Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Independent Review of Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender

Tuesday 25 March 2025 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Joani Reid thanked the Secretary of State for his response, emphasizing the importance of accurately recording biological sex to ensure patient safety.
  • Dr Caroline Johnson inquired about meetings between the Secretary of State and the Science Secretary regarding the reliability of health data, specifically mentioning the Sullivan review.
  • Dr Caroline Johnson highlighted an issue with the UK Health Security Agency's dataset defining women to include trans women, raising concerns about the conflation of sex and gender identity in data analysis.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Joani Reid Lab East Kilbride and Strathaven
NHS Women & Equalities
Context

The independent review by Professor Alice Sullivan highlights issues in the accurate recording of sex and gender identity. This includes cases where trans patients are not invited for cancer screening due to inaccurate records.

Question

I thank the Secretary of State for his response, which will give much-needed reassurance to patients across the UK. Any public body that fails to accurately record sex and instead conflates it with gender puts people at serious risk of harm. Unfortunately, this type of organisational capture has been widespread across Scotland, with devastating consequences. Can the Secretary of State assure me that he will raise this issue with his counterparts in the Scottish Government to ensure that NHS Scotland does not put my constituents at risk?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)

I will absolutely undertake to share the approach we are taking with my counterparts across the United Kingdom. The approach I have always taken is one that understands the importance of biological sex, that recognises, understands and supports that someone’s gender identity may not always match their biological sex, and that seeks to navigate a way through what has been an extremely toxic and sometimes harmful debate in a way that protects the sex-based rights of women and protects trans people and their identity. I know that my colleagues across Government are taking an equally sensitive approach, and I think it would be in everyone’s interests if we saw a similar approach across the whole of the United Kingdom.

Answered
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Q2 Caroline Johnson Con Sleaford and North Hykeham
NHS Science & Technology
Context

The Sullivan review highlights issues with data reliability, affecting the digital verification platform in the Data (Use and Access) Bill.

Question

Given the findings of the Sullivan review on patient and health safety, which came about as a result of inaccurate and poor data collection, can the right hon. Gentleman confirm what meetings he has had with Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology to discuss the reliability of the data on sex that is intended to be used by the digital verification platform in the Data (Use and Access) Bill?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)

I am grateful to the shadow Minister for her question. I speak to the Science Secretary on too frequent a basis—on a daily basis. He and I are both looking very carefully at the findings of the Sullivan review and working through its implications for both the health and care services, for which I am responsible, and for the Government digital and data services, for which he is responsible.

Answered
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Q3 Caroline Johnson Con Sleaford and North Hykeham
NHS Women & Equalities
Context

The UK Health Security Agency publishes data on sexually transmitted infections, but a footnote defines women as ‘women and trans women’, which can undermine the value of the data.

Question

The UK Health Security Agency, for which the Secretary of State is responsible, publishes health statistics. This includes data on sexually transmitted infections, which is published by sexual orientation and sex. However, a footnote states that women are defined in the dataset as ‘women and trans women’, which does somewhat undermine the value of the data. What will the Secretary of State do to ensure that data is not just collected properly, but published and presented in a way that is most clinically useful?

Answer from The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Wes Streeting)

The shadow Minister raises a good example of how conflation of sex and gender identity is not helpful both in terms of data analysis and of recognising health inequalities. It is also not helpful in making sure that we understand variances between people based on their different backgrounds and characteristics and that we provide targeted, personalised and effective healthcare that deals with healthcare inequalities. That is why we are carefully studying the recommendations made by Professor Sullivan, with a view to making sure that we are meeting the needs of everyone, including the trans community.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Specific measures for data presentation were not detailed in response to concerns about current definitions and footnotes undermining data value.

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