Consultation vs 'Going Through the Motions'
Section 7 is the stage that has yet to be comepleted for the last one (and it's open to argument how far it was for the first). So just as a technical level the second one cannot be described in the past tense (or at least not without admitting it failed the Gunning test). pic.twitter.com/W5BOKeULuu
— Lucy HunterBlackburn (@LucyHunterB) January 26, 2022
An excellent thread from Lucy Hunter Blackburn explaining how government consultations ought to work - via the Gunning Principles.
Meanwhile Nicola Sturgeon's SNP government refuses to explain how they arrived at their support for the hotly disputed policy that Trans Women Are Women (TWAW).
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has now stepped in and will hopefully bring some much needed clarity to what happens next.
Scottish Ministers - No Notes, No Records on TWAW (January 05, 2022)
A reminder from the blog archive that Scottish Ministers refuse to explain when, where and by whom - the decision was made to adopt the controversial policy that Trans Women Are Women (TWAW).
And despite their claims about openness and transparency Scottish Ministers also refuse to share the evidence they took into account before agreeing to this policy.
So I think the public is entitled to know how collective cabinet responsibility can exist - if there's no hard evidence of a collective decision ever being made by the Scottish Government.
Who knows, maybe Nicola Sturgeon just announced the new policy at cabinet and instead of doing their jobs other ministers and senior civil servants just nodded it through?
Scottish Ministers - No Notes, No Records, No Minutes (July 05, 2021)
Here's a remarkable response to an FoI question asking the Scottish Government to confirm:
1) whether ministers have adopted the policy that "trans women are women"
2) where in Scottish or UK legislation this policy is stated
3) when the policy was first introduced
4) who took the decision
5) where the policy was first stated
The answer on behalf of ministers is that this information does not exist which means there are no notes, no records and no minutes to explain where, when and by whom such a controversial policy was decided.
In other words ministers are just making it up as they go along an no one is taking any responsibility.
In relation to Point 2) the ScotGov response concedes that the policy is not supported by reference to any Scottish or UK legislation.
