Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
The Senior Deputy Speaker, further to the Written Answer by Lord McFall of Alcluith on 27 May (HL4295), whether he will supply full details of the regular surveys and other measures proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of initiatives to tackle bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct.
Answered by Lord McFall of Alcluith
The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, which constitutes a Parliament-wide regime for tackling bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct, was subject to a review after six months of operation, which has been published on the UK Parliament website, and a further review (the ’18-month review’) is planned for later this year, which is also expected to be published. This will be led by an independent reviewer, supported by an advisory panel, and will be an opportunity to assess the effectiveness of the Scheme, as well as to consider specific policy changes as directed by the 6-month review. The Codes of Conduct for Lords Members and Lords Members’ Staff now include the ICGS provisions on bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct, and these are kept under active review by the Conduct Committee.
In addition to the work to review the effectiveness of the ICGS, additional formal mechanisms are in place or planned which will help to assess progress on improving the broader workplace culture in the House of Lords and specific progress on addressing the recommendations made by Naomi Ellenbogen QC in 2019 in her review of bullying and harassment in the House of Lords. These include the Steering Group for Change, composed of staff and peer representatives, tasked with monitoring progress of implementation of Naomi Ellenbogen QC ’s report on bullying and harassment in the House of Lords, and providing advice and support to the Management Board and House of Lords Commission on their response to the report. There will also be a 12-month review of progress in implementing the recommendations of that report.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the tweet by the Department of Health and Social Care on 4 May that “There is emerging evidence to suggest that coronavirus may be having a disproportionate impact on some ethnic groups, as well as certain genders”, on what evidence they base their statement that gender affects the impact of COVID-19; what is their definition of gender when making that statement; how many affected genders they believe there to be; which are those affected genders; what consideration they gave to using the phrase “male” in place of “certain genders”; and what plans they have to use such a formulation in future.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government is concerned by the apparent disparities in how COVID-19 is affecting people. We have asked Public Health England to complete a rapid review to understand how COVID-19 may be having an impact on different groups of concern.
Short descriptions of the terms ‘sex’, ‘gender’, ‘transgender’ and ‘gender identity’ have been published by the Government Equalities Office.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 17 March (HL2178), whether NHS patients in England can request to have intimate examinations carried out by a doctor of a specified biological sex; and whether such requests are always adhered to.
Answered by Lord Bethell
National Health Service organisations set their own policies on patients’ ability to specify the gender of the staff treating them.
One of the NHS Constitution’s founding values is that of respect and dignity for patients, carers and staff in accordance with their needs and priorities and ensuring these are considered when designing and delivering services.
The General Medical Council guidance to doctors states that, when proposing to carry out an intimate examination, doctors should offer the patient the option of having an impartial observer (a chaperone) present wherever possible. This applies whether or not the doctor is the same gender as the patient, and they must treat patients as individuals and respect their dignity and privacy.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 17 March (HL2718), whether the NHS issues any guidance to NHS organisations related to policies on patients' ability to specify the sex or gender of the staff treating them; and whether such policies are (1) co-ordinated, or (2) compared in any way.
Answered by Lord Bethell
National Health Service organisations set their own policies on patients’ ability to specify the gender of the staff treating them.
One of the NHS Constitution’s founding values is that of respect and dignity for patients, carers and staff in accordance with their needs and priorities and ensuring these are considered when designing and delivering services.
The General Medical Council guidance to doctors states that, when proposing to carry out an intimate examination, doctors should offer the patient the option of having an impartial observer (a chaperone) present wherever possible. This applies whether or not the doctor is the same gender as the patient, and they must treat patients as individuals and respect their dignity and privacy.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the competence of people under the age of 16 to give informed consent to medical procedures which may affect their fecundity; how they decide who is competent to record and assess such consent; whether that person performing those functions is independent of the person proposing the medical procedure; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The issue of informed consent by people under the age of 16 is currently the subject of legal proceedings and therefore the Department is unable to comment pending judicial ruling.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what research they are conducting to improve the medical (1) assessment, and (2) treatment of, children presenting with gender dysphoria.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Last year the National Institute for Health Research funded a £1.3 million longitudinal research study, titled Outcomes and Predictors of Outcome for Children and Young People Referred to UK Gender Identity Development Services. The results of the study will be made available via articles and publications.
In parallel to this work NHS England has also asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to deliver guidelines that will define referral criteria into the Gender Identity Development Service. NICE will also undertake a thorough review of the latest clinical evidence to help inform NHS England and Improvement’s review of the service specification for gender identity development services for children and young people.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what policies the NHS has in place for patients who require to be treated and cared for by staff of a particular sex.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As stated in the NHS Constitution, patients have the right to express a preference for using a particular doctor within their general practitioner practice, and the practice must try to meet this request. In other instances, National Health Service organisations set their own policies on patients’ ability to specify the gender of the staff treating them.
In addition, the General Medical Council guidance to doctors states that, when proposing to carry out an intimate examination, doctors should offer the patient the option of having an impartial observer (a chaperone) present wherever possible. This applies whether or not the doctor is the same gender as the patient.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on recording biological sex, legal sex and gender identity when a person donates blood; and how any such policy recognises biological sex-related risks such as transfusion-related acute lung injury.
Answered by Lord Bethell
NHS Blood and Transplant, which is accountable to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is responsible for the provision of a reliable, safe and efficient supply of blood to hospitals in England.
All donors complete an extensive donor health check questionnaire before each donation. The donations are then screened for infections before the blood is sent to hospitals.
NHS Blood and Transplant respects and accepts the self-identified gender of the person presenting to give blood. Both the potential donor’s assigned sex at birth and their self-identifying gender are recorded. This information is then used to dictate how NHS Blood and Transplant uses any donated product in respect of biological sex-related risks – including transfusion-related acute lung injury.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish the results of the research project started in 2011 by the NHS Gender Identity Development Service Early pubertal suppression in a carefully selected group of adolescents with gender identity disorder; and if not, whether they will arrange for the data gathered by that study to be made available to other researchers.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The research is an ethically approved study being carried out by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust since 2011, which is the largest provider of services for the alleviation of gender dysphoria in the United Kingdom.
The study will evaluate early pubertal suppression in a carefully selected group of adolescents with a clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. There are 44 young people taking part in the study.
The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust has plans to publish the data on the blocker and cross-sex hormones, for those who were appropriate for this, as all of the young people in the study have reached this stage.
Asked by: Lord Lucas (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford on 11 March (HL14006), for how long the Longitudinal Outcomes of Gender Identity in Children study will continue to accept new cases; whether the study has been funded to enable it to include all eligible children; if not, how many such children are expected to be (1) included, and (2) not included; and how the choice will be made.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The study will start in June 2019 and aims to recruit all 638 eligible children and young people over 18 months. Should the study fail to meet recruitment targets, the possibility of extending this period beyond six months will be reviewed.
In order for children and young people to take part in the study they must be aged 3-13 years at the time of referral to the United Kingdom’s Gender Identity Development Service, have parental consent, have English language comprehension and live in the UK.