Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether gender identity is a protected characteristic and what training material on the Civil Service learning platform for civil servants states that the precise definition of discrimination in the Equality Act 2010 includes gender identity.

The relevant protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010 is ‘gender reassignment’. The Equality and Human Rights Commission website explains that: “To be protected from gender reassignment discrimination, you do not need to have undergone any specific treatment or surgery to change from your birth sex to your preferred gender. This is because changing your physiological or other gender attributes is a personal process rather than a medical one. You can be at any stage in the transition process – from proposing to reassign your gender, to undergoing a process to reassign your gender, or having completed it.”

The Civil Service training course ‘Inclusion in the Civil Service’ gives an explanation of the Equality Act 2010 as follows:

The Equality Act provides specific protection for people who have the following characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and Civil Partnerships
• Pregnancy and Maternity
• Race
• Religion and belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

However, the training does reference ‘gender identity’ as an area that could lead to discrimination. The current training is shortly being replaced with a new product called “Civil Service Expectations” which will more clearly reflect the legislation.