Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the International Civil Aviation Organisation's permitting of the use of X (unspecified) on passports, for what reasons the Government does not issue non-gendered X passports for people who do not identify as either male or female.

United Kingdom legislation only recognises two legal sexes or genders; male and female. There is no legal recognition of a third gender. Her Majesty’s Passport Office can therefore only issue passports indicating ‘male’ or ‘female’.

The Government is aware of an increasing number of people who identify as neither exclusively male nor female. We have committed to carrying out a call for evidence on the experiences of people who have a non-binary gender identity. The evidence gathered from this exercise will inform the Government’s next steps in this area.