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Bridget Phillipson has urged the equalities watchdog to focus more on helping ministers do their jobs and less on having public debates as a row continues about how long it will take to implement new rules on gender recognition.
The comments by Phillipson, who is the equalities minister as well as the education secretary, come after the Equality and Human Rights Commission took the unusual step of urging the government to “act with speed” in approving its statutory guidance on responding to a landmark supreme court ruling on transgender rights.
In a decision that delighted gender-critical activists, the UK supreme court ruled in April that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act referred only to a biological woman and to biological sex.
The EHRC compiled statutory guidance on how organisations should interpret the ruling and sent it to ministers for approval. But government officials have said it will take time to properly assess the 300-plus-page document and blamed the watchdog for delays in providing necessary information, including an equalities impact assessment.
Speaking to the Guardian, Phillipson said ministers also had to consult the devolved UK nations, and that the process could not be rushed.
Asked about comments last month by the EHRC’s outgoing chair, Kishwer Falkner, who urged Phillipson to approve the guidance “as soon as possible”, the minister said this was unhelpful.
“We’ll get this right,” Phillipson said. “We’ll do it thoroughly and carefully, but we also require the regulator to provide us with the information that we need as a government to consider all of that together – the code of practice, together with other material that we require.
“And bit more focus on that and a little less focus on public debate would be helpful.”
Ministers are still considering the final guidance, which must be approved by Phillipson before being laid before parliament.
While it is not yet public, sources at the watchdog have briefed that it is broadly similar to interim advice issued shortly after April’s ruling.
The interim advice prompted alarm from some MPs and transgender groups, who said guidance that transgender people should not be allowed to use toilets meant for the gender they live as, nor in some cases toilets consistent with their birth sex, meant trans people would be in effect excluded from much of the public realm.
The EHRC said last month that this interim advice had been withdrawn and taken down from its website.
Asked if the new guidance would be ready for approval by Christmas, Phillipson said: “I can’t put a timescale on it. I think what matters is that we go through it line by line.”
She added: “We’re going through it line by line, but we also have to consult with the devolved governments as part of this process, and that work is currently under way.”
Last month dozens of Labour MPs wrote to the business secretary, Peter Kyle, saying they had been contacted by many companies that were alarmed at the implications of the possible guidance, citing significant potential costs and a “minefield” of competing legal rights.
Asked about the concerns of some MPs about the impact on trans people, Phillipson said: “I’ve always believed in the importance of single-sex spaces for women. I used to run a women’s refuge, I know how important it is that women who have experienced male violence and trauma have the time to heal in a safe environment.
“I’m also clear that trans people should not suffer prejudice or discrimination because of who they are.”
The EHRC cast further doubt on the timescale needed to approve the guidance last week. The watchdog told the Times that it did not think there was any need to examine the cost to businesses, and again urged Phillipson to act swiftly. The newspaper cited critics of Phillipson saying she was delaying deliberately to avoid a row with backbenchers.
A government source said this was “total nonsense”. They said: “This is a long and legally complex document and we are carefully considering it – and we make no apology for it. It would be catastrophic for single sex-services to follow guidance that wasn’t legally sound and then place them in legal jeopardy again. That is why it is vital we get this right.
“We have always been clear that the proper process needs to be followed, which includes understanding the potential impact on businesses, public functions and services.”
