Dan Carden

As announced in 2020, we believe the Gender Recognition Act 2004 is effective, strikes the right balance and allows for those who wish to legally change their sex. We have no plans to change it.

I refer the Hon Member to the answers I gave in the House in response to an urgent question, on Tuesday 24^th January 2023, Hansard column 878: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-01-24/debates/46921D78-FB26-44A3-81F1-013530CC7C6D/EqualMarriageChurchOfEngland

The Government has engaged with a wide range of international counterparts including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Malta, to understand the approaches they have taken to ban conversion therapy. We will continue to engage with counterparts around the world that are committed to protecting everyone from conversion practices to share insight and develop our approach.

The Government has been liaising with territorial offices and the devolved administrations including the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive on this important issue.

Officials will continue to work with their counterparts across the devolved administrations to discuss the UK Government’s approach to protecting everyone in England and Wales from conversion therapy practices.

The Government has been liaising with territorial offices and the devolved administrations including the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive on this important issue.

Officials will continue to work with their counterparts across the devolved administrations to discuss the UK Government’s approach to protecting everyone in England and Wales from conversion therapy practices.

Since May 2022, the Government has launched a support service open to all victims or those at risk of conversion practices regardless of their background or circumstances. The Government has committed up to £360,000 over three years to this service. The service includes a helpline, instant messaging service, and website to enable people to get the support they need.

More widely, the Government remains committed to protecting everyone from these practices. We are carefully considering the responses to the public consultation which closed earlier this year and will respond in due course.

The Equality Hub Ministers and officials have met with healthcare professionals in developing the policy approach to protecting all individuals from conversion practices. Many such organisations responded to the public consultation that closed in February 2022.

We will continue to meet with healthcare professionals to inform our approach and will respond to the consultation in due course.

The Equality Hub Ministers and officials have met with healthcare professionals in developing the policy approach to protecting all individuals from conversion practices. Many such organisations responded to the public consultation that closed in February 2022.

We will continue to meet with healthcare professionals to inform our approach and will respond to the consultation in due course.

All new Members returned at a General Election receive one-to-one meetings with members of the Registry Office at which the Code of Conduct is explained alongside their responsibilities in relation to the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. Members elected at by-elections have similar meetings with Members of the Registry Office. The Committee on Standards has said that it intends to hold an inquiry on raising awareness of the Code of Conduct and the Register. That inquiry will consider the provision of adequate and appropriate training. Members are always advised to seek the advice of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the Registry Office should they have any questions on the Code of Conduct and the Guide to the Rules.

Following the report from the Committee on Standards, Parliamentary Digital Service and the Registry Office established a project team to develop and deliver fully searchable registers and a new online interface for Members to register their interests. The initial phases of the project have been completed. The project board that oversees this work will now make proposals to the House authorities on the delivery of this work.

While the Government recognises the personal challenges faced by people with addictions or dependencies such as alcohol, we subscribe to the view of successive Governments since the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, that it is not appropriate to give such conditions protected status under discrimination law. Alcohol addiction or dependency therefore remains specifically excluded from the Act’s definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010 (Disability) Regulations 2010.

Addiction and dependency can however sometimes cause a disability – for example lung or kidney failure – or be the result of a disability, for example a mental health condition. Where the addiction arises due to medically prescribed drugs or other medical treatment – for example an individual who has an addiction to painkillers because they are prescribed following an accident or surgery – protection may also be available under the Act. We believe that this offers the right balance between protecting individuals on the one hand and employers and service providers on the other.

The Government has responded to the recent Women and Equalities Committee report on Reform of the Gender Recognition Act stating our view that the position we set out in September 2020 is right and appropriate. The balance struck in this legislation is correct. The evidential and diagnosis requirements in the GRA ensure that the process is rigorous and provides assurance that the system is robust, whilst offering provision for people who wish to change their legal sex.

The UK Government is committed to taking bold action to tackle the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. However, we are clear that countries cannot tackle environmental and climate crises alone; we need a concerted global effort. The Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use is an unprecedented commitment from 142 countries, covering over 91% of global forests, to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. It’s underpinned by almost $20bn of public and private finance, by sustainable trade and by support for indigenous peoples’ rights. We will work with other countries that endorsed the Declaration to convert this political commitment into strong action on forests and land use. This will include working through multilateral events in 2022 such as meetings of the G7 and G20, and at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The Equality Act 2010 is continually kept under review to ensure that it operates as intended. A formal post-legislative scrutiny of the Act took place in 2015 and there are no current plans for a further such exercise.

The Prime Minister’s 10-Point Plan and Net Zero Strategy sets out our blueprint for a Green Industrial Revolution. The plan invests in green technologies and industries; leverages billions of pounds of private sector investments to create and support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs, and level up across the UK. It’s a clear plan to build back greener from the covid pandemic.

The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) is part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Officials in the Equality Hub and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have discussed with the CDEI its Review into bias in algorithmic decision-making.

As part of its 2021-22 Annual Plan, the EHRC is developing guidance on artificial intelligence and the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), for government departments and public bodies. This is in response to recommendations from the CDEI as well as the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Additionally, as part of the planning process for the EHRC’s 2022-25 Strategic Plan, the Commission is engaging with key stakeholders, including the Ada Lovelace Institute and the Alan Turing Institute to build its capability to respond to the most pressing equality and human rights issues arising from the use of artificial intelligence.

This Government is committed to tackling the abhorrent practice of conversion therapy in the UK. As the Prime Minister has reiterated, this practice has no place in civilised society.

We are considering both legislative and non-legislative options to end conversion therapy practices for good. Officials have been reviewing the current legislative framework to see how harmful and unacceptable practices referred to as conversion therapy may already be captured by existing laws and offences. Where this is the case, we will look to ensure that the law is clear and enforced. Where conversion therapy practices are not already unlawful we are looking at the best ways to end these practices without sending them underground.

The Government is working at pace on ending conversion therapy and will outline in due course how it intends to proceed with an effective and proportionate response.

The Government is committed to responding to the recommendations in the second interim report as quickly as possible following the publication of the final report. The timeline for the publication of the final report is a matter for the independent Chair of the Infected Blood Inquiry.

I refer the Hon Member to HL8961. As set out previously, the Government committed to publishing the List of Ministerial Responsibilities before the Summer Recess. This was deposited in the House on Thursday 20th July 2023, and has been published on Gov.uk.

The pay review bodies are listed in the Schedule to the Public Appointments Order in Council. Appointments to these bodies are therefore regulated under the Order in Council and should be made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments published by the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office also provides ad-hoc support and advice to departments on a wide range of public appointment processes. This has been the case under successive administrations.

I thank the honourable Member for his continued engagement on this important subject, I would like to reassure the honourable Member that I responded to his email on 24 May 2023.

The Government welcomes the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s Second Interim report. Sir Brian Langstaff’s interim report will help the UK Government and Devolved Administrations to meet our shared objective to be able to respond quickly when the Inquiry’s final report is published in the autumn.

I refer the honourable member to the statement made on Wednesday 19 April 2023, in response to the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s Second Interim Report.

The Government considered the status of Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) as part of the Post Implementation Review of the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) published in 2022.

Evidence collected through a public consultation, dedicated engagement with stakeholders and lessons from recent emergencies did not demonstrate a clear need for making LRFs a legal entity.

Legal status could conflict with the duties placed on Categorised responders (such as emergency services, local authorities and utilities) and undermine the existing arrangement set out in the Act.

The review recognised the need to strengthen Local Resilience Forums in England and committed in the UK Government Resilience Framework to working across three key pillars of reform - Leadership, Accountability, and Integration of resilience into the UK’s levelling up mission.

The Security of Government Business provides summary direction and guidance to ministers on security matters. In line with practices across successive Administrations, the Government does not comment on internal security arrangements for ministers.

The Security of Government Business provides summary direction and guidance to ministers on security matters. This is expanded upon by Government Departments as relevant to a minister's roles and responsibilities. Expectations around the Security of Government Business are set out in the Ministerial Code.

The UK has robust safeguards to protect our institutions from corruption and we are determined to ensure transparency and accountability is embedded at all levels of government. The UK continues to be perceived as very low for corruption in comparison with the wider international community.

We have some of the strongest controls in the world to combat money laundering and illicit finance, and we continue to strengthen our approach through the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill which will bear down on the use of UK companies as vehicles for facilitating corruption. The Procurement Bill will also add greater transparency in contracting, with more data making it easier for the public to scrutinise decisions and clearer requirements on managing potential conflicts of interest.

The Government takes matters of security very seriously. Existing policy and guidance does not rule out the use of different forms of electronic communications in all circumstances. Government Departments routinely provide Ministers with advice and guidance on matters of security, including the appropriate management of Government information.

The Government intends to make an announcement on this soon.

As set out in the published List of Ministers' Interests, Ministers are asked to declare their relevant interests in a number of categories. Of the areas Ministers are asked to give information about, this includes:

• their financial interests, including both assets and liabilities

• any blind trusts or blind management arrangements they have set up

• directorships and shareholdings

• investment properties

Such declarations are reviewed by the Permanent Secretary and the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests, and advice is provided accordingly. This advice includes whether an interest should be included in the public List of Ministerial Interests as part of the process of avoiding or mitigating any conflict of interest.

I have committed to do so, and the information will be published in due course on gov.uk once the accompanying documentation has been compiled and completed.

I refer the Hon Member to the Prime Minister's comments to the House on 25 January (https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-01-25/debates/CC1C6066-E0E7-4BF6-84D4-BB5C11BC1EBA/Engagements#contribution-2261E821-4652-4AE6-A3D4-43A2323BE174 )

As the Hon Member will be aware, the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests provided his findings to the Prime Minister in a letter sent on 29 January 2023. The findings detail the relevant facts in relation to the disclosures made by the Rt Hon Member for Stratford-on-Avon. The advice was published in full on GOV.UK on the day it was received by the Prime Minister, and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House. Correspondence relating to the tax affairs of individual taxpayers is subject to statutory requirements on taxpayer confidentiality.

I refer the Hon Member to the Prime Minister's comments to the House on 25 January (https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-01-25/debates/CC1C6066-E0E7-4BF6-84D4-BB5C11BC1EBA/Engagements#contribution-2261E821-4652-4AE6-A3D4-43A2323BE174 )

As the Hon Member will be aware, the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests provided his findings to the Prime Minister in a letter sent on 29 January 2023. The findings detail the relevant facts in relation to the disclosures made by the Rt Hon Member for Stratford-on-Avon. The advice was published in full on GOV.UK on the day it was received by the Prime Minister, and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House. Correspondence relating to the tax affairs of individual taxpayers is subject to statutory requirements on taxpayer confidentiality.

I refer the Hon Member to the Prime Minister's comments to the House on 25 January (https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2023-01-25/debates/CC1C6066-E0E7-4BF6-84D4-BB5C11BC1EBA/Engagements#contribution-2261E821-4652-4AE6-A3D4-43A2323BE174 )

As the Hon Member will be aware, the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests provided his findings to the Prime Minister in a letter sent on 29 January 2023. The findings detail the relevant facts in relation to the disclosures made by the Rt Hon Member for Stratford-on-Avon. The advice was published in full on GOV.UK on the day it was received by the Prime Minister, and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House. Correspondence relating to the tax affairs of individual taxpayers is subject to statutory requirements on taxpayer confidentiality.

The Cabinet Office is not responsible for sanctions placed on Russian nationals. I refer the hon. Member to the urgent question answered by the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury on 25 January.

The industrial dispute with the Public and Commercial Services Union concerns a number of issues including pay. While pay for grades below the Senior Civil Service is determined by individual Departments and employers, we continue to engage with all Civil Service Trade Unions regarding cross Civil Service issues which are within the responsibilities of the Cabinet Office in attempting to help achieve a resolution.