Schools, hospitals, theatres and office buildings under construction must include separate lavatories for men and women, a government minister has ordered.
Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, had been told that some schoolchildren were avoiding using gender-neutral lavatories because they did not want to share them with the opposite sex.
Whitehall officials confirmed at the weekend that plans to guarantee that new non-residential buildings contain separate facilities were approved last month. Badenoch has told officials that it should be a legal requirement for developers in England to include gender-specific lavatories.
