The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the regulator for the public sector equality duty set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. The Commission uses a range of levers to ensure local authorities and other public bodies comply with the requirements of the duty, from provision of guidance through to enforcement activity where it considers there to be a strategic benefit.

In light of the Brighton University report highlighted by the Honourable Member, the Commission will be writing to the Local Government Association (LGA) drawing its attention to the findings of the research and of the Commission’s evidence of the key equality challenges facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and asking the LGA to remind local authorities of their legal obligations under the public sector equality duty.

These questions refer to an answer given by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 October 2016, and also link to previous questions asked by Lord Macginnis, and answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford in April 2016.

As Baroness Williams set out in her previous reply, the Department for Education provides guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to schools which contains advice on the Public Sector Equality Duty and on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

The Department is not responsible for the decision by Brighton and Hove Council to include gender identity information on the pupil registration form it issued in April 2016. The Council has the independence to make this decision. The Department has had no involvement and has not made any assessment of the questionnaire.

The Department does not hold details of any additional information collected by local authorities outside of those required by the Department for our centrally specified, mandatory data collections. Brighton and Hove Council is responsible for securing answers and restricting access to information generated by any questionnaire it issues.

The Department has not inquired into the gender identity of children in Brighton and Hove and has no correspondence on the matter.

The Department for Education do not require schools or local authorities to collect any information on the sexual orientation of children. Any information collected locally by schools and / or local authorities on sexual orientation for their own purposes is a matter for them to manage locally.

The Department for Education has provided schools with guidance on complying with the Equality Act.

The Public Sector Equality Duty, at section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, is a duty on public bodies (and others carrying out public functions) to consider, in their day to day work, the needs of people who share particular protected characteristics. This includes schools and children’s services.

Under the Duty, public bodies must have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conducted that is prohibited under the Equality Act 2010
• advance equality of opportunity, and;
• foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

The Equality Duty covers the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act, which includes age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Guidance on complying with the Act and the Equality Duty can be found on GOV.UK (under Equality Act 2010 guidance). Earlier guidance formed under the Coalition Government has been archived on the National Archives website (under the ‘Equality Bill’ guidance). The Equality and Human Rights Commission has also issued guidance on the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Local authorities will also have to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 on the data they collect. The Information Commissioner’s Office state that data should only be collected if organisations have legitimate grounds for collecting and using the personal data; that they do not use the data in ways that have unjustified adverse effects on the individuals concerned; that they be transparent about how they intend to use the data, and give individuals appropriate privacy notices when collecting their personal data.

The Department for Education do not require schools or local authorities to collect any information on the sexual orientation of children. Any information collected locally by schools and / or local authorities on sexual orientation for their own purposes is a matter for them to manage locally.

The Department for Education has provided schools with guidance on complying with the Equality Act.

The Public Sector Equality Duty, at section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, is a duty on public bodies (and others carrying out public functions) to consider, in their day to day work, the needs of people who share particular protected characteristics. This includes schools and children’s services.

Under the Duty, public bodies must have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conducted that is prohibited under the Equality Act 2010
• advance equality of opportunity, and;
• foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

The Equality Duty covers the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act, which includes age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Guidance on complying with the Act and the Equality Duty can be found on GOV.UK (under Equality Act 2010 guidance). Earlier guidance formed under the Coalition Government has been archived on the National Archives website (under the ‘Equality Bill’ guidance). The Equality and Human Rights Commission has also issued guidance on the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Local authorities will also have to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 on the data they collect. The Information Commissioner’s Office state that data should only be collected if organisations have legitimate grounds for collecting and using the personal data; that they do not use the data in ways that have unjustified adverse effects on the individuals concerned; that they be transparent about how they intend to use the data, and give individuals appropriate privacy notices when collecting their personal data.

These questions refer to an answer given by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 October 2016, and also link to previous questions asked by Lord Macginnis, and answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford in April 2016.

As Baroness Williams set out in her previous reply, the Department for Education provides guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to schools which contains advice on the Public Sector Equality Duty and on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

The Department is not responsible for the decision by Brighton and Hove Council to include gender identity information on the pupil registration form it issued in April 2016. The Council has the independence to make this decision. The Department has had no involvement and has not made any assessment of the questionnaire.

The Department does not hold details of any additional information collected by local authorities outside of those required by the Department for our centrally specified, mandatory data collections. Brighton and Hove Council is responsible for securing answers and restricting access to information generated by any questionnaire it issues.

The Department has not inquired into the gender identity of children in Brighton and Hove and has no correspondence on the matter.

These questions refer to an answer given by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 October 2016, and also link to previous questions asked by Lord Macginnis, and answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford in April 2016.

As Baroness Williams set out in her previous reply, the Department for Education provides guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to schools which contains advice on the Public Sector Equality Duty and on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.

The Department is not responsible for the decision by Brighton and Hove Council to include gender identity information on the pupil registration form it issued in April 2016. The Council has the independence to make this decision. The Department has had no involvement and has not made any assessment of the questionnaire.

The Department does not hold details of any additional information collected by local authorities outside of those required by the Department for our centrally specified, mandatory data collections. Brighton and Hove Council is responsible for securing answers and restricting access to information generated by any questionnaire it issues.

The Department has not inquired into the gender identity of children in Brighton and Hove and has no correspondence on the matter.

There are 19 male and 35 female members of staff in the Government Equalities Office.

We are unable to provide information for (c) gay, (d) lesbian, (e) bisexual to protect individuals’ identity, as numbers below 5 are suppressed.

We do not record data for f) transgender, (g) gender fluid, (h) bi-gender, (i) non-binary, (j) gender queer, (k) gender non-conforming, (l) tri-gender, (m) all genders, (n) intersex and (o) an other gender identity.

The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Dishonourable discharge is not a term used by the UK Armed Forces. In order to positively identify those discharges which were definitely related to sexual orientation, the Ministry of Defence would have to conduct a manual search of the files of all Service personnel discharged under the relevant regulations of 'misconduct' and 'services no longer required', both of which encompass a wide range of conduct and behaviour.

Since changes were made to the law in 2000 to allow homosexual men, lesbians and transgender personnel to serve openly in the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence has taken many positive steps to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender staff. The Royal Navy and the Army currently feature in Stonewall's Top 100 Employers list, and Stonewall has also publically praised Defence on our approach to ensuring that our workforce is as diverse as possible.

The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Dishonourable discharge is not a term used by the UK Armed Forces. In order to positively identify those discharges which were definitely related to sexual orientation, the Ministry of Defence would have to conduct a manual search of the files of all Service personnel discharged under the relevant regulations of 'misconduct' and 'services no longer required', both of which encompass a wide range of conduct and behaviour.

Since changes were made to the law in 2000 to allow homosexual men, lesbians and transgender personnel to serve openly in the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence has taken many positive steps to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender staff. The Royal Navy and the Army currently feature in Stonewall's Top 100 Employers list, and Stonewall has also publically praised Defence on our approach to ensuring that our workforce is as diverse as possible.

The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies dataset does not currently make the distinction between sexuality and gender identity. The dataset has two fields that may be of relevance to this question:

Sexual orientation, which is the current sexual orientation of a person and has the following valid codes:

Gender, which is the current gender of a person. Note that the classification is phenotypical rather than genotypical; i.e. it does not provide codes for medical or scientific purposes. It has the following valid codes:

The Government does not target individuals based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. Common Article 3 prohibits adverse distinction founded on race, colour religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.