Chamber and committees

I know—we keep talking about that and repeating it. I have said in evidence a couple of times that I wonder whether the exemptions in the 2010 act are meeting the reform that we are seeing now within Governments.

I have three supplementaries to Pam Gosal’s questions. First, why was the Scottish Government bill team’s first meeting with the committee on 15 March not fully minuted? You probably cannot answer that just now.

Secondly, when you say that we have had plenty of time to scrutinise the bill, how is it that on 17 May, less than 12 hours after the deadline for written submissions—which was midnight on 16 May, with 10,800 short submissions being made—you believed that the committee had had the ability to scrutinise it all? If we look at all the bills that we have passed in the committee, we can see that we have had the most evidence sessions, and probably the most private sessions, on this one, so in response to Karen Adam’s question my question would be: what would the consequences be of not delaying the bill?

Lastly, on the point that you make about the impact on single-sex safe spaces, we heard evidence from Senator Regina Doherty, who said that two women identifying as men had been housed in Limerick prison after they had been arrested and charged. Are you sympathetic to the concerns of vulnerable women who are housed in prison?

It would be useful, convener, if we got sight of what that risk assessment is, because Ireland has basically not turned back anyone who has applied for a GRC. Those individuals were given a GRC and there obviously was a risk because they were violent people, but they still got into the women’s prison.

How many is that?

Can you give us some examples?

Who will make the decision about whether all those things are being done, if the applicant does not have to give any paperwork?

Can I just interrupt? England is not moving to self-declaration, so what happens then?

Are you saying that that is still to be looked at and delved into a little bit more?

No—in this country. Obviously, lots more people are accessing the services in gender clinics, and we know that the number of people who want to transition has been increasing. Has the Scottish Government done any work on that potential impact, as it were?

I suppose that it is about ensuring that the exemptions in the 2010 act allow for inclusion, exemption and modification in that circumstance.