The aim of this survey was to ascertain if there were major problems with Transgender Women using Changing/Locker Rooms and Toilets within the Local Authority owned estate.
Local Authority Facilities Survey 2022
Recorded Complaints re: The use of Public Authority (Local Council) Owned Changing Facilities and Toilets, by Transgender People, during 2022 Survey – Methods and Responses
Aim and Methodology
The aim of this survey was to ascertain if there were major problems with Transgender Women using Changing /Locker Rooms and Toilets within the Local Authority owned estate. To this end we also wanted to establish a baseline for comparison with future surveys on the same topic.
Methods Identifying the target Local Authorities – We wanted to target the approach to get the best representative results asking the fewest reasonable number of Authorities. So we decided to select them on the basis of the largest population first. And ask them the numbers of complaints received.
We also decided to restrict our survey to England as it has the largest population by far within the UK and would simplify the task. The Local Authorities (also known as Districts) were identified using Wikipedia and sorting them by population. The Authorities websites were consulted to identify the email or web addresses to be used for Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
From a total of 296 Districts (Local Authorities) we ranked them largest to smaller as per their populations recorded in 2021 by the Office of National Statistics.
The 296 districts of England comprise; 164 non-metropolitan districts, 32 London boroughs, 36 metropolitan boroughs, 62 unitary authorities, and two sui generis authorities (the City of London and the Isles of Scilly).
So we elected to nominally select the largest 50 as they cover a total population of 20 million people, this being a significantly large proportion of the population of England and in our judgment would give a representative sample.
Note: Sandwell Council website was particularly difficult to navigate and submit the FOI, so for speed of sending out the FOIs, we substituted it with the Local Authority that was 51st on our list.
Survey questions
On the 12-13th December 2023, FOI requests were sent to each of the Authorities. In each case the Authority was asked to examine the complaints it had received in the 12 months; 1 January 2022 to 31st December 2022 (inclusive). This review period was specified to provide a sufficiently reliable and contemporary snapshot of complaints activity, while avoiding the very most recent activity, which might have been less accessible for them attempting to respond to our query within FOI resource limits. In respect of this period, Authorities were asked:
Under the Freedom of Information Act, please supply the following information, with regard to Services and Facilities provided by your authority
Question –
The numbers of recorded incidents where complaints have been made, where a Transgender (Trans) Person has entered or used Services nominally for the use of Women, where the person being complained about was
a. Transgender
or
b. perceived to be Transgender (i.e. someone accused of being transgender but wasn’t)
or
c. of the opposite gender.,
please list any answers for a. and b. separately
e.g. in or entering; Public Toilets or Changing Rooms/Facilities and Toilet Facilities within buildings
Please provide the information for the calendar year 2022
Responses
By the end of January 2024,we have received responses from 46 of the 50 authorities
Of those that responded; 6 said that it was a difficult task, and would take an inordinate amount of time, effort and cost, and would charge us for the privilege.
The 40 remaining responses (80% of the total) broke down as follows:
35 responding with : None (or a variation of none = nil, or zero) recorded
And the remaining 5 didn’t have or hold any records.
There was one exception, where the London Borough of Newham, recorded 1 for part c of the FOI. This was taken as a CIS Person of one gender being in a facility of the opposite gender. It was not a Transgender or Perceived to be Transgender person otherwise it would have been recorded under part a or b of the FOI.
As we had a significant number of viable responses, we have judged that it still represents a valid survey.
References for Local Authority Facilities Survey 2022
Local Government in England :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_England
List of English districts sorted by population : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_districts_by_population
