Huh. The Scottish government is still trying to get away with it.

Earlier this month, officials told For Women Scotland (FWS) that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) had advised ministers to wait for the Commission’s final Code of Practice before making changes and to “not do anything in advance of that”.

The comments earned a stinging rebuke from Baroness Kishwer Falkner, the Chair of the EHRC, who said the Commission had made it “clear” to civil servants that public bodies should not wait for updated guidance before acting on the judgment.

“Comments” is not the right word there. It should be claims or assertions or orders. We’re not talking casual remarks over a beer, we’re talking officials telling FWS lies about what ministers are allowed to do. Saying “comments” minimizes the perfidy. Journalists should stop doing that.

The peer said she was “very concerned that our conversations with officials appear to have been misrepresented”.

And, of course, misrepresented in the direction of telling FWS to shut up and wait as opposed to the direction of yes you get to have your rights back now. Not, I suggest, a random error.

FWS told The Herald they were stunned by the claims from officials: “At what point does this stop being ignorant incompetence and tip into wilful malpractice?”

What I’m saying. It looks a hell of a lot like calculated stalling, does it not.

In April, the UK’s highest court ruled unanimously that a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) does not alter a person’s sex for the purposes of the Equality Act. The judgment clarified that the terms ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the legislation refer to biological sex, not acquired gender.

The EHRC then issued interim guidance in May related to trans people’s use of facilities including including changing rooms and toilets, and participation in sports. It also launched a consultation on changes to parts of its code of practice for services, public functions and associations, which is due to conclude on June 30. The watchdog is due to publish the updated code later this year.

While First Minister John Swinney initially welcomed the “clarity” provided by the ruling, the Scottish Government has repeatedly said it is waiting for this further guidance before issuing new guidance of its own to Scotland’s public bodies.

However, the EHRC has repeatedly said that the ruling applies now and that “those with duties under the Equality Act 2010 should be following the law and looking at what changes, if any, need to be made to their policies and practices”.

So we’ve got a standoff. Scottish gov repeatedly says it’s waiting, EHRC repeatedly says no don’t wait, make any necessary changes now. Tick tick tick, meanwhile women’s rights continue to be violated.

Earlier this week, FWS wrote to the Scottish Government’s Permanent Secretary Joe Griffin calling for a full investigation, saying it was “extremely concerning that statements made by a senior government official to a third party about EHRC advice have been directly contested by the regulatory body itself”.

Yeah it is. It kind of signals that the government is stalling stalling stalling despite the regulatory body’s telling it to STOP STALLING.

In a letter to the campaigners on Friday, seen by The Herald, Mr Griffin did not challenge FWS’s account of the meeting, and said his team would “revert in due course” with a fuller response.

Why not now? Why “in due course”? How long is that exactly? A week? A year? Ten years? What happened to now?

He said the Government accepted the Supreme Court’s judgment and “acknowledges the EHRC statement that duty-bearers should not wait for our statutory Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations to be in place to review their policies to ensure they are complying with the law as now settled by the Supreme Court”.

Then why is the Government stalling stalling stalling?

This, he added, “aligns with the approach the Scottish Government has taken since the judgment was issued in April”.

No it doesn’t. That’s the very thing it doesn’t do. That’s the whole point.

In Holyrood on Wednesday, Mr Griffin was pressed by SNP MSP Michelle Thomson to name any concrete action the Government had taken since the ruling. Mr Griffin said only that the “short life working group” had been established to prepare for implementation. He could not identify any specific changes made to guidance or policy.

Ya because first it has to establish, which takes anywhere from a day to a century, and then it has to prepare for implementation, which takes considerably longer. All very Sir Humphrey Appleby.

Susan Smith from FWS told The Herald: “After the rambling performance of the Permanent Secretary at committee, it was clear that the Scottish Government has done nothing to comply with the Supreme Court ruling.

“To justify this, the civil service has materially misrepresented the advice given by the EHRC. There is no justification for Ministers or civil servants to ignore the law, and these highly paid public servants and politicians should not sit on their haunches while grassroots women’s groups with little power or funding explain to them the basic principles of law and professional standards. Scotland deserves better.

“To say we are shocked is an understatement. At what point does this stop being ignorant incompetence and tip into wilful malpractice?”

I think that tipping has been a good deal more swift than the Scottish government’s establishment of the preparations for implementation.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government has been clear that we accept the Supreme Court judgment and that public bodies have a duty to comply with the law.

“Work is proceeding at pace to implement the ruling across Government. We have established a Short Life Working Group to ensure support and consistency in this.”

Oh gawd. It’s almost funny. It’s not, because it’s enraging, but it almost is. “We have established a working group; what more do you want??? You can’t possibly expect it to do any working.”