Total spend on court cases against For Women Scotland since 2021: FOI release

Information requested

How much has the Scottish Government spent overall on court cases against For Women Scotland since 2021, with a breakdown per case and then specifics of what the money was spent on?

Response

Section 25 (1) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 exempts information from disclosure where the requester can reasonably obtain the information without the need to ask for it under FOISA.

The Scottish Governments total costs incurred in legal cases involving ‘For Women Scotland’ is split between three cases; the first two and their associated costs are publicly available and can be found under the following links:

For Women Scotland One - For Women Scotland versus Scottish Government legal case costs: FOI
release - gov.scot

For Women Scotland Two - For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers: legal costs - gov.scot

In terms of the third legal case - For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers- a live judicial review challenging the Scottish Prison Service Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody Operational Guidance, the total costs incurred by the Scottish Government in relation to this case as at the date of the request are £189,207.50

A breakdown of the spend for the third legal case is as follows:

Counsel Fees - £177,983.50
Court Fees - £10,236
Other - £988
Total - £189,207.50

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.