Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of extending fracture liaison services to all integrated care boards; and what lessons they have drawn from the impact of fracture liaison services in other jurisdictions, including the devolved authorities.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Fracture liaison services (FLS) are a globally recognised care model for secondary fracture prevention and can reduce the risk of refracture by up to 40%.
FLS are commissioned by integrated care boards, which make decisions according to local need. Officials continue to work closely with NHS England to explore a range of options to provide better quality and access to these important preventative services. This includes how best to support systems, who are responsible for commissioning.
We are considering evidence and examples from a wide range of sources, including existing services and the devolved administrations.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what meetings the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had with (1) the General Medical Council, (2) the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, (3) other health regulators, since 5 July.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Central Government Corporate Transparency Commitments require Government departments to publish details of ministers’ and senior officials’ meetings with external individuals or organisations on a quarterly basis. We will be publishing the meetings that my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care attended, in accordance with the transparency guidelines.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to Written answer by Baroness Merron on 28 November (HL1675), why on page 9 of the Child Death Reporting Form, under the heading "Domain B", there is a column to be completed asking for the gender of the mother, if this does not need to be specified.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Child Death Notification Form and the Child Death Reporting Form are part of the National Child Mortality Database. These continue to capture the sex of the child for under 18-year-olds, in line with sex being a protected characteristic under the 2010 Equality Act.
The Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) has a statutory obligation to notify the National Child Mortality Database within 48 hours of a child’s death, and they do so through A Child Death Notification Form. There is no reference to the mother’s gender in this form.
Following this, the Child Death Reporting Form and relevant supplementary reporting forms are sent out by the CDOP to every professional who has had contact with the child during life, or who has been involved in the investigation after death, to gather information when a child dies. In the Child Death Reporting Form, there is space for the professional to provide information on the gender of the mother. This is not a mandatory requirement to supply this information. This question has existed on the reporting form since at least 2010, and pre-dates the National Child Mortality Database.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government for how long they have required the notice of deaths of children between 10 and 18 to include details of their “sex registered at birth” and “by which gender did the child identify at time of death”; why this categorization was introduced; for how long they have required the gender of the mother to be specified; and what were the reasons for that inclusion.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Notification of Child Death Form, part of the National Child Mortality Database, continues to capture the sex of the child for anyone under the age of 18 years old, in line with sex being a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.
Although questions relating to gender identity already existed within one part of the National Child Mortality Database collection, specifically for suicide and self-harm, the change in October expanded these questions to all deaths. This was to capture the language used by young people and their families to improve system learning and to support the prevention of future deaths.
The Child Death Notification Form does not require the gender of the mother to be specified.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 10 September (HL616), when they will publish the outcome of their consultation which included a section on sex and gender and made commitments relating to same-sex accommodation, intimate care, and gendered language.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Analysis of the responses to the consultation is currently still in progress, and a decision on the outcome of this process will be made at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the NHS recruitment requirement for new psychologists working with children with gender dysphoria to “practice in a gender affirming manner in line with WPATH SOC 8”, that is, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's standards of care, is in line with its endorsement of the Cass Review.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All of the National Health Service’s new Children and Young People’s gender services are being established closely in line with recommendations from the Cass Review, which the Government and NHS England are committed to implementing in full.
The recruitment campaign referred to relates to a temporary service which was set up solely to provide psychosocial support for the relatively small number of children and young people already referred to endocrine clinics by the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service clinic, prior to the closure of that service in March 2024. The trust has acknowledged that old terminology was used in the job advertisement, including the references to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's standards of care, and is amending it.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish the outcome of the Department of Health and Social Care consultation on patients' rights to request medical treatment (1) from someone of the same biological sex and (2) on single-sex wards, where "sex" refers to biological sex.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Earlier this year, there was a consultation on a series of updates to the NHS Constitution, which included a section on sex and gender, and which made commitments relating to same-sex accommodation, intimate care, and gendered language. Analysis of the responses to the consultation is currently in progress, and a decision on the outcome of this process will be made in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the General Medical Council about its policy of describing doctors on its register by gender rather than by sex.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It sets and enforces the standards all doctors must adhere to. While the GMC is independent of the Government, it is directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties.
The GMC maintains an official list of doctors, which is called the List of Registered Medical Practitioners. The GMC is obliged under the Form and Content of the Register Regulations to obtain and publish information in relation to a doctor's gender rather than sex. The Government has not had discussions with the GMC about the doctors on its register being described by gender rather than by sex.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with NHS England about whether biological sex determines which chaperone to be offered to patients who request a chaperone of a particular sex.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All patients should be given the opportunity to state their preferences in relation to the sex of their chaperone, and this must be documented in their clinical records. Patients should have the opportunity to decline a particular person if that person is not acceptable to them for any reason. They must then decide if they wish the examination to proceed or be rescheduled, and this decision should also be recorded in their clinical records.
The General Medical Council (GMC) has published guidance on intimate examinations and chaperones, which provides a framework for all healthcare professionals. This sets out when and why a patient may need a chaperone, and the considerations that should be given. The GMC’s guidance is available on their website, in an online only format.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the guidance issued by Cambridge University Hospitals which states that: "Staff will be used as chaperones according to the gender they identify ... [and] will not share their trans status with patients nor would it be appropriate for any colleague either to share the trans status or another colleague with a patient or visitor”; and what assessment they have made of the compatibility of this guidance with the Government's definition of sex as biological sex in the context of intimate care.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Cambridge University Hospital does not recognise the wording provided in the question as belonging to their chaperone’s guidance. The Government has been clear about the importance of biological sex, and the importance of respecting the privacy, dignity, and safety of all patients.
Our proposed changes to the NHS Constitution reinforce the National Health Services’ commitment to providing single-sex wards, and will empower patients to request that intimate care is carried out by someone of the same biological sex, where this is reasonably possible.