The Scottish government will “refresh and modernise” school premises regulations which set out the broad minimum standards that school buildings must meet.
A consultation is due to be launched this year, first minister John Swinney has confirmed.
Today during First Ministers Questions, Mr Swinney told the Scottish Parliament that the regulations, which set out the space and facilities school buildings must have from the size of buildings and playing fields to the number of toilets, had not been updated since 1979.
They amounted to “age-old regulation that I think we need to review”.
The commitment to a review will be welcomed by those who say the regulations are “out of date and unfit for purpose”.
Writing in Tes Scotland in August, Matt Robinson, chief operating officer of outdoor learning charity Learning through Landscapes, argued a review could provide the impetus for “wonderful, green and accessible spaces for learning, play, sport and health” - instead of spaces where “asphalt or depleted soils under mown grass” dominate.
However, it is a review that could prove tough to navigate, because the current regulations also set out the minimum number of toilets, based on a school’s roll, and say half should be for girls and the other half for boys. Already, campaigners have warned the government will face .
Today, Conservative MSP Pam Gosal, who asked Mr Swinney about plans to update the rules, also asked him if he agreed that “single-sex facilities in schools should be a basic right for female pupils and staff”.
Her question came after the Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay had used his time during FMQs to home in on the .
Politicians clash over school toilets
Mr Findlay hit out at the government for wasting “too much time, energy and money on gender nonsense” and criticised the damaging influence of gender policies on Scotland’s public services, including in schools, saying that female pupils were “too scared to use shared toilets over fear of sexual intimidation or assault”.
Responding to Ms Gosal, Mr Swinney said local authorities were responsible for the design of their schools and this was taken forward in consultation and dialog with the school community. He said he expected that to continue.
This is, however, not the first time the Scottish government has attempted to update these regulations.
It . Then, it proposed updating the rules on the provision of toilets because they did not allow for “unisex toilets that could address gender issues”.
It proposed: “Flexibility should be permitted within this regulation to allow the provision of separate toilet facilities for boys and girls except where they are provided for use by one pupil at a time.”
The , published in February 2018, found that two-thirds of respondents (16 organisations and 15 individuals) agreed with the changes to sanitary accommodation for pupils.
However, some respondents wanted the government to go further and outline “a minimum standard for schools” in terms of “gender-neutral facilities”.
The analysis stated: “Many transgender young people feel unable to access suitable facilities within school, with two in three saying they do not feel able to use the toilets and seven in 10 saying they are not able to use changing rooms where they feel comfortable.”
It added: “There was a question as to whether all toilets being gender neutral was appropriate, with the recognition that many young girls already feel vulnerable using current facilities at school.”
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