Health Bill

Rachel Taylor Excerpts

Report stage & 3rd reading
Tuesday 8th September 2026 Commons Chamber

We also have an amendment regarding single-sex spaces. When the Supreme Court ruled on 16 April 2025 that the legal definition of a woman refers strictly to biological sex, many up and down the country will have wondered, “Why do we need judges to tell us that?” We are all, including in the eyes of the law, male or female. Of course, there are people who feel more comfortable presenting as the opposite sex, and I am sure the whole House would agree that trans men and trans women need protection from harm and harassment in the same way as their fellow citizens. I hope that the whole House would also agree that a woman should never be forced to get undressed in the presence of a man, and vice versa. But that is what happened to the Darlington nurses. Seven nurses were forced to share a changing room with a transgender woman, someone who is male but who presents publicly as a woman. The Supreme Court was crystal clear: the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, and yet these nurses were subjected to pressure and intimidation for raising concerns about getting changed in front of someone who is a man.

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for giving way and the tone in which she is conducting this debate. Would she feel more comfortable, however, if a transgender man with balding hair and a full beard, who was behaving like a man and full of testosterone, was attending a female toilet facility at night at a motorway service station? I would not feel safe, but it seems she would feel safer in that situation than she would with a trans woman getting changed in front of nurses or attending a toilet.

[Dr Johnson]

I am not sure why the hon. Member has reached that conclusion. I am saying that this is based on biology, and people who are trans require the same protections as people who are not—that is what I have said very clearly.

The Darlington nurses were particularly brave in bringing their case forward. The cost was £187,000 in damages after an employment tribunal ruled in favour of them. That is a victory for dignity, for women and for common sense, but it is also a significant cost of public money to an NHS trust because it decided not to follow the law. That money could have been spent on patient care. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that this guidance is fully and properly implemented across the NHS? How will she ensure that a repeat of the Darlington nurses case does not happen again, and what guidance has been given to NHS managers on how to handle this?

The Minister for Women and Equalities did not help matters. She had the responsibility to sign off the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s draft code of practice to inform businesses, services and public bodies how to implement the Supreme Court’s guidance in law. But for over a year, the Government failed to lift a finger to enforce the law. For over a year, businesses, hospitals, service providers and public bodies were left waiting for the Government to tell them what the official guidance said. Now that it is here, we need to know how it is being implemented. How will the Minister ensure that this guidance is implemented universally in our NHS? How will the Government ensure that single-sex spaces are protected? What provision will they make for transgender individuals? What reassurance can the Minister give to women working in our NHS that they are safe? Our new clause 143 makes it clear that both staff and patients in the NHS must have access to single-sex spaces to protect their dignity and their privacy. I hope the Minister will be able to support this; I cannot see why she would not.

The Government have also decided to abolish Healthwatch and reduce the number of local Healthwatch branches. Healthwatch England has been engaging with patients since 2013, with more than 150 operating in a hub-and-spoke model, but that is about to change. Why? One reason seems to be to avoid duplication. The Government are clearly not keen on lots of Healthwatch branches doing the same thing in different areas of the country and feel that some branches may operate better than others. They say that they want to bring feedback closer to decision makers, but is that a good idea?

The Government could have chosen to improve Healthwatch as it stands. In 2023-24, more than 925,000 people used Healthwatch to get advice and information, and more than 300,000 shared their experiences to improve services. They could have increased awareness further and developed a clear feedback chain, but instead they have decided to abolish Healthwatch altogether. That is of grave concern. How can patients be expected to complain to the system about the system? The Prime Minister previously wrote:

“People speak to Healthwatch because they are outside the system—they are impartial, trusted, and provide a safe space for concerns to be shared.”

On that, he was right, and I ask the Minister to accept our amendment on this subject.

We have tabled a number of other amendments, including one on fracture liaison services, one that would produce a modern service framework for musculoskeletal care and others on radiotherapy, respiratory health, brain injury and the Government’s new medical devices regulations. However, I appreciate that we are short of time, so I will just make two short comments, if I may, Madam Deputy Speaker,

First, I of course agree with the intent of the Liberal Democrats’ amendment 140, but it requires the presence of HSSIB, and since the Government seem hellbent on removing that, I do not know how the amendment would work. New clause 81, a Back-Bench amendment that has been selected by Mr Speaker, relates to another really important issue. As a paediatrician, I see the importance of what it suggests. The regulations would need to be carefully drafted for those who have a brief illness, to define life-threatening illness more clearly and to avoid duplication of work, but in principle, it is an important amendment. I commend our amendments to the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Karin Smyth]

I thank my hon. Friend for her best wishes and commend the work that she and many other Members are doing directly with their trusts to understand the impact of the work that we are doing to bring down those waiting lists and improve access for patients. As I have said, corridor care is a sign of systemic failure in the system and is unacceptable. I think we have all witnessed it in our local trusts, but it is coming down in places, and we want to continue to see it eradicated.

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for North East Hertfordshire (Chris Hinchliff) for his championing of the families of children suffering from life-threatening illnesses. I know that Members on both sides of the House recognise the profound impact that receiving a diagnosis of a life-threatening condition has on a child and their family. It is vital that all these families feel supported, informed and cared for, and I wholeheartedly recognise that the support that they are offered now is often not proactive or joined up, with the onus, as he said, being on families to navigate the system and seek support themselves.

With that in mind, the Government commissioned a report on the mental health impacts of life-threatening childhood illness on families, named in the memory of Hugh Menai-Davis. I pay tribute to Hugh’s parents for their campaigning and offer them my deepest condolences.

The report process is progressing well, and I can commit to the report being published in this Parliament, with a full Government response issued within three months of publication. For too long, children’s health has not been a priority, which is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has directed the Department to make maternal and child health central to its work. We know that a child’s health has ramifications for the wellbeing of the whole family, and there must be better solutions to join up support for parents of unwell children.

The new cross-Government mental health strategy will also address how we better support parents and families, and the Government intend to work closely with parents, families and campaigners to identify workable solutions and make available more proactive support.

I turn now to the Opposition amendments, starting with new clause 142, in the name of the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson).

[Rachel Taylor]

Will the Minister give way?

[Karin Smyth]

I will carry on.

As the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham knows well, provisions are already in place to appropriately control access to puberty-suppressing hormones for children and young people presenting with gender incongruence or dysphoria. Children and young people with gender incongruence deserve evidence-based care. The Cass review recommended a clinical trial to provide high-quality comparative evidence on the potential benefits and risks of the medicines. That is now under way.

I agree with the comments from the hon. Member for North Shropshire, but I have to disagree with the view of the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham that, uniquely, access to these types of medicines must be subject to the scrutiny and approval of Parliament. I think that, as a clinician, she understands that.

I would also like to address new clause 143. As the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham knows, the EHRC’s updated code of practice for services, public functions and associations commenced on 5 August. It provides guidance on how sex-based distinctions in the Equality Act can be applied, including in the NHS. This new clause is unnecessary. This legislation is the law and the law is clear. The NHS will obviously follow the law. New guidance has been drafted and will be published imminently. For the record, I am due next week to meet the Darlington nurses who she spoke for. I agree that they were brave; they should not have had to go through what they went through.

I want to address new clauses 41 and 42 on funeral regulation in the name of the hon. Member for Gosport (Dame Caroline Dinenage), who spoke powerfully on behalf of the whole House; I commend the work that she has done. My hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice (Emma Hardy) has spoken to me in great detail about this issue, as has my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds South West and Morley (Mark Sewards).

The Government were appalled by the offences committed by Robert Bush and the profound harm caused to bereaved families. Every deceased person must be treated with care, respect and dignity. We are undertaking urgent work to develop comprehensive proposals, including formal regulation of the funeral sector to drive out rogue operators and strengthen protection for bereaved families. As the hon. Member for Gosport said, operators that work well will also want to see this. We will begin sharing proposals shortly, and I am very happy to include hon. Members in the discussions.

[Karin Smyth]

Absolutely, and I am committed to working with my hon. Friend and many other hon. Members across the House.

I was pleased to meet my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester Withington (Jeff Smith) to discuss his amendments concerning medicines. I hope that I reassured him—from his speech, I think that I did—that the Government do support well-designed research into innovative treatments using controlled drugs, where this is conducted safely and appropriately. We also understand the complexities involved, including the need to minimise the risk of harm and misuse. That is why we are working across government to consider how to implement the recommendations from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to reduce barriers to research with schedule 1 controlled drugs. I committed to write to my hon. Friend to set that out further; I will do.

A number of hon. Members tabled amendments on issues with their local infrastructure. We have already published the capital plan and improved long-term capital planning to improve local infrastructure.

I think that I have addressed most things—

[Rachel Taylor]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Karin Smyth]

I am so sorry; I will to talk to my hon. Friend later. The debate has been wide ranging. If there are things that I have missed, I commit to getting back to hon. Members. I know that my noble Friend Baroness Merron is committed to working co-operatively with all Members as the Bill proceeds through the other House.