Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 29
29
Not Addressed
We welcome confirmation from the Department of Health and Social Care that the LGBT Action...
Recommendation
We welcome confirmation from the Department of Health and Social Care that the LGBT Action Plan is considered a point of reference for the Department. However, we are concerned that the Government Equalities Office appears to have abandoned it. This demonstrates how disjointed the Governments approach to LGBT+ issues is. It is also concerning that the GEO is ignoring the valuable experiences and concerns of LGBT+ people across the UK. The Government’s own LGBT Advisory Panel made it clear that the commitments in the LGBT Action Plan should continue to be implemented, before it was disbanded. The Government should commit at the earliest possible opportunity to continuing the implementation of the LGBT Action Plan across all departments. It should also reinstate its LGBT Advisory Panel, to demonstrate willingness to implement the actions outlined in the Plan - driven by 78 Reform of the Gender Recognition Act the data from the National LGBT Survey. We call on the Government to write to this Committee outlining the next steps in this work and providing a timetable by which they hope to achieve it. (Paragraph 221) Non-binary Gender Recognition
Government response summary AI-generated
The government's response defines the term 'spouse' and does not address the recommendation to commit to the LGBT Action Plan or reinstate the LGBT Advisory Panel.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government · verbatim extract
Not Addressed
Significant progress has been made in delivering those commitments including appointing Dr Brady as the National LGBT Health Advisor, taking action to tackle bullying in schools, and taking steps to ensure the safety of LGBT people at home and abroad. Last year, before the Committee, the Minister for Women and Equalities set out her top LGBT policy priorities. The Government is committed to promoting and realising equality for LGBT people at home and abroad and we continue to be recognised as one of the top 10 countries in Europe for LGBT rights. We are making good progress towards delivering these priorities. We have run a public consultation on our plans to ban so-called conversion therapy; we are digitising the GRC application process, having already reduced the fee; and we are improving healthcare for trans people. In December 2021, the Government published the HIV Action Plan, whilst also announcing the end of the ban on HIV+ people joining the UK armed forces. We have also included action on so-called ‘chemsex’ in the new 10 Year Drugs Strategy, and deepened our understanding of LGBT homelessness in liaison with key stakeholders. We have announced a review into the impact of the historic ban on LGBT veterans and the extension in scope of the Disregard scheme. We will set out further details on other policies in due course and will always be happy to update the Committee on our progress. The UK will also be hosting its first global LGBT conference in June, Safe To Be Me, which will bring together government representatives, businesses, civil society and international parliamentarians to address the safety of LGBT people at home and abroad. Alongside the team of Ministers working on equality issues, we are able to draw on advice from experts on LGBT equality, these include the LGBT business champion, Iain Anderson, the National Advisor on LGBT health, Dr Michael Brady, and the UK Special Envoy on LGBT rights, Lord Herbert of South Downs.
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