Dear [redacted]
REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002 (FOISA)
Thank you for your request dated 14/01/2026 under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).
Your request
The details of your request can be found within Annex A.
Our response
I provide a response to your request as an annex to this letter, please see Annex A.
Where the information does not exist, I provide reasoning and refer to section 17(1) of FOISA.
Your right to request a review
If you are unhappy with this response to your FOI request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by writing to;
Sam Ghibaldan,
Chief Executive
Consumer Scotland
Thistle House,
91 Haymarket Terrace
Edinburgh,
EH12 5HD
Or by email to: corporateservices@consumer.scot
Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made within 40 working days from the date when you received this letter. We will complete the review in accordance with FOISA as soon as possible, and not later than 20 working days from the day following the date we receive your review request.
If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. More detailed information on your appeal rights is available on the Commissioner’s website at:
https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Unhappywiththeresponse/AppealingtoCommissioner.aspx .
Yours sincerely
Sally Sandground
Annex A
Information requested:
1. What your organisation understands the word ‘woman’ [1] to denote.
2. What your organisation understands the terms: lesbian, bisexual and gay to denote?
3. Actions that you have carried out for women (as defined by the Supreme Court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers) in the last 5 years. Please break that down the amount spent by each calendar year, please provide by fiscal year if you do not have it in calendar format please include data for 2026.
4. Actions you have carried out for (each and separately) lesbian[2], gay and bisexual people (each term as defined by the supreme court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers) in the last 5 years? (please break that down by year, for the last 5 years and this calendar year) and only if achievable within cost limit, the action taken and the amount spent on each action.
5. Copies of any funding agreements, or contracts, or other documents held by your organisation in the last 5 years with any LGBT organisation or organisation that has LGBT+ issues as its main focus, specifying the purpose of the funding.
6. The total amount of spend in the last 5 years (from 2020 up to the present day) for grants, funding, donations, contracts, or any other financial support, membership fees or subscriptions to LGBT diversity schemes or programmes provided by your authority to organisations that work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender, ace, pan or intersex people or any other related or associated equality issues.
7. A breakdown, where held, of this spend for each year from 2020/2025 to 2025/2026. Ideally, please provide by calendar year. Please provide by fiscal year if you do not have it in calendar format.
8. A breakdown, where held, of this funding by recipient organisation, including their name, amount provided for each year from 2020/2025 to 2025/6 and only if achievable within cost limit a brief description of what it was for (including, but not limited to: mental health support, equality training and education, awareness raising initiatives, youth projects, sport or health services).
Our Response:
Please find below Consumer Scotland’s answers to each question outlined above. Where we have been unable to provide an answer, we have confirmed the reasoning. For example, we do not hold the information as it does not exist.
1. Consumer Scotland understand the word “woman” to denote a biological woman in line with the Equality Act 2010 and the Supreme Court ruling on 16 April 2025.
2. Consumer Scotland follow the definitions outlined in the Equality Act 2010, Section 12 relating to sexual orientation. The Equality Act 2010 does not break the definition down further than this. We understand the following:
-
- Lesbian – a woman who is attracted to individuals of the same sex (women)
- Gay – a man who is attracted to individuals of the same sex (men). The term may also refer to women who are attracted to women. For example, some women define themselves as gay rather than lesbian.
- Bisexual – someone who is attracted to men and women
3. Consumer Scotland have not carried out actions specifically for women (as defined by the Supreme Court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers) in the last 5 years.
4. Consumer Scotland have not carried out actions specifically for (each and separately) lesbian, gay and bisexual people (each term as defined by the supreme court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers) in the last 5 years.
5. Consumer Scotland have not entered into any funding agreements or contracts in the last 5 years with any LGBT organisation or organisation that has LGBT+ issues as its main focus. As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Consumer Scotland does not hold the information you have requested in relation to Question 5 as it does not exist.
6. The total amount of spend in the last 5 years (from 2020 up to the present day) for grants, funding, donations, contracts, or any other financial support, membership fees or subscriptions to LGBT diversity schemes or programmes provided by Consumer Scotland to organisations that work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender, ace, pan or intersex people or any other related or associated equality issues is nil.
7. Consumer Scotland does not hold the information you have requested in relation to Question 7 as it does not exist. As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA.
8. Consumer Scotland does not hold the information you have requested in relation to Question 8 as it does not exist. As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA.
Endnotes
[1] On 16th April, 2025, in their ruling: ‘For Women Scotland Ltd vs The Scottish Ministers’, The Supreme Court concluded (at paragraph 264): “the words ‘sex’, ‘woman’ and ‘man… mean (and were always intended to mean) biological sex, biological woman and biological man.”