Update on our Scottish Parliament petition on recording sex accurately in cases of rape (January 2024)

Last week the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee discussed our ongoing petition which calls on the Scottish Parliament ‘to urge the Scottish Government to require Police Scotland, the Crown Office and the Scottish Court Service to record accurately the sex of people charged with or convicted of rape or attempted rape‘. We think this is important for data accuracy and public trust in statistics. We also believe Police Scotland has a moral imperative, from the perspective of respect for victims, to record sex accurately.

We first lodged the petition in June 2021, over two and half years ago. Since then, the Committee has met to discuss the petition on five occassions and considered a range of written submissions. It has also taken oral evidence from ourselves, at which we highlighted a lack of ethical leadership in this area.

At this week’s meeting, the Committee decided that the next step would be to write again to Police Scotland, to press for further information on its position, including how its policy aligns with its ‘organisational values’.

Whilst we are pleased that the petition remains under consideration, we are surprised and disappointed that the Committee has not yet asked Police Scotland to provide oral evidence. Police Scotland has already provided written evidence to the Committee on three occasions (November 2021, November 2022 and May 2023). We think that Police Scotland should be called to answer for its policy in person, and explain why it feels it needs to prioritise the wishes of men charged or accussed of rape, over and above those of victims.