Data on biological sex is key for patient safety, Health Secretary says

Keeping NHS records of biological sex is key for patient safety, Wes Streeting has said, backing a report that warned against conflating it with gender identity.

The Health Secretary said he would act on the findings of an independent review led by Professor Alice Sullivan and commissioned by the previous government.

“The Sullivan Review underlines the importance of recording biological sex – not just for research and insight, but also patient safety,” he posted on X.

“Doing so does not prevent us from recording, recognising and respecting people’s gender identity where these differ. We’ll act on findings.”

A minister had earlier said having accurate data was “vital” across Government, but especially important for health services such as preventative screening for cancer, while the Government said the report has been shared with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and other departments.

The report urged public bodies to collect data on both sex and gender identity to ensure that nationally-held data is accurate.

It said a trend had emerged to ask about sex and gender in a single question, and that they are “distinct concepts” that should not be conflated or combined.

It recommended the Home Secretary orders police forces to record data on sex in their systems and stop allowing changes to be made to individual sex markers on the police national computer.

It also says new NHS numbers and changed gender markers should no longer be issued to individuals.

It flags a safeguarding risk to children in particular and urges the practice be suspended “as a matter of urgency”.

The Home Secretary is looking into the recommendation on data in police forces “to make sure that we’re keeping the public safe”, defence minister Luke Pollard told LBC.

He also stressed the need for accurate public health data to have the “right prevention in health activities” and said the Government would look to the report in its work to prevent cancers, in remarks to Times Radio.

“What is important is that we recognise that the accurate collection of data is vital, not just for the public health component, which much of this report, I believe, majors on, but across government.”

Prof Sullivan said there is no reason for a “trade-off” between recording data on sex and gender.

Ms Sullivan said: “It’s this confusion around the word ‘gender’, which I think everybody used to recognise as simply a synonym for ‘sex’, and it’s become something else – it’s become a way of recording gender diverse identities.

“What I’ve argued in this report is that sex is really important, we should be recording it by default – transgender and gender diverse identities can also be recorded where that’s appropriate.

“There’s no reason to see this as a trade-off between the two. They’re two distinct variables.”

She urged the Government to implement the recommendations “across the board”.

“I’ve recommended that data on sex should be collected by default in all research and data collection commissioned by Government and quasi-governmental organisations, and I think implementing that would make a huge difference.

“I think we need leadership, because people are confused and they’re anxious.

“This is not a partisan issue and it’s very damaging when it starts to be seen as a partisan issue – it’s a basic common sense issue, not a left-right issue.”

A Government spokesperson said: “This Government is clear that the collection of accurate and relevant data is vital in research and the operation of effective public services, particularly when it comes to sex.

“We are grateful to Professor Sullivan for her work, which has been shared with relevant Government departments and public organisations, including the ONS.”