The fix is in
From Mumsnet: Sturgeon's government have pulled a fast one
A post by MiladyBerserko on Mumsnet:
The Scottish Government conducted a Consultation which finished in March 2020, where they asked for responses to proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act. They said these responses would be published. Now it seems, they are refusing to publish them and also, refuse to respond to FOI requests about it.
See this tweet which shows that the responses to another Consultation re. women's representation on public boards were largely concerned about the redefinition of the word 'women' and its impact on the legal rights of women and girls. This also appears not to have been published, although I need confirmation on this.
Questions:
Why is the Scottish Government backtracking on its promise to publish the GRA consultation?
How much did it cost to conduct a Consultation which they are now choosing to ignore?
Why are they permitted to ignore the results of a public consultation?
Am I naive to think they should be held to account?
Women and Girls in Scotland appear to be taking this forward. Good luck to them and I will be supporting them.
Scotland needs to announce it is no longer operating as a democracy.
Langcleg post -interesting information from Mumsnet: What the hell is the point of consultation if you have already made your policy
It's not acceptable for a consultation to be a fait accompli, that is set out in the Gunning Principles:
https://www.bangthetable.com/blog/gunning-principles/
Just in case you didn’t already know, in the UK, public bodies can’t just go ahead and make unfair or irrational decisions without possible comeback. Rather, they can be taken to court by the public and their representatives and held to account by the Judiciary. The Gunning Principles are the founding legal principles applicable to public consultation in the UK. They were first laid down in 1985 by Mr Stephen Sedley QCC^^ and have stood the test of time in successive court judgements, making them applicable to all public consultations that take place in the UK.^
^They consist of four principles, which if followed, are designed to make consultation fair and lawful^:
*Gunning 1 – Consultation must be at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage*
*Gunning 2 – Sufficient reasons must be put forward for any proposal to permit “intelligent consideration” and response*
*Gunning 3 – Adequate time is given for consideration and response*
*Gunning 4 – The product of consultation is conscientiously taken into account by the decision maker(s)*
Put simply, these criteria are a “prescription for fairness” and mean that a public body must: consult before they have made up their mind (albeit that an open mind is not an empty mind); provide people with the right kind of information for them to be able to take part in the consultation; give people enough time to participate and respond; and, give consultation responses conscientious consideration.