Baroness Maclean of Redditch

Each application for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) is independently evaluated by the Gender Recognition Panel, underpinned by a range of required evidence. Certificates are only granted to those who meet the criteria, and not everyone who applies is granted one and circumstances are taken into account.

In order to be granted a GRC, an applicant must meet a high threshold of requirements:

• Be over 18
• Provide minimum of 2 years’ worth of evidence that they are living in their acquired gender
• Provide a medical report confirming a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a UK doctor
• Provide a medical report countersigning the diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a psychiatrist or another doctor
• Provide a signed statutory declaration that the applicant intends to remain in their acquired gender until death.

There are safeguards in place to ensure that the relevant authorities can manage the risk posed by sex offenders. These include a requirement for registered sex offenders to notify the police of any changes to their personal information such as change of name. Furthermore, as previously stated, the police can require registered sex offenders to notify them of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance of using it. If a person with any criminal record were to obtain a GRC, this would not remove or invalidate past sentences served in their previous gender.

We continue to monitor these arrangements to ensure they safeguard the public.

Each application for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) is independently evaluated by the Gender Recognition Panel, underpinned by a range of required evidence. Certificates are only granted to those who meet the criteria, and not everyone who applies is granted one and circumstances are taken into account.

In order to be granted a GRC, an applicant must meet a high threshold of requirements:

• Be over 18
• Provide minimum of 2 years’ worth of evidence that they are living in their acquired gender
• Provide a medical report confirming a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a UK doctor
• Provide a medical report countersigning the diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a psychiatrist or another doctor
• Provide a signed statutory declaration that the applicant intends to remain in their acquired gender until death.

There are safeguards in place to ensure that the relevant authorities can manage the risk posed by sex offenders. These include a requirement for registered sex offenders to notify the police of any changes to their personal information such as change of name. Furthermore, as previously stated, the police can require registered sex offenders to notify them of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance of using it. If a person with any criminal record were to obtain a GRC, this would not remove or invalidate past sentences served in their previous gender.

We continue to monitor these arrangements to ensure they safeguard the public.

Each application for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) is independently evaluated by the Gender Recognition Panel, underpinned by a range of required evidence. Certificates are only granted to those who meet the criteria, and not everyone who applies is granted one and circumstances are taken into account.

In order to be granted a GRC, an applicant must meet a high threshold of requirements:

• Be over 18
• Provide minimum of 2 years’ worth of evidence that they are living in their acquired gender
• Provide a medical report confirming a diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a UK doctor
• Provide a medical report countersigning the diagnosis of gender dysphoria from a psychiatrist or another doctor
• Provide a signed statutory declaration that the applicant intends to remain in their acquired gender until death.

There are safeguards in place to ensure that the relevant authorities can manage the risk posed by sex offenders. These include a requirement for registered sex offenders to notify the police of any changes to their personal information such as change of name. Furthermore, as previously stated, the police can require registered sex offenders to notify them of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance of using it. If a person with any criminal record were to obtain a GRC, this would not remove or invalidate past sentences served in their previous gender.

We continue to monitor these arrangements to ensure they safeguard the public.

The For Women Scotland Ltd vs The Scottish Ministers judgment ruled that for the purposes of the Equality Act, “woman” is a biological woman. The ruling makes clear that a Gender Recognition Certificate does not change a person’s sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has submitted a draft Code of Practice to Ministers, and we are reviewing it with the care it deserves. The Code concerns how the Equality Act 2010 applies to services, associations and those exercising public functions.

There are significant safeguards built into the process for obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) under the Gender Recognition Act 2004; not everyone who applies is granted one. Additionally, there are safeguards in place to ensure that the relevant authorities can manage the risk posed by sex offenders. These include a requirement for registered sex offenders to notify the police of any changes to their personal information such as change of name. Alongside this, His Majesty’s Passport Office monitors high-risk offenders to ensure they cannot obtain a new passport without police consultation. Failure to comply with requirements in this area is a criminal offence.

The Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a range of legislative changes which will strengthen the management of registered sex offenders, including where they aim to change their name.

Where the police consider it necessary to protect the public or children or vulnerable adults from sexual harm, they will be able to serve a notice on offenders requiring them to seek the police’s authorisation before applying to change their name on a specified identity document (namely, a UK passport, driving licence or immigration document).

Police will also be able to require registered sex offenders to notify them of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance of using it, or if that is not reasonably practicable, as far in advance of their using it as it is reasonably practicable.

We continue to monitor these arrangements to ensure they safeguard the public.

Yes the answer was correct at the time of writing.

On Wednesday 7 January, the Government published the Enactment Summary Impact Assessment for the Employment Rights Act 2025. This forms part of a comprehensive package of 29 Impact Assessments analysing the impact of the Act: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments. As per our Better Regulation requirements, each Impact Assessment includes a small and micro business assessment.

The Government has published 29 Impact Assessments representing a comprehensive package of analysis on the impact of the Employment Rights Act: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments. As per our Better Regulation requirements, each Impact Assessment includes a small and micro business assessment.

The Government will be publishing an Enactment Impact Assessment on the impacts of the Employment Rights Act. This assessment can be found here when published: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments

The Government will be publishing an Enactment Impact Assessment on the impacts of the Employment Rights Act. This assessment can be found here when published: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments

My department has published a robust set of Impact Assessments that provide a comprehensive analysis on the potential impact of the Employment Rights Act, available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments

This analysis includes consideration of increases in labour costs for businesses and the subsequent effects, as well as assessments on how the proposed zero hour contract measures could affect different groups in the labour market. The impact on younger people and students will depend on the regulations following consultation, however it is important to note the measures will focus on exploitative zero hours contracts to ensure people are able to access guaranteed hours. For those who want to remain on a zero hours contract, for example many students, they will still be able to.

A greater proportion of our school children are educated in special schools than at any time in the past fifty years.

For the first time in 2023, the school capacity survey asked local authorities to provide data on the capacity of special schools and the capacity of special education needs (SEN) units and resourced provision in mainstream schools, as well as their forecast future demand for specialist provision. This is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-capacity-in-england-academic-year-2023-to-2024.

Since 2015/16, the number of children in all types of special schools has increased from 115,000 to 200,000 in 2024/25. The number of specialist placements overall is expected to continue to increase based on current trends.

The department also collects numbers of pupils on roll with SEN through the school census with data from 2025/26 onwards. Data is published by type of provision and can be accessed here at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england-january-2025.

Every child deserves an education that meets their needs, is academically stretching, where they feel like they belong, and that sets them up for life and work

As part of the government’s Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and restore the trust of parents. We will do this by ensuring schools have the tools to better identify and support children before issues escalate.

The department has improved data by disaggregating the SEN2 data collection from 2023. This change enabled more detailed, pupil level analysis of education health and care (EHC) plans and the processes associated with it, providing deeper insights into specific patterns and trends to support decision-making. The annual EHC plan statistics report provides information on the numbers of children and young people with an EHC plan

International evidence indicates that the number of children and young people with SEN is also increasing in comparable countries. Although definitions and systems vary considerably between countries, the key drivers include improved understanding and diagnosis of need, as well as social and medical factors.

The government remains committed to providing opportunities to study and work abroad, especially for those participants from disadvantaged backgrounds. We expect that over 100,000 people could benefit from mobility and partnership opportunities from Erasmus+ participation in 2027/28. Placement totals will depend on the length of each placement and grant rates. The Erasmus+ Work Programme sets out budget thresholds for education by sector. Thresholds for 2027 will be published in the 2027 Erasmus+ Work Programme.

The department does not collect data on the religion of the parents of children in Elective Home Education (EHE).

The information requested is not readily available, and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.

The information requested is not readily available, and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.

The Secretary of State has commissioned the Right Honourable Alan Milburn to author a report that will seek to understand the drivers of the increase in the number of young people who are not in education, employment, or training. He will be supported by a panel of experts with diverse expertise and will be mobilising the existing Youth Guarantee Advisory Panel.

The research and analysis to inform the report will aim to improve our understanding of the number of young people not in education, employment or training, including identification of those with health needs.

The information requested is not readily available, and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.

The information requested is not readily available, and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.

In 2025/26, total forecast mental health spend is £15.6 billion, which works out at 8.71% of the recurrent National Health Service baseline of £179.4 billion. This was set out in a Written Ministerial Statement by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 27 March 2025.

As the Medium-Term Planning Framework makes clear, we need a new approach for mental health to drive down waits, improve the quality of care, and increase the productivity of mental health services.

Funding is a key part of this. We have set out that over the next three years, integrated care boards will be required to meet the mental health investment standard by protecting mental health spending in real terms. In other words, rising in line with inflation from 2026/27.

There has been no campaign spend for Every Mind Matters over the period requested. However, a campaign launched over the new year and is running until the end of March 2026 to encourage people to take new NHS Healthy Choices Quiz which asks questions about six health topics, including mental health and sleep. People whose answers to the quiz indicate mental health difficulties will be signposted to appropriate help, including Every Mind Matters, NHS Talking Therapies, or other National Health Service mental health services.

In 2019, the UK Chief Medical Officers published a commentary on the findings of a systematic review on screen-based activities and children’s mental health. They found an association between screen-based activities and mental health but could not establish causality. The commentary is avaiable in the document attached.

On 20 January 2026, the Government announced a forthcoming consultation on how to ensure children have a healthy relationship with devices, introduce rapid trials on measures to reduce screentime and limit access at night, and produce evidence-informed screentime guidance for parents of children aged five to 16 years old. This three-month consultation will be evidence-led, with input from independent experts, and will include determining the right minimum age for children to access social media. It will report in the summer.

Over the past decade, greater public awareness and reduced stigma around mental health have coincided with a rise in common mental health conditions and increased demand for National Health Service support, highlighting the need to better understand and address people’s needs.

The independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism will therefore examine a range of potential drivers of mental health conditions, the impact of clinical practice, including the role of diagnosis, opportunities for prevention and early intervention, and models of support within and beyond the NHS.

The review’s Terms of Reference are published on the GOV.UK website, in an online only format.

We are concerned that many adults, young people, and children with mental health conditions have been let down by services and are not receiving timely or appropriate support and treatment. That is why we have launched an independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism, which will look to understand the similarities and differences between mental health conditions, ADHD, and autism.

The review will look at prevalence, early intervention, and treatment, and the current challenges facing clinical services. The review will also examine the extent to which diagnosis, medicalisation, and treatment improve outcomes for individuals. This will include exploring the evidence around clinical practice and the risks and benefits of medicalisation. It will also seek to identify opportunities to provide different models of support and pathways, within and beyond the National Health Service, that promote prevention and early intervention, supplementing clinical support.

The Government recognises rising demand for children and young people’s mental health services.

Through the Plan for Change and our 10-Year Health Plan, we are transforming the mental health system to strengthen clinical pathways and improve access to early support, while reducing the longest waits for specialist care and tackling regional disparities.

The independent review into mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism is examining the drivers of rising prevalence and demand, to ensure people receive the right support, at the right time, and in the right place.

More widely, we are accelerating the rollout of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, with national coverage expected by 2029. By this spring, approximately 60% of pupils will have access to early mental health support, up from 44% in spring 2024.

The UK is a great place to start a business, with the third largest venture capital market after the US and China, generous tax reliefs for investors in early-stage companies and the lowest corporation tax rate in the G7. Over the last financial year, 800,000 new businesses incorporated.

In the Budget, the Chancellor built on these strengths by expanding our enterprise tax reliefs to incentivise investment in scaling firms and support them to attract top talent, by targeting British Business Bank investment towards these companies, and by committing to public procurement reforms to make the UK government a better customer to innovative businesses.

HM Treasury will continue to monitor the implementation of Budget measures and analyse their impact on the wider economy to inform future policy development.

The Home Office does not hold information on the number of sexual offences committed by individuals who have a Gender Recognition Certificate. Individuals that are convicted of sexual offences and qualify for management by the multi-agency public protection arrangements are risk managed according to the risk they pose, rather than their gender.

The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release on GOV.UK. Data on the number of grants where sexual orientation forms part of the claim is published in table SOC_00 of the ‘Asylum claims on the basis of sexual orientation’ dataset. The latest data relates to 2023.Updated published data from 2023 onwards is currently unavailable due to ongoing work as immigration data transitions to a new case working system and it will be included in a future edition of the Immigration System Statistics Release. There is currently no confirmed date for the next release of this data,but we intend to resume publishing in 2026. Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics,as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics forfuture release.

We are committed to ensuring that the voices of victims and survivors continue to be meaningfully heard to inform our work to establish the national inquiry into group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse.

We are continuing to engage with those victims and survivors that remain in the consultation group established by the National Working Group (NWG). This ensures that their voices are heard in a safe, supportive environment that is sensitive to the trauma they have endured.

We are sorry that some have felt discouraged and have chosen to leave that group, and we respect their decision to do so. There is a range of views within the victim and survivor community, and it is important that all voices are heard. As we have said to those who left the consultation group, the door remains open should they wish to engage with us further.

In addition, the national inquiry, once established, will develop its own plans for engaging victims and survivors who wish to do so. Baroness Casey is now supporting efforts to identify a Chair that can earn the trust of those who have been let down far too often, and we will confirm the appointment as soon as possible.

The Government is considering the implications of the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex within the Equality Act. The Government Statistical Service Harmonisation team, based in the Office for National Statistics, are also in the process of reviewing standards and guidance for statistical data on sex and on gender identity. Once this has concluded the Government will review current guidance to agencies that collect crime statistics across the criminal justice system.

We are working urgently to establish the Inquiry and Baroness Casey of Blackstock is supporting this process. Our immediate priority is appointing a Chair with the credibility and experience to lead the inquiry, ensuring a trauma-informed approach to engaging victims and survivors throughout - from its design to reporting. We aim to announce a Chair as soon as possible. Under the Inquiries Act, the Minister is responsible for defining the scope and structure of an inquiry. Once a Chair is appointed, in line with the requirements of the Inquiries Act 2005, the Chair will play a central role in shaping the Inquiry’s Terms of Reference.