FOI Request - Toilet Facilities in Moray Schools
Request 101004009723
In light of the recent Court of Session rulings concerning compliance with the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967, including Hurley & Stratford v Scottish Borders Council (2025) and DE and FG v West Lothian Council (2026), I would be grateful if you could provide the following information for each primary and secondary school under the Council’s management:
1. The name of each school which contains any toilet facilities accessed via a shared communal area used by both female and male pupils
2. The name of each school which contains any multi-user toilet facilities in which toilet cubicles designated for girls and boys are accessed from the same shared toilet or washroom area.
3. The name of each school which contains any toilet facilities which are not designated exclusively for either girls or boys.
4. For each school identified in response to Questions 1–3, please provide:
a) A description of the facilities.
b) The number of toilet cubicles within those facilities.
c) The date on which the facilities were installed or substantially refurbished.
d) Whether the facilities remain in current use.
5. The name of each school which provides fully separate toilet facilities for girls and boys.
6. Whether the Council has undertaken any review, audit, assessment, or legal compliance exercise concerning school toilet provision following the above Court of Session rulings.
7. Copies of any guidance, policies, briefing papers, reports, assessments, or communications issued since 1 January 2025 concerning:
a) school toilet provision
b) mixed-sex or gender-neutral facilities
c) compliance with the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967.
Response 03-07-2026
1.
Lossiemouth High School
Cullen Primary School
2.
Lossiemouth High School
Linkwood Primary School
Cullen Primary School
3. Excluding standalone accessible toilet units with integral wash facilities - schools with some toilets not exclusively set aside for girls or boys:
Lossiemouth HS
St Gerardine Primary
Logie Primary
4.a)
St Gerardine Primary School
P2 Classroom shared toilets in modular building extension (2 pupil toilets)
P1 and ELC toilets accessible from classrooms (11 - pupil toilets/5 in nursery)
Logie Primary
Logie PS is a 3 building small rural school. The gym block has a single standalone toilet that is not designated as boys or girls (1 pupil toilet)
Lossiemouth High School
Toilets accessible from main dining area (Ground floor) with glass door and partition wall
Single sex toilets accessible either side of ½ walled separated single sex washbasin area (17 pupil toilets)
Ground floor – Community Entrance area. Both pupils and community toilets are unisex (10 pupil toilets)
First Floor - ½ walled separated single sex washbasin area (10 pupil toilets)
First Floor – open from corridor into ½ walled separated single sex washbasin area (7 pupil toilets)
Second Floor - ½ walled separated single sex washbasin area (8 pupil toilets)
Cullen PS
Open from cloakroom into ½ walled separated single sex washbasin area with boys toilets on left and girls and accessible toilet on right (8 pupil toilets)
b) Numbers as provided above
c)
Lossiemouth HS – New build school operational 2021
Linkwood PS – New build school operational 2021
Cullen PS – Refurbished school 2026
St Gerardine PS – A. Modular building 2016; B. Original building design 1960s
Logie PS – Original building design (19th century)
d) YES
5. The name of each school which provides fully separate toilet facilities for girls and boys. Table below
Name ASG
Alves Primary School Forres
Forres Academy Forres
Buckie High School Buckie
Dyke Primary School Forres
Mosstodloch Primary School Milnes
Knockando Primary School Speyside
Portgordon Primary School Buckie
Bishopmill Primary School Elgin Ac
Aberlour Primary School Speyside
Hopeman Primary School Lossiemouth
St Thomas Primary School Keith
St Sylvesters Primary School Elgin Ac
Burghead Primary School Lossiemouth
Mortlach Primary School Speyside
Rothes Primary School Speyside
Glenlivet Primary School Speyside
St Peters Primary School Buckie
West End Primary School Elgin Ac
Rothiemay Primary School Keith
Botriphnie Primary School Keith
Milnes High School Milnes
Portessie Primary School Buckie
Craigellachie Primary School Speyside
Kinloss Primary School Forres
Findochty Primary School Buckie
East End Primary School Elgin Ac
Speyside High School Speyside
Tomintoul Primary School Speyside
Cluny Primary School Buckie
Keith Grammar School Keith
Mosstowie Primary School Elgin High
Portknockie Primary School Buckie
New Elgin Primary School Elgin High
Pilmuir Primary School Forres
Dallas Primary School Forres
Greenwards Primary School Elgin High
Newmill Primary School Keith
Lhanbryde Primary School Milnes
Millbank Primary School Buckie
Hythehill Primary School Lossiemouth
Milnes Primary School Milnes
Applegrove Primary School Forres
Andersons Primary School Forres
Seafield Primary School Elgin Ac
Elgin Academy Elgin Ac
Elgin High School Elgin High
6. Yes – Education Service review undertaken Jun 2026. Survey information is attached
7. a) Not held. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
b) Not held. Information that is not held falls under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - Information not held.
Attached information:
c) compliance with the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967.
The School Premises (General Requirements and Strandards)(Scotland) Regulations 1967 relates to numerous aspects of schools – with respect to toilets the legal requirements for toilet provision in schools as outlined in the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967 focus on ensuring that adequate, clean, and accessible facilities are available for pupils – with which Moray Council are compliant.
Moray Council have been a consultee to the in progress Scottish Government review of the 1967 Regulations that seeks to modernize these standards to better reflect the needs of today's educational environments.
With respect to the specific requirements for school sanitary accommodation the following is the legislation set out
5.-(1) In every school sanitary accommodation shall be provided for the pupils by appliances on a scale not less than that specified in Table VIII: Provided that in every school which is not designed exclusively for girls half the accommodation shall be for boys and not more than one third of the appliances for boys shall be water closets and the remainder shall be urinals, each 2 foot length of urinal being counted as one appliance for the purposes of Table VIII.
TABLE VIII
Number of pupils Number of appliances
Every 15 pupils up to a total of 60 2
Every additional 30 pupils up to a total of 300 2
Every additional 60 pupils over 300 pupils 2
(2) In every school providing for pupils beyond stage P IV in the sanitary accommodation for girls there shall be suitable provision for the disposal of sanitary towels.
(3) In every school every sanitary appliance or group of sanitary appliances shall be situated near to a wash basin or wash basins.
(4) In every school every water closet shall be provided with a lockable door and with a partition sufficient to secure privacy.
Moray Council do not provide urinals in some schools – would seek to replace these within any future school refurbishment
Why:
The School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967” set out minimum standards, including specific requirements for urinals in boys' toilets. However, these regulations are widely acknowledged as outdated and not reflective of current educational, social, or safety needs. A 2018 Scottish Government report into a consultation on the requirement to update the Scottish Premises (General Requirements and Standards)(Scotland) Regulations 1967 (https://www.gov.scot/publications/updating-school-premises-general-requirements-standards-scotland-regulations-1967-analysis/ found broad agreement that many provisions—including those on sanitary accommodation—needed revision. Although the legislation was expected to be updated at that time this was interrupted by the COVID pandemic and not completed. Moray Council have been a consultee to in-progress Scottish Government review of the 1967 Regulations that seeks to modernize these standards to better reflect the needs of today's educational environments and it is expected that Scottish Government make the necessary change.
With current future sanitary space design and function, Moray Council also consider the view Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland (CYPCS) who has long advocated for improvements in school toilet design. https://www.cypcs.org.uk/faq/what-can-i-do-about-the-toilets-at-my-school-2/ Their research and campaigns emphasise: the right to privacy and health; the need for safe, clean, and accessible toilets and concerns over bullying, lack of privacy, and poor maintenance in traditional toilet layouts.