Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 11 July (HL16827, HL16828, HL16829, and HL16830), what consideration they have given, if any, to converting one toilet to gender-neutral and leaving the other as female only in the communal visitor area of Sanctuary Buildings; and which people they consider would feel excluded by such an arrangement.

The department has not identified any particular group of visitors that might feel excluded by separate communal male and female toilets or by both toilets being gender-neutral. The current approach for visitors supports individual choice rather than pre-supposing that particular groups of individuals have set or pre-determined preferences.

With this in mind, no estimates have been made regarding the percentage of visitors who may feel excluded by separate communal male and female toilets, and of both toilets being gender-neutral. In addition, because visitors are served by a range of different toilet types, we would not expect individuals to feel excluded. Visitors have not fed back any concerns or sense of exclusion regarding the provision. The department rarely receives feedback on the visitors’ area and where it does, it will take action.

In terms of the conversion of one toilet to gender-neutral status, while leaving the other as female only in the communal visitor area of Sanctuary Buildings, we are currently planning a major refurbishment of the visitor area. As part of that, we will review the facilities including the distribution of single sex and gender-neutral toilets.

No discussions with the cleaning staff in Sanctuary Buildings have been held regarding the condition of the gender-neutral toilets in the communal visitor area compared to that of the female-only toilets. We have set standards of cleanliness across all facilities. We have not been made aware that these standards have not been met in the visitors’ toilets. We will monitor this, and take action, if required.