Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 14 July 2026 (HL1591), what is the evidential basis for their belief that the disclosure of the model Policy and Guidance: Supporting Trans and Non-binary Employees would contravene Section 36(2)(b)(i), (ii), and (c) of the Freedom of Information Act; and what assessment they have made of the potential reputational damage of maintaining secrecy over the new guidance.

Section 36(2) of the Freedom of Information Act was applied based on the qualified opinion that disclosure would inhibit free and frank internal advice. We concluded that safeguarding this space for robust policy development outweighs the public interest in disclosure.