Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 26 October (HL3010), what plans they have to engage with stakeholders before the publication of NHS England's Unified Information Standard on Protected Characteristics including with groups who do not wish sex to be redefined.

The Unified Information Standard for Protected Characteristics will assist in improving the consistency and comparability of healthcare data, improving our understanding of service access and outcomes by protected characteristics. Greater transparency should enable service improvement and assist the National Health Service in meeting its duties under equalities legislation.

The recommendations are based on the views of stakeholders as well as a comprehensive review of available evidence and literature. The report, once published, will be accompanied by further stakeholder engagement, including with groups who do not wish their sex to be redefined. The report recommends recording of sex at birth and collection of data on gender reassignment. The detail of how this recommendation could be implemented will require further stakeholder engagement in due course.