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Scottish ministers ignored warnings they would potentially face legal challenges over trans prisoners in female prisons, it has emerged.
Feminist campaigners told Scottish civil servants as early as June that not updating guidance around single-sex spaces – in light of the ruling that a woman was defined by biological sex – would leave them vulnerable to lawsuits.
Susan Smith, one of the women involved in For Women Scotland (FWS), the feminist group that won April’s landmark court ruling, warned civil servants that although prisons were a separate organisation, “the legal challenge would be taken against Scottish ministers”.
In August, FWS launched legal action over the Government’s self-ID schools and prisons policies which it said were “inconsistent” with the court’s judgment.
The following month, ministers issued “refreshed” advice stating schools must provide separate toilets for boys and girls.
But no equivalent change was made on prisons meaning biologically male trans criminals can still be housed in female accommodation in certain circumstances, despite the furore over rapist Isla Bryson being initially sent to a women’s jail.
The decision to press ahead with another court battle, despite the warnings made in June, will add to the legal bill of £600,000 already facing SNP ministers thanks to its two previous court defeats to FWS.
It comes after the NHS boss who oversaw the suspension of Sandie Peggie announced her plans to step down from her role.
Carol Potter was chief executive of NHS Fife throughout its dispute with Ms Peggie, a veteran nurse suing the hospital after she had to share a female changing room with a transgender doctor.
She announced her early retirement weeks before a judge is set to deliver a ruling in Ms Peggie’s employment tribunal.
Source: Scottish ministers ignored warnings about trans prisons policy