Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their policy for the NHS to refer to "people who have ovaries" rather than "women" and whether this phraseology has been market tested with women, including those for whom English is a second language, to ensure that it is fully understood.

It is not Government policy for the National Health Service to refer to ‘people who have ovaries’ and this phraseology has not been market tested. We have been clear that biological sex matters and it is important to use language that recognises the separate health and biological needs of men and women.

For all sex-specific conditions, we expect the language used to put biological sex, for example “women”, front and centre, with biologically-relevant information relating to specific organs or hormones secondary.