Current Consultations
Links to current third party surveys of interest to trans people can be found here
There is an opportunity for people who have recently come out of hospital to take part in a project that the DH is funding. The project, with the Design Council, will do the following:
- Help hospitals eliminate mixed-sex accommodation through physical or environmental design. Aspects on which patient views are sought will include partitioning or accommodation layout, among others.
- Help hospitals maximise privacy and dignity where it is not possible to provide complete segregation immediately. Here, views are sought on how services are delivered and process design, as well as physical design concepts.
- On behalf of the Design Council, I am reaching out to a number of groups who have recently expressed interest in this area. In view of our past association, I thought members of your organisation might wish to take part.
Participants need to have had recent experience of being in hospital. A discussion group will take place in central London, or people may be interviewed in their homes (locations in the South of the UK will be most helpful).
The timescale is very short – the work needs to be done by September 1st. Also, depending on responses received, it may be that only the first numbers of people who make contact will be able to be included at this time. Full details are in the attached document from the Design Council.
This project builds on the recent Earl Howe and Baroness Barker meetings, which were warmly welcomed as opportunities for patients and patient groups to express their views and experiences on same-gender accommodation. By the way, these are currently being written up and will receive wide circulation in the near future – full details will follow in due course.
The Design Council suggests that, for the sake of expediency, anyone associated with your organisation who has recently been in hospital and who would like to participate in this exciting project contacts the Design Council directly as
described here.
Non-statutory Guidance under the Equality Bill
The EHRC is looking for responses to questions about the process and timetable for production of non-statutory Guidance under the Equality Bill. The questions are set out here.
Respond by Monday 13th July either by telephoning Clare Cozens, Equality Bill Non-Statutory Guidance Policy Manager, on 020 3117 0361 or
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is inviting interested parties to feed in to their response to the Government's consultation on the EU Article 13 Equal Treatment directive.
The directive covers goods and services in the four remaining grounds not already covered by EU law – these are age, sexual orientation, religion or belief and disability. More information on the directive can be found on its website. The Government’s consultation on the directive runs until the 28th July and we strongly encourage all interested parties to respond to the consultation.
EHRC will be circulating its draft consultation response shortly for comment. Complete the digital version of the EHRC questionaire on its website or complete this questionnaire and
Gender Matters is working in partnership with a:gender, the Civil Service Diversity Network for transsexual, transgender and intersex employees. Following its launch in 2008, they are encouraging as many organisations and businesses as possible to take part. The Trans Equality Index (TEI) will be run across the West Midlands, working in partnership with other groups representing trans people in society. More information on the ‘Wider Partnership’ can be found on the final page of the TEI.
Entering the TEI will help your organisation plot the performance of its Gender Equality Duty, where applicable, and other equality obligations to transsexual people. This will provide a benchmark to measure progress in subsequent years, in meeting these obligations in respect of the ‘gender reassignment’ diversity strand (Section 10(d), Equality Act 2006).
TEI provides not just a measure but also a guide to how your organisation can meet its obligations to transsexual people, and will be publishing the results of the 2009 Trans Equality Index edition from time to time throughout the year to the trans community and the wider public; this will be an ongoing process.
More details on the project may be found here and the form here.
Guidance on Amendment of Medical and Social Care
The National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care (NIGB) is a statutory body established as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 to provide advice and guidance on, and support improvements in, information governance practice in health and social care. Part of its role is to produce guidance on how health and adult social care information is used where we believe such guidance is needed or would be helpful.
NIGB have produced guidance on the amendment of medical and social care records following a request from a person receiving care. Before formally publishing this guidance they are putting the draft version out to public consultation for twelve weeks, ending on 4th September 2009.
The consulation document may be found here and proposed guidance document here.
(Interim Head of Office)
The Government launch a Green Paper, “Rights and Responsibilities: developing our constitutional framework”, to kickstart a debate about the future of rights and responsibilities in the United Kingdom.
There are two broad areas for discussion that we want people to consider and debate in the next few months. The first is the fundamental arguments for and against a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. The second is about the advantages and disadvantages of including particular rights and responsibilities in any such Bill.
On the former, the Government believes that such a Bill could help identify rights and responsibilities in a clear and accessible manner, bringing them together in one place. It could make clear the importance of balancing how we exercise our rights, with the responsibilities we owe to both the individuals around us and society as a whole.
On the latter the Green Paper explores a range of subject matters like equality, good administration, children's wellbeing, healthcare, criminal justice and victims of crime and the environment. But this isn't an exhaustive list and it might be that people want to consider including other issues.
You can view or download Rights and Responsibilities: developing our constitutional framework by following this link
You can participate online through the People, Power and Politics website, which will track the debate as it unfolds and highlight additional opportunities for getting involved (including through twitter, Facebook and Youtube
The closing date for responses to the issues raised in the Green Paper is the 26 February 2010.
EHRC’s response to the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is developing a Recommendation on key areas where action to protect LGBT human rights is required and on good practice.
The Council of Europe is in the process of putting together a Recommendation to State Parties setting out key areas where it is recommended that they take action to protect LGBT rights. It will also include examples of best practice in these areas. If it is adopted, the Recommendation will not be legally binding on the 47 States who make up to the Council of Europe, but will be taken into account when considering any legislation adopted to implement it.
- Are the areas listed the correct priorities? Is anything major omitted?
- Are you aware of any best practice in these areas?
- Is there a scope for recommending that Human Rights Bodies such as EHRC or NGOs etc have a role to play in protecting/promoting the areas referred to in the recommendation?
- Are there any further suggestions re how tolerance be promoted more effectively?
The text of the consultation is available as pdf file here.
Please email any comments by 27 March for inclusion in EHRC’s response to the Council of Europe’s request for comments on their draft Recommendation.
This consultation is intended to raise awareness, and to generate debate on what more could be done together to end violence against women, and overcome its far-reaching impact.
The consultation paper (available as pdf file here) sets out:
A model for addressing the issue across government, focusing attention on prevention, provision and protection.
The key themes for government action, which we will use to drive public debate and discussion on what more we could do.
Many of the questions are deliberately open-ended – the intention is to start a debate over the coming months as talking to hundreds of people around the country about this complex issue.
The consultation closes 29 May 2009.
To comment:
Write to the Home Office: Violence Against Women Team, Violent Crime Unit, 4th Floor, Peel Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF, complete the online survey, attend one of the events.
Transsexual Personnel In The Armed Forces
The document “ Policy For The Recruitment And Management Of Transsexual Personnel In The Armed Forces” sets out the Armed Forces' policy on the recruitment and management of transsexual personnel and provides general information on transsexualism and the process of gender reassignment. Its purpose is to provide guidance to serving personnel, Commanding Officers and Line Managers on how the relevant law applies, including the statutory duty to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and harassment on the grounds of gender reassignment and the issues relating to the recruitment and management of transsexual people in the Armed Forces.
A Word version of this document may be found here.
GIRES is seeking opinions on this document in order to provide a coordinated response to the MOD. Please send us any comments you would like to see incorporated
Those who want to learn about the work being done in the development of APA's next edition of its diagnostic manual will want to attend the sessions in the special DSM-V Track at the Annual Conference.
A question-and-answer forum and several symposia will highlight recent developments in the revision process for the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). All sessions will take place Monday and Tuesday, May 18 and 19.
Two of the three symposia will address issues that apply to all diagnoses. “Public Health Aspects of Diagnosis and Classification of Mental Disorders: A DSM-V Research Agenda” will feature five presentations on public health, consumer, and primary care implications of the classification of psychiatric disorders. This symposium will review points raised at the DSM-V public health planning conference-one in a series of 13 conferences funded by the National Institutes of Health to provide the research base for DSM-V revisions.
The remaining symposium, “In or Out? A Discussion About Gender Identity Diagnoses and the DSM,” will focus on diagnostic issues specific to gender identity disorder, particularly the issues of having gender identity disorder listed in DSM-V and the implications of removing it. Several leaders in the transgender community will speak at this symposium.
William Narrow, M.D., M.P.H., DSM-V research director and associate director of APA's Division of Research, said that the focus on both specific disorders and broader issues in the development of DSM-V is a noteworthy feature of this year's sessions.
“There are certainly specific disorders that have attracted a fair amount of attention, and it is important that we address the issues around these disorders, as we are doing this year with gender identity disorder,” he said. “But it is also important for our members to understand the overarching issues being tackled in the revision, which could affect all disorders. The incorporation of dimensional assessments, improvements in the assessment of disability, and having a more developmentally sensitive approach to diagnosis should make DSM-V a much more effective tool for improved patient care.”
APIRE invites questions and comments for the forum
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently consulting on its three-year strategic plan and equality scheme, and looking at ways to shape its grants programme in line with its strategic priorities. The plan may be found here.
Identity Cards Act Secondary Legislation
This paper sets out consultation proposals regarding secondary legislation under the Identity Cards Act 2006 and covers the regulations, orders and a code of practice that will need to be put in place before the first ID cards can be issued under the Identity Cards Act, starting in the second half of 2009. Comments are invited over a 12 week period ending on 13th February 2009.
Following this consultation and subject to any changes made to the drafts, final versions of the secondary legislation will be tabled for any necessary Parliamentary scrutiny. The timetable for this will depend on the wider Parliamentary timetable, but it is intended to be in the period between March and May 2009 so that all the provisions can be in place by the end of June 2009.
The text of the consultation is available as pdf file here.
This consultation is now closed. The text of GIRES initial response can be found here.
A series of question and answers produced by the Identity and Passport Service issued in response to representations from the trans community to the consultation can be found here.
Impact Assessment published in response to inquiry.
GIRES response to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
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