Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether HM Prison and Probation Service interprets the word "woman" in the Prison Rules 1999 as excluding biological men in possession of a Gender Recognition Certificate, following the Supreme Court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Supreme Court has ruled that for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010, sex means biological sex, while also being clear that protections against discrimination for transgender people remain. We are currently assessing our policies relating to prisoners in light of this ruling and we will be able to say more in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the E Wing unit for trans women in HMP/YOI Downview is classified as part of the female prison estate.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The E Wing at HMP/YOI Downview is not part of the general women's estate. Prisoners on E Wing are held separately from other prisoners at HMP/YOI Downview and can only access the wider prison's regime where this is supervised by staff and has been risk assessed to ensure safety.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the results of the data linkage study recommended by the Cass Review will be published, and whether the results will be published before the commencement of the NHS England puberty blocker trial.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government and NHS England are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Cass Review in full. NHS England’s ambitious two-year implementation plan sets out how it will continue to transform services, while ensuring safe and holistic care.
NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research have jointly established a programme of research that is underpinning the design and delivery of new services for children and young people with gender incongruence. The programme reflects the recommendations of the Cass Review and the need for more high-quality evidence to inform the advice and care provided to an increasing number of children with gender incongruence, and their families, when making important treatment decisions. The current research programme includes the following studies: the data linkage study, which will enable us to learn from the experience and outcomes of a particular group of up to 9,000 adults who, as children, were cared for under a previous and now decommissioned model of National Health Service care; and the PATHWAYS study, which has several elements, including a longitudinal observational study of children and young people attending NHS Gender Services, charting their development over time, and longitudinal qualitative interviews to explore the needs and care experiences of children, young people, and their families, and how these change over the course of time and the treatment
These studies are independent investigations and will run to their own timescales.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the final findings of the longitudinal outcomes of gender identity in children study will be published before the commencement of the NHS England puberty blocker trial.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Outcomes and Predictors of Outcome for Children and Young People Referred to UK Gender Identity Development Services: A longitudinal Investigation (LOGIC) and the Puberty Suppression and Transitional Healthcare with Adaptive Youth Services (PATHWAYS) study are independent investigations and will run to their own timescales. The PATHWAYS study, which was recommended by the Cass Review, has several elements, including a longitudinal observational study of children and young people attending NHS Gender Services, charting their development over time, and longitudinal qualitative interviews to explore the needs and care experiences of children, young people, and their families, and how these change over the course of time and the treatment.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to develop a specialist NHS pathway for individuals who choose to detransition, and whether this pathway will be in place before the commencement of the NHS England puberty blocker trial.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government and NHS England are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Cass Review in full. This includes the recommendation for a pathway to be established for individuals who wish to detransition. The formative stages of this work will involve a process of evidence gathering in the spring of 2025, focused on individuals and clinicians with experience of detransition, and professional bodies. NHS England will engage stakeholders on a proposed service specification for the new pathway, including through public consultation.
The PATHWAYS study, which was also recommended by the Cass Review, has several elements, including a longitudinal observational study of children and young people attending NHS Gender Services, charting their development over time, and longitudinal qualitative interviews to explore the needs and care experiences of children, young people, and their families, and how these change over the course of time and the treatment.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to the longitudinal outcomes of gender identity in children study, what were the final results of the secondary data base analysis, and what are the preliminary findings from the prospective cohort study, which were due to be reported in 2020 and 2023 respectively.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Outcomes and Predictors of Outcome for Children and Young People Referred to UK Gender Identity Development Services: A longitudinal Investigation (LOGIC) is a longitudinal study that looks into the development of gender identity in children and young people in the United Kingdom. The published study protocol states that “The study findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at both conferences and stakeholder events”. Following granting of an extension, partly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the study is funded until July 2025. As an independent study, it is for the research team to decide when to submit their findings for publication. The study team has published several papers and we would expect to see further publications this year, in line with National Institute for Health and Care Research policy on open access publication.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following recent polling by the Belonging Forum which found that renters are more likely than the general population to (1) feel lonely, (2) not know their neighbours, and (3) feel unsafe walking home in the dark, whether they are developing any policies to promote greater integration of renters in their local communities.
Answered by Baroness Swinburne
The Government’s Levelling Up White Paper sets out the Government’s missions to end economic equality and level up the UK. As part of our mission to restore a sense of local community, pride and belonging, our ambition is for the number of non-decent rented homes to have fallen by 50% by 2030, with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas. We will require privately rented homes to meet the Decent Homes Standard for the first time. This will give renters safer, better value homes and remove the blight of poor-quality homes in local communities.
Through the Renters (Reform) Bill, which is currently progressing through parliament, we will deliver the manifesto commitment to abolish section 21 evictions. This will give tenants the confidence that they can remain in their home and are able to put down roots in their communities.
In addition, we have invested over £150 million since 2020 for over 400 projects through the Safer Streets fund. This has gone towards local crime prevention measures such as better CCTV and streetlighting, or local community projects, with a particular focus on driving down anti-social behaviour, preventing neighbourhood crimes such as domestic burglary and making streets safer for women and girls.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of advice from NHS Sussex Trust that male lactation fluid is (1) safe and (2) beneficial for infants.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The welfare of the baby is always the primary concern, and the evidence is clear that a mother’s breastmilk has significant advantages in reducing risks of infections and should be the main drink throughout an infant’s first year of life. Induced lactation is an area where further scientific and fact-based evaluation is needed.
We have been clear that biological sex matters and it is important that health services recognise and support the different health and biological needs of men and women.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of HMP Dovegate’s scheme to train prisoners to become fully qualified dog trainers; and whether they will implement similar schemes in all prisons across England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
The Restart Dogs Programme at HMP Dovegate is currently funded through the local prisoners’ Amenities Fund, and its continuation will be reviewed in line with routine assurance checks to ensure continuing value for money and defined outcomes. There are no plans to implement the project across prisons in England and Wales, but it is available to Governors under the Dynamic Purchasing System, using their Learning and Skills budgets, if they determine that there is a local need.
Asked by: Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the most recent statistics available on self-harm during the first 90 days in custody in the closed prison estate.
Answered by Lord Bellamy
We do not currently publish a breakdown of self-harm incidents by total time in custody or by prison. Changes to our self-harm tables are considered as part of our regular review of how our statistical publications can best meet the needs of their users and stakeholders. Statistics on self-harm incidents by time in custody, like all identified information gaps, will be considered ahead of our more detailed annual statistics on self-harm in custody, due to be published in April 2023.