently oppose. There might even be a review of the decision by Premiership sides to ban artificial pitches in the top flight by season 2026/27. Addressing Holyrood's health, social care and sport committee in December 2023 Scottish FA Chief Executive Ian Maxwell flagged up the significant differences between the game north and south of the border and described Scottish football governance as "robust" when it came to dealing with financial issues. A regulator, he argued, was unnecessary. Since then Dumbarton and Inverness Caledonian Thistle have endured insolvency events. Livingston have been embroiled in a lengthy court battle with their shareholders and Hamilton Academical have been docked 15 points and incurred the wrath of fan groups for announcing plans to leave their home town and move to Cumbernauld instead. The SFA and SPFL argue that the levers are already in place to to deal with rule breaches and misbehaviour. Hamilton's application to move 14 miles to Broadwood is under review while the league recently handed Celtic and Rangers suspended punishments for unruly supporter behaviour at the Premier Sports Cup semi-finals. The SFA have introduced measures to deal with misconduct at domestic cup games. Clubs which suffer an insolvency event as a result of financial mismanagement, meanwhile, can expect a 15 point deduction. Simon Barrow, co-founder of the SFSA and lead author of the 2023 report 'Rebuilding Scottish Football', which led to a parliamentary debate last year and the establishment of a Scottish Government-hosted roundtable on the development of the game, believes football is tinkering while Rome burns. 'With clubs like Dumbarton and Inverness Caledonian Thistle going into administration and the need to strengthen and invest in the game from the grassroots upwards increasing in urgency, effective transparency and accountability in financial and related matters is crucial,' argues Barrow. 'It is important to see through the cloud of dust that can easily be thrown up by the issue of whether, like England, Scotland should move towards having a statutorily backed regulator for football. 'That is clearly a backstop. But it does not have to be the starting point for discussion. We should first agree the principle that a public facing industry in receipt of the public's money in a variety of ways should be publicly accountable. 'Independent scrutiny is the way to achieve that. It is also essential for building confidence and trust in Scottish football, and for encouraging people to put money into its future. It's a win-win situation. Dumbarton Rock towers above Dumbarton Football Stadium (Image: Christian Cooksey) Read more: What future for Albion Rovers, a storied name of the past? Scottish football needs to say no to newco and get 'robust' governance 'What it means is qualified assessors having the power and information to examine who owns and runs the game, how public interest can be made central, and how Scottish football's finance, governance and conduct can be improved and strengthened. 'Practically, there are a variety of ways that independent scrutiny, short of a statutory regulator, can operate. That is what the conversation should be about.' Critics of an independent regulator argue that the scheme is an expensive and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. Some of the issues which plague Scottish football – such as pyrotechnics and missiles - are matters governed - in theory at least - by the criminal justice system. Clubs pay Police Scotland good money and expect them to earn it. Speaking after a Hampden AGM where clubs signed up to tougher rules around crowd disorder for cup games governed by the SFA CEO Maxwell acknowledged that football had to do more to combat anti-social behaviour in the stands. The Scottish Government, meanwhile, are scheduled to host another Round Table to discuss some of the issues surrounding the game. The implied threat underpinning the talks is clear. If football fails to clean up its act then the politicians reserve the right to step in at some unspecified date in future. Even if the will to do so is weak. One senior figure – speaking on condition of anonymity - told Herald Sport that an independent regulator in Scotland had always been an idea promoted by former first minister Henry McLeish as a vehicle for Henry McLeish. 'The regulator down south was a tool to stop the Super League, something which was never relevant in Scotland. To stop heritage assets being removed like changes to colours and crests, which has already been achieved through the SFA and to get 20% of income through to the lower leagues, which is roughly where we are in Scotland anyway. 'Clubs like Dumbarton, Inverness and so on are where they are because of their own individual circumstances. It has nothing to do with anything that a regulator could change. All a regulator brings is bureaucracy, costs and administration paid for by the industry. 'All we will see down south is a rising number of legal fights between clubs being regulated and the regulator.' Legal disputes in football are now commonplace. Last season the English Premier League spent £45million on legal costs due to various disputes and arbitration revolving around financial fair play regulations. Cases involving Manchester City, Everton, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea and Leicester City demonstrate that wealthy owners of football clubs don't care much for external scrutiny of how they spend their money. Some believe that the main benefactors of a football regulator will be lawyers. In Scotland, at least, the issue is hypothetical because there is currently no plan for a Football Governance Bill. Unless Labour secure power in the Holyrood elections next year there appears to be no political will to introduce a regulator in Scotland. 'The row over the Offensive Behaviour in Football Act put the SNP government currently in power off the idea of legislating football,' says Paul Goodwin, co-founder of the Scottish Football Supporters Association in 2015. 'I think we are still in a recovery period from that.' A critic of the SFA and SPFL Goodwin senses no real movement towards an independent regulator in Scotland, but believes there should be. 'Part of the challenge football faces is the history of being anything but open and anything but transparent. There are conflicts of interest everywhere. 'I am not saying that an independent regulator will go in and say, 'you can't get your league structures right, I am going to fix it.' 'But what an independent regulator might do is look at the financial distribution model and say, 'why is Scotland the only country in Europe where solidarity money coming from UEFA is not filtering down to the lower levels of the game? 'The problem here is that the SFA, like the SPFL, is run by the clubs for the clubs. It's self interest that dictates everything. 'The SFA should be overseeing the governance of our game but they come under so much influence from clubs in the SPFL. And, let's be honest here, turkeys do not vote for Christmas.'
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Yobs hurl petrol bombs, fireworks and bottles at cops in FIFTH night of riots as chaos spreads to new town
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) MASKED yobs hurled petrol bombs and fireworks at cops for a fifth night in Northern Ireland, in what has been dubbed a "week of shame" for the region. Cops battled another night of violence as thugs continued to cause widespread devastation after the chaos began on Monday. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 A rioter walks past burning flames after chaos in Northern Ireland Credit: Getty 4 Riot police were out in force but were met by a barrage of petrol bombs and fireworks Credit: Getty 4 Riot police officers walk near a fire during the fourth night of unrest following a protest over an alleged sexual assault on a local teenage girl Credit: Reuters The unrest began on Monday in Ballymena over the alleged sexual assault of a girl in the town and the subsequent arrest of two 14-year-old boys. But the focus of the violence and unrest has since shifted to Portadown. One officer was directly in the impact of a petrol bomb that landed behind a line of police vehicles during a sustained standoff with those participating in the unrest yesterday. Fireworks, masonry, and bottles were among other items thrown at riot police deployed in the town. Shortly before midnight cops used a water cannon on the crowd in an effort to disperse those gathered on West Street into other areas. The force used the water cannon again at around 12.30am on Saturday. Incidents have also occurred in other towns - Larne Leisure Centre was set on fire on Wednesday, while a man, woman, and four children escaped an arson attack on a house in Coleraine in the early hours of Friday. Elsewhere on Friday, there were reports of disruption and damage to public property as riot police responded to another protest in the Tullyally area of Londonderry. It came after a senior officer said there would be a "scaled-up" policing presence across Northern Ireland in anticipation of further disorder over the weekend. Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said the mobilisation, which would include officers sent over from Scotland, was "to reassure our communities and protect our streets". Violence originally erupted on Monday, stemming from an initially peaceful gathering to support a girl and her family after an alleged sexual assault. Sick moment vile yob shouts 'f*** foreigners' while setting family's home on FIRE in 'racist' riot carnage Two 14-year-old boys appeared in court charged with attempted rape on Monday. A third man, 28, was also arrested over the alleged sexual assault. The boys confirmed their names - which cannot be reported - and their ages through a Romanian interpreter at Coleraine Magistrates' Court. But within hours of their court appearance, disorder broke out in Co Antrim. Families in the town of Ballymena have been forced to flee their homes as the riots continue. Crowds set fire to piles of furniture in the middle of the streets, homes were set alight, and multiple cars went up in flames. Harrowing photos from the last two nights show the charred remains of residents' property. Footage showed masked and hooded rioters lobbing petrol bombs, fireworks and bricks at cops trying to calm the unrest on Tuesday. Officers fired baton rounds and water cannon in a desperate bid to keep the mobs at bay. Why the two 14-year-old boys charged with attempted rape can't be named The two teenagers charged with attempted rape appeared at Coleraine Magistrates' Court on Monday. The defendants cannot be named due to their ages. Article 22(2) of the 1998 Order restricts press and media reporting of proceedings in youth courts. It states that, where a child is concerned in any criminal proceedings in a youth court or on appeal from a youth court, no report revealing the name, address or school of any child, including anything likely to lead to the identification of the child, shall be published. Press and media are also restricted from publishing a picture of any child concerned, except where the court or the Department of Justice, if satisfied that it is in the interests of justice to do so, makes an order dispensing with these prohibitions.
