Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Oral Answers to Questions

Daniel Zeichner Excerpts
Tuesday 24th January 2017

(7 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Daniel Zeichner Portrait Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) (Lab)
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Will the Minister confirm that that means there is no longer a requirement for a gender recognition certificate? Will he also tell us how confident he is that these guidelines are being applied across the whole estate and when he expects to do an assessment of their impact?

Phillip Lee Portrait Dr Lee
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The underlying principle is that people are cared for and managed in the gender with which they identify, rather than that being based solely on their legally recognised gender. As I said earlier, the guidelines came about through interaction with various independent organisations, and staff are being trained in this area. I think some perspective is required here: we have a prison system that is traditionally male-female, and we are dealing with relatively small numbers, but, yes, I am keeping an eye on this issue. In particular, with regard to recent tragic events, I am also looking individually at each case.