Gender Recognition Reform Bill costs: FOI release

Information requested

(a) Since 1 November 2023, what is the total cost to the Scottish Government of any work or legal advice relating to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill? (If possible, could you break down any costs).

(b) Could you share any correspondence: to the UK Government from the First Minister or Kaukab Stewart, relating to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill since 4 July 2024. from the UK Government to the First Minister or Kaukab Stewart, relating to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill since 4 July 2024.

Response

I will take each of your requests in turn.

(a) Since 1 November 2023, what is the total cost to the Scottish Government of any work or legal advice relating to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the full cost information of any work or legal advice relating to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill (the Bill).

Work which is taken forward by civil servants as part of their normal duties supporting the Scottish Ministers. In line with usual practice, details of individual tasks carried out by civil servants, including the number of hours spent on them, are not routinely recorded as there is no business need to do this.

For the period from 1 November 2023 to date, two policy teams have had primary responsibility for work relating to the Bill or gender recognition: the Gender Recognition Unit (the GRU) and the Family Law Policy Unit. The GRU had responsibility for policy and administration related to the Bill until the end of February 2024 when officials in that Unit all transferred to other posts. The Family Law Policy Unit then took over responsibility for any remaining work concerning the Bill or gender recognition.

In addition to work carried out in the period by officials from the GRU and the Family Law Policy Unit, both part of the Justice Directorate, work on gender recognition often requires the involvement of a number of officials in other areas within Scottish Government including from: the Equality Unit (a team in Scottish Government) and Communities Analytical Services (a team in Scottish Government). The Family Law Policy Unit has a range of other responsibilities on which staff time is also spent.

In addition, there is a Senior Civil Servant to whom officials in the GRU reported and officials in Family Law Policy Team report.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have all of the information you have requested.

We can provide you with information about the average staff costs of equivalent grades of officials to those who were primarily involved in the Bill.

Between 1 November 2023 and the end of February 2024, there were four officials allocated to the GRU: a C2 Unit Head, a C1 Bill manager, a B3 policy officer, and a B2 policy officer.

From March 2024, responsibility for remaining work concerned with the Bill passed to the Family Law Policy Unit. In the Family Law Policy Unit, two officials have been involved in this work, in addition to handling other work for which the Family Law Policy Unit is responsible: a C2 Unit Head and a B3 policy officer.

The Annex to this response contains a table providing information about average staff costs for officials at those grades. This table shows average staff costs following a January 2025 pay award.

On 1 November 2023 we published the costs relating to external counsel services and court fees then associated with the judicial review of the decision to make the section 35 Order: Gender recognition reform - Section 35 Order: judicial review costs - gov.scot

We also hold information on further costs including in relation to our reimbursement of the Secretary of State for Scotland’s costs and for external counsel services and court fees associated with the judicial review.

An exemption under section 27(1) (information otherwise accessible or intended for publication) applies to this information because we propose to publish updated information on these costs no later than 12 weeks after your request.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of the interest in the Bill and the costs of the judicial review. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the proper collation and checking of the information for publication as planned and in not disrupting other work to release this information in advance of its intended publication.

(b) correspondence; to the UK Government from the First Minister or Kaukab Stewart, relating to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill since 4 July 2024; and from the UK Government to the First Minister or Kaukab Stewart, relating to the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill since 4 July 2024.

While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is because there was no such correspondence and consequently we do not hold letters or emails from the First Minister or Kaukab Stewart to the UK Government or from the UK Government to the First Minister or Kaukab Stewart, relating to the Bill since 4 July 2024. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

The Scottish Government has no plans to bring forward a further Bill on gender recognition. The UK Government has indicated that they intend to bring forward proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act 2004. We have not seen any firm proposals, but we will engage constructively on any plans the UK Government has to reform the 2004 Act.

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FOI 202500452867 - Information Released - Annex

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