Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the courts service record the gender of a person convicted of a sexual assault as “male” if they possess male genitalia, regardless of their preferred gender identity.

Courts are required by the Courts Act 2003 and Criminal Procedure Rules to ask defendants to provide name, date of birth and nationality (the latter now only after sentence and in circumstances specified by the relevant rule). If and once an individual is remanded or sentenced into prison custody, HM Prison Service records their legal gender. Where the individual’s self-identified gender differs, this is also recorded, whilst making clear on the record that this is not their legally recognised gender.

There are currently no plans to alter these procedures.