Sport England: Equality Act 2010

Baroness Cash Excerpts

Monday 19th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

This is exactly the type of question that leads me to say that everyone with a view on this matter should please take part in the consultation which the EHRC is launching tomorrow. There is no intention for trans men or trans women to be excluded from sport. It will be for sports bodies themselves to consider how this can best be achieved, once the guidance has come out. Clearly, it is important that single-sex spaces are provided, but that we allow for respectful debate to resolve the issues that the noble Baroness has rightly raised.

[Baroness Cash (Con)]

My Lords, I must declare a significant conflict as a commissioner of the EHRC. I invite the Minister to clarify that it is not interim guidance that has been issued by the EHRC, as she said, but an interim update on the position, and that the consultation will open tonight, or first thing tomorrow morning, to conduct the consultation in order to draft the guidance. It would be very helpful if the Minister could clarify this, to allay the confusion both in this Chamber and in the press.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I am happy to confirm that that is the position. I apologise if I misled people on that count.