Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with universities to ensure academics with gender-critical views are not treated differently and that their research is allowed to be published.

This government is absolutely committed to freedom of speech and academic freedom. Higher education (HE) must be a space for robust discussion and intellectual rigour. Academics must be allowed to test the truth of the ideas that shape society and participate in the free exchange of ideas.

The department has confirmed our plans for the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which will create a more proportionate, balanced and less burdensome approach to protecting free speech and protecting researchers’ rights to academic freedom. From 1 August 2025, providers have strengthened duties to secure and promote the importance of free speech. These duties require HE providers to take reasonably practicable steps to protect those expressing lawful views, including those which may be gender critical.

The Office for Students has also set out detailed published guidance for HE providers on how to implement their duties and protect academic freedom, including in relation to the expression of gender critical views.

As well as taking reasonably practicable steps to protect the lawful freedom of speech and academic freedom of all academics, including those with gender critical beliefs, HE providers must also comply with relevant provisions of the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits unlawful discrimination in relation to protected characteristics, such as gender critical beliefs.