Rachel Meade's successful employment tribunal

That this House pays tribute to social worker Rachel Meade for her courage, forbearance and resilience in the pursuit of justice against Westminster City Council, and her professional regulatory body, Social Work England; congratulates her on her successful employment tribunal for discrimination on the basis of her protected beliefs under the Equality Act 2010; notes that the tribunal found that both Ms Meade’s regulator and her employer had subjected her to harassment for her gender-critical beliefs by wrongly initiating fitness to practise proceedings and suspending her for gross misconduct which precipitated a wrongful final written warning; further notes that prior to the commencement of the tribunal both the regulator’s sanction and the employer’s warning were withdrawn; deeply regrets that Ms Meade was subjected to this campaign of harassment for prioritising child safeguarding and for her lawful views on the importance of single-sex spaces for women and related matters; recognises the judgement found that expressing opinions contrary to the desired amendment to existing legislation, advocated for by trans lobbying groups including but not limited to, Stonewall were not unlawful; and calls on all employers and regulators to uphold their public sector equality duty and to be mindful that this judgement may hold transferable relevance to other public sector bodies and practice disciplines particularly those that hold core safeguarding functions whether that be to children, vulnerable adults or those providing mental health care.