Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 19 March (HL5631), whether the Collection of Client Level Adult Social Care Data (No 3) Directions 2023 will be revised to mandate collection of data on sex and not gender following the publication of the Sullivan Review and the decision in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16.

Our guidance to local authorities on the adult social care data collections is kept under continuous review to ensure that it is fit for purpose and in line with the relevant legislation.

The Collection of Client Level Adult Social Care Data (No 3) Directions 2023 set out the data that local authorities are required to collect and submit, for the Department to produce national data on the provision of adult social care in England. The 2023 Directions do not preclude local authorities from collecting any further information, including for example sex, that local authorities may consider necessary to effectively discharge their legal obligations.