Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the General Medical Council (GMC) about whether doctors are included on GMC registers by gender or biological sex.

The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors, physician assistants and physician assistants in anaesthesia, still legally known as anaesthesia associates and physician associates, practising in the United Kingdom. The GMC is independent of Government, directly accountable to Parliament and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties.

The GMC maintains the official register of registered medical practitioners. Under the Form and Content of the Register Regulations, the GMC records a doctor's gender rather than sex.

The Government has had some discussions with the GMC about this topic. In light of the Supreme Court ruling in the case of For Women Scotland v. The Scottish Ministers regarding the meaning of “sex” in the Equality Act 2010, the GMC is in the process of reviewing its policy position regarding the recording of a doctor’s gender or biological sex on its registers.