Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Kamall on 24 May (HL476 and HL475), what is the legal underpinning for the policy set out in the Gender Identity Toolkit for General Practice that only gender, not sex and gender, are included on medical records.

The Gender Recognition Act 2004 provides additional rights and safeguards for those with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), such as making it an offence to disclose protected information. This includes information pertaining to the previously recorded sex of a person who holds a GRC where that information has been obtained in an official capacity and the person has not consented to its disclosure, subject to limited exceptions.

The Gender Identity Toolkit for General Practice is made available by the Institute of General Practice Management, Indigo Gender Service, Practice Index and Pride in Practice. However, it is not Government guidance. The Toolkit provides voluntary information to general practices on the administration of changes to medical records and makes reference to the Gender Recognition Act.