UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers) Working Group information: FOI release

Information requested

The following information in relation to the UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers) Working Group:

1. Please provide the Terms of Reference for the working group.

2. The working group has been designated "short-life". What is the expected duration of the working group and when is it due to come to an end?

3. The Overview of the working group states it will be reviewing the Supporting Transgender Young People in Schools Guidance. None of the four minutes of the working group's meetings published to date (last one of 17 June) mention the Schools Guidance. Please provide all written material relating to this review or discussions about the School Guidance.

4. Please provide the minutes of all meetings from 18 June 2025 to the present date.

Response

I will respond to each of your numbered asks above separately below.

1. In relation to the Terms of Reference for the working group, an exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applied to the above information you have requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. As this information will be published within the 12 weeks of the date of your request we consider it reasonable to withhold the information rather than release the information requested before it has been published.

2. The term “short-life” was applied to the working group from its inception as the Scottish Government considered the immediate implications of the judgment and the areas impacted by it. As our activity has progressed, the group has been renamed, dropping the “short-life” from the title The group is now called “UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers): Working Group.” The working group will continue until the point Scottish Ministers are satisfied it has met its intended purpose.

3. In relation to information relating to the review or discussions about the School Guidance within the working group. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information on this matter may be included within “meeting minutes” which are due to be published. Therefore, the exemption which applies to part 4 of your request also relates to information on this part of your request.

4. In relation to any “meeting minutes” relating to the internal working group from the 18 June 2025 to present, an exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applied to the above information you have requested because we intend to publish that information within 12 weeks of the date of your request. As this information will be published within the 12 weeks of the date of your request we consider it reasonable to withhold the information rather than release the information requested before it has been published. The meeting notes will be available from UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers): working group - gov.scot. The meeting notes requested will be uploaded to the link in due course.

Annex to the standard response letter- Reasons for not providing information (As referenced in paragraph 1, 3 and 4 above)

An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to some of the information requested because we intend to publish that information in due course, which is within 12 weeks of the date of your request. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release some of this routinely published 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 to maintain an open and transparent government, and this will be met by our planned publication. In the meantime, there is a greater public interest in taking the time necessary to ensure the information has been properly collated and checked before it is published as planned. Also, we see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the intended publication date.

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.