Ending Conversion Practices in Scotland consultation queries: FOI release

Information requested

1) Copies of all consultation responses from this who have given permission for you to publish their responses;

2) The substance of the responses from those who did not give permission;

3) The consultation report provided for you by the contractor who analysed the responses; and

4) The justification for not progressing this matter in Scottish legislation as previously promised (not an extract from the PfG).

Could you provide me with the information requested without further delay. When it was decided not to progress the consultation to Scottish legislation that should have triggered publication, so I also require:

5) The justification for failure to publish this information on an appropriate timescale; and 

6) The trigger for publication you intended to use (if there ever was one).

Response

In reference to the Scottish Government consultation on Ending Conversion Practices in Scotland, which ran from 9 January – 2 April 2024, your request asks for 1) copies of all consultation responses where the respondent has given permission for their response to be published, 2) the substance of the responses from those who did not give permission for their response to be published, 3) the consultation analysis report produced by external contractors, 4) justification for not progressing a conversion practices ban in Scottish legislation, 5) justification for failure to publish this information on an appropriate timescale, 6) the trigger for publication we intended to use to publish the consultation responses and analysis report.

We will respond to each in-turn.

1) Responses to the consultation where permission was given to publish
2) A summary of responses where permission was not given to publish
3) The consultation analysis report

An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to the above information you have requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. The Scottish Government intends to publish all responses to the Ending Conversion Practices consultation where permission was given to do so, alongside an analysis report produced by external analysts.

To produce their analysis report, external analysts considered all responses to the consultation, regardless of whether permission was given to publish the response or not. This means that the report will contain both the substance of the responses where permission was not given to publish, as well as those who consented to publication.

We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until the planned publication date, rather than release this information before the planned publication date.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, 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 there is public interest in the results of this consultation. However, given that the information requested will be subject to release within the appropriate timeframe we do not consider that the public interest in publishing the information immediately outweighs the public interest in the administrative process running its course.

4) Justification for not progressing conversion practices ban in Scottish legislation

In your email you refer to the update provided in the 2025-26 Programme for Government (PfG), and ask for further clarification as to why the Scottish Government is not progressing legislation to ban conversion practices in the Scottish Parliament. I note that the PfG, page 21, states the following QUOTE:

“We will take action to make Scotland a fairer and more equal country for everyone, including:
[…] Developing draft legislation and policy towards ending conversion practices in Scotland. Engagement will continue with the UK government for a Bill covering England, Wales and Scotland. However, if this approach cannot be agreed, then we commit to publishing our own Bill in Year 1 of the next Parliamentary session”

As set out in this update, the Scottish Government is continuing to develop legislation and policy towards ending conversion practices in Scotland, in order to be prepared to publish a Bill in Year 1 of the next Scottish Parliament, should a UK-wide approach not be possible. As such, it is not the case that the Scottish Government is no longer progressing legislation to ban conversion practices in the Scottish Parliament. We are continuing to work on developing legislation, whilst also exploring, with the UK Government, the option of legislation that would extend to England, Wales and Scotland.

5) Justification for failure to publish this information on an appropriate timescale
6) The trigger for publication we intended to use to publish the consultation responses and analysis report

In your email you request justification for failure to publish the consultation responses and analysis report on an appropriate timescale, and the trigger we intended to use for publication.

While the Scottish Government typically aims to publish consultation responses and analysis within 3 months of consultation closure, there is no statutory obligation to publish consultation responses, or an analysis report of consultation responses. Therefore, there is no set timescale or trigger that requires publication at a particular point.

However, I also note that public consultation on ending conversion practices in Scotland received a particularly high number of responses – almost 20 times more than the average Scottish Government consultation. It has therefore taken a significant amount of time to manually review and moderate responses (e.g. remove swear words and other inappropriate language) to prepare them for publication, and to fully consider the implications of the report’s findings.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.