UK Supreme Court Judgment (For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers): working group minutes: 6 November 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Permanent Secretary 
• Director General, DG Education and Justice 
• Communications Manager, DG Corporate
• Director, DG Economy
• Unit Head, DG Communities
• Deputy Director, DG Health and Social Care
• Director, DG Communities 
• Unit Head, DG Exchequer 
• Unit Head, DG Health and Social Care 
• Deputy Director, DG Corporate 
• Unit Head, DG Education and Justice
• Unit Head, DG Net Zero
• Director, Scottish Prison Service 
• Unit Head, DG Communities
• Deputy Director, DG Communities
• Director General, DG Corporate 
• Deputy Director, Social Security Scotland 
• Director, DG Corporate
• Director, DG Communities
• Deputy Director, DG Communities 
• Deputy Director, DG Corporate
• Communications Manager, DG Corporate
• Deputy Director, DG Net Zero
• Unit Head, DG Education and Justice 
• Deputy Director, DG Education and Justice 
• Unit Head, DG Corporate

Items and actions

Introduction

The chair welcomed members to the group.

Minutes

Members approved the minutes from last meeting with one minor revision.

Equality and Human Rights Commission Code Of Practice

Equality, Inclusion and Human Rights directorate provided an update on the draft Code Of Practice which UK Government shared with the Scottish Government, including initial findings from the internal policy review process.

Each DG area was asked to provide a summary of their findings and any key issues.

Next steps on providing our response to UK Government were discussed and an approach was agreed.

Update on legal issues

An update was given on recent legal activity and next steps.

Update from DG areas

High level updates were provided by representatives from DGs:

• Education and Justice
• Health and Social Care
• Corporate
• Communities

Update from Communications

Communications colleagues provided an overview of upcoming work, including planning ahead for the publication of the updated Code Of Practice.

AOB and Close

Chair thanked members for their continued work and issued a reminder to continue updating Cabinet Secretaries on progress via the Director-General assurance process.