Police Scotland must not 'misstep' over Supreme Court gender ruling, chief constable warns

The head of Scotland’s police force has cautioned against moving too quickly to change policies in the wake of last month’s landmark Supreme Court gender judgment, warning that to do so could result in a “misstep.”

Jo Farrell, chief constable of Police Scotland, said if the force made the wrong decisions in trying to interpret the historic ruling, it could end up having to “reset” its approach at a later stage.

The force, like other public bodies, is considering its response to April’s seminal judgment, which ruled the terms "woman” and "sex" in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex.

Police Scotland Chief Constable Jo Farrell. Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire | PA

Earlier this week, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission launched a consultation on updates it has made to its code of practice for services, public functions and associations, amid ongoing uncertainty over what the ruling will mean in practice.

Police chief says do not ‘act rashly’

Police Scotland, like other public sector organisations, is still scrutinising the impact of the ruling and the subsequent guidance issued. But Ms Farrell stressed it was important that it did not act rashly in seeking to comply with the judgement.

Addressing a board meeting of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) on Thursday, she said while she sensed a desire from the board members to “get to the end point” regarding the issue, it was crucial to consider all the information available.

Susan Smith and Marion Calder, right, co-directors of For Women Scotland with campaigners celebrate outside the Supreme Court in London after terms "woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act were ruled to refer to a biological woman and biological sex. Picture: Lucy North/PA Wire | PA

“As you are aware, there are a number of moving parts - different agencies providing different views on a position moving forward, and we have seen other public sector bodies, not only in Scotland, but more broadly, reacting quite quickly,” she told the board.

“I am very clear that if we do that we will misstep in this space, and we will end up in a position where we are having to reset. Our objective is that we do this once and we do it right, and we take into account all the views, the legislation, the guidance, and legal advice.”

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Police document to be published next month

The force’s deputy chief constable, Alan Speirs, told the meeting that Police Scotland planned to bring forward an "extensive and advanced" document to an SPA committee next month. He said in the interim, the judgement had not had brought about any significant changes in how police and staff go about their work.

“In the first instance, we’ve been keeping our staff engaged through communication on the work we’re doing,” he explained. “The judgement hasn’t had any direct bearing on our day-to-day business. So notwithstanding the judgement from the Supreme Court, that’s not had a direct impact on arrangements within custody for example thus far.”

He said Police Scotland was engaged with the National Police Chiefs Council around policies relevant to Scotland, and indicated that covered custody arrangements. “We’re confident that, through the work we’re engaged in, we’ll arrive at a UK policing position on custody,” Mr Speirs said.

Asked by SPA board member, Chris Creegan, about the impact of the judgement on a small number of trans-identifying staff in the force, Mr Speirs said: “I am assured that we are really well engaged with our staff and providing the level of support they would expect to get at this time.”