Public bodies must not conflate sex with gender in data, report author warns

Public bodies need to collect data on biological sex “across the board”, the author of a report that flagged the risks of conflating it with gender identity has said.

Individuals have been able to change their gender marker on their NHS records, while crime statistics have recorded some people’s preferred gender rather than their actual sex, Professor Alice Sullivan, who wrote the report commissioned by the previous government, said.

A minister 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.

The report 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 made a recommendation to the Home Secretary to order 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”.

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

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there has been “a confusion between sex and transgender and gender diverse identities” and attempts to “merge these two things into one variable”.

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.”

She added: “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 minister said the Government would look at recommendations from the review.

Defence minister Luke Pollard said told 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.

Collecting accurate data on sex is vital for “the right prevention in health activities to make sure that we’re keeping people safe”, he said.

“We’re going to read the report … and use that as part of our efforts to make sure that we are preventing cancers, in particular, which is what the report majors on.”

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

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.”