Through our National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), we are actively committed to ensuring there is more research into women’s health, and that women’s voices and priorities are placed at the heart of this research.

We know that women have been under-represented in some research areas, particularly women in ethnic minority groups, older women, women of reproductive age, disabled women and LGBT+ women. This has implications for the health and care they receive, their options and awareness of treatments, the support they can access afterwards, and their health outcomes. To address this gap, applicants are now required to build inclusion into their research design as a condition of NIHR funding.

As highlighted in the newly published Renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England, the Department has strengthened NIHR conditions of funding by making it mandatory for researchers to account for sex and gender in their research applications. This move aims to tackle significant and persistent gaps in health and care research.

Alongside this, the NIHR’s Research Inclusion Strategy 2022-2027 sets out how NIHR will become a more inclusive funder of research and widen access to participation in clinical trials. The strategy has been designed to address inequalities associated with the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010.

Through the ongoing systematic collection of data on sex, ethnicity and age of participants taking part in NIHR research, we can monitor progress and continue to champion the inclusion of under-represented groups.

Through our National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), we are actively committed to ensuring there is more research into women’s health, and that women’s voices and priorities are placed at the heart of this research.

We know that women have been under-represented in some research areas, particularly women in ethnic minority groups, older women, women of reproductive age, disabled women and LGBT+ women. This has implications for the health and care they receive, their options and awareness of treatments, the support they can access afterwards, and their health outcomes. To address this gap, applicants are now required to build inclusion into their research design as a condition of NIHR funding.

As highlighted in the newly published Renewed Women’s Health Strategy for England, the Department has strengthened NIHR conditions of funding by making it mandatory for researchers to account for sex and gender in their research applications. This move aims to tackle significant and persistent gaps in health and care research.

Alongside this, the NIHR’s Research Inclusion Strategy 2022-2027 sets out how NIHR will become a more inclusive funder of research and widen access to participation in clinical trials. The strategy has been designed to address inequalities associated with the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010.

Through the ongoing systematic collection of data on sex, ethnicity and age of participants taking part in NIHR research, we can monitor progress and continue to champion the inclusion of under-represented groups.

We were dismayed to read the findings of this report, which highlights the deep inequalities faced in accessing gynaecological care by women in the West Midlands. The Government agrees with the conclusion of the report that every woman deserves access to timely and high-quality care. That is why we will not accept these kinds of disparities as inevitable. Our ambition is a fairer Britain, where people live well for longer and spend less time in ill health, and where women, whatever their background, can rely on high-quality care.

We are shifting the centre of gravity of care from hospitals to communities, with neighbourhood services designed around local need.

Earlier this month, we published a Neighbourhood Health Framework setting out three reform agendas for integrated care boards (ICBs), local authorities, and civil society to deliver the aims of neighbourhood health: to improve services for people who need routine healthcare; to improve proactive care including maintaining and developing access to women's health services; and to deliver better alternatives to hospital care.

The framework provides clarity and consistency, supporting joined-up partnership between ICBs and local authorities, working together to develop locally led neighbourhood health plans.

We have made strong progress in turning the commitments in the last administration’s Women's Health Strategy into tangible action. Our renewed strategy will address gaps from the 2022 strategy, and go further to create a system that listens to women and tackles health inequalities across England.

Renewing the strategy will help identify and remove enduring barriers to high-quality care across England, such as long waits for diagnosis, and will ensure that professionals listen and respond to women’s needs.

We know that women live longer but spend more years in poor health than men, often due to conditions that are misdiagnosed, undertreated, or under-researched.

Healthy life expectancy measures health-related wellbeing by measuring the difference between mortality and the average time someone is expected to remain in self-reported “good” health.

In 2022 to 2024, males in England could expect to spend 60.9 years, or 77% of their life, in “good” general health, compared to 61.3 years, or 74%, for women. While there has been a reduction for both men and women from 2019 to 2021, and this reduction has been larger for women, at 2.4 years, than for men, at 1.8 years. Healthy life expectancy at birth in England has decreased to its lowest level since the Office for National Statistics’ time series began.

A 2023 report from the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities found that changes in self-reported “good” health prevalence has a larger impact on healthy life expectancy than changes in mortality rates. Research found that self-reported poor health was associated with chronic health conditions and multimorbidity.

Our renewed Women’s Health Strategy, published on the 15 April, sets out a bold, long‑term plan to transform how the health and care system listens to, supports and delivers for women and girls. It puts women’s voices and choices at the centre of care, drives faster improvements in services and outcomes that matter most to women, and tackles long‑standing health inequalities across the life course. The strategy aligns with the 10-Year Health Plan to shift care into the community, harness digital innovation and strengthen prevention so women can live healthier, more fulfilled lives.

The Men’s Health Strategy for England explored men’s engagement with health programmes and services. Research shows men can face unique barriers to accessing services, and certain barriers can impact groups of men in different ways or more severely. For example, we know that men are less likely to attend NHS Health Checks. Further information on improving men’s access to healthcare is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/mens-health-strategy-for-england-call-for-evidence/outcome/mens-health-strategy-for-england-call-for-evidence-summary-report#improving-access-to-healthcare-services-1

The renewed Women’s Health Strategy sets out a bold, long‑term plan to transform how the health and care system listens to, supports and delivers for women and girls. It puts women’s voices and choices at the centre of care, drives faster improvements in services and outcomes that matter most to women, and tackles long‑standing health inequalities across the life course. The strategy aligns with the 10-Year Health Plan to shift care into the community, harness digital innovation and strengthen prevention so women can live healthier, more fulfilled lives.

Cutting waiting lists, including for diagnostic tests, is a key priority for the government. It is unacceptable that some patients are waiting over six weeks for a diagnostic test. But this is also about making the system work better, so existing funding goes further.

We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the National Health Service to increase diagnostic capacity to bring down the size of the list and reduce waiting times. The 2025 Spending Review provides over £6 billion in additional capital investment to strengthen diagnostic, elective and urgent care capacity. But this is also about making the system work better, so existing funding goes further.

Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, builds on the investments already made with an ambitious vision for the future of diagnostic testing. This will include more straight-to-test pathways, increasing and expanding Community Diagnostic Centres and better use of technology. We will address the challenges in diagnostic waiting times, providing the number of computerised tomography scans, magnetic resonance imaging scans, and other tests that are needed to reduce waits. Our nationally published data does not break down test recipients by gender. Our investment in growing diagnostic capacity to reduce waiting lists benefits all patients regardless of gender.

The Home Office does not monitor the gender of mice used in research studies by funder, including those funded by UK Research and Innovation.

The Home Office does require that applicants for project licences involving mice in research studies provide information on whether both sexes are being used and if they are not, a scientific justification is required. This information is not monitored or reported at an aggregate level.

The Home Office publishes non-technical summaries of all licensed programmes of work, setting out their objectives, predicted harms, expected benefits, and the expected number and types of animals to be used.

The Home Office also publishes annual statistics on scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain, which include information on the number of procedures carried out, the species used, and the purposes for which procedures are undertaken.

I understand that the Secretary of State, Bridget Phillipson, has responded positively to the request for a meeting, and I hope that will take place shortly. I have said repeatedly in this House—as a consequence of the repeated questions—that we must get this right. It is too important to not get right. The commission has worked very hard to ensure that all those considerations are taken into account. We now have received that revised code, and it will be placed before Parliament. As my noble friend quite rightly said, we are currently in a pre-election period. This means restrictions, and I am sorry; these restrictions are well established. Given the relevance of the code to the devolved Administrations, we are unable to make any announcements ahead of the elections. Those elections are only a matter of weeks away; as soon as they are out of the way, we will bring forward the code to Parliament.

My Lords, I refer my noble friend to the Written Ministerial Statement issued today by the Minister for Women and Equalities. Under Sections 14(7) and 14(8) of the Equality Act 2006, if the draft code is approved by the Secretary of State, it is laid before Parliament. If neither House disapproves the draft within a 40-day period, the Secretary of State would then bring the code into force by a commencement order.

One of the important things that we are doing in Defra and other departments is trying to have a better collaborative relationship with local authorities. Much of what we want to do as a Government will be delivered by local

authorities so, unless we support them better, we will not be able to deliver much of what we need on the ground. Procurement is an exact example of that.

Between 2016 and 2024, Agrimetrics Ltd. received £27 million public funding through Innovate UK.

Agrimetrics Ltd. was not set up to generate or make data publicly available but used the funding to create a data platform that allowed businesses to host, integrate and analyse agri-food data.

The data on the platform was provided by a variety of different public and private sector organisations, who retained ownership, rather than Agrimetrics Ltd. This approach maximised the engagement of private sector data owners. Of the data sources used, some were already freely available, and some for a fee. We are unable to comment on what data will continue to be available as Agrimetrics Ltd. was an independent organisation and the government does not have access to the data it hosted.

The infrastructure provided value to business in the Agrifood sector over the years it was funded, however due to the speed of technological changes in this sector funding the platform no longer represented value for money. Innovate UK ceased providing Agrimetrics with core funding on 31 March 2024.

Between 2016 and 2024, Agrimetrics Ltd. received £27 million public funding through Innovate UK.

Agrimetrics Ltd. was not set up to generate or make data publicly available but used the funding to create a data platform that allowed businesses to host, integrate and analyse agri-food data.

The data on the platform was provided by a variety of different public and private sector organisations, who retained ownership, rather than Agrimetrics Ltd. This approach maximised the engagement of private sector data owners. Of the data sources used, some were already freely available, and some for a fee. We are unable to comment on what data will continue to be available as Agrimetrics Ltd. was an independent organisation and the government does not have access to the data it hosted.

The infrastructure provided value to business in the Agrifood sector over the years it was funded, however due to the speed of technological changes in this sector funding the platform no longer represented value for money. Innovate UK ceased providing Agrimetrics with core funding on 31 March 2024.

My Lords, the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s code of practice for services, public functions and associations provides guidance

on all protected characteristics, not solely on sex and gender reassignment. The EHRC has submitted its draft code to Ministers and we are reviewing it with the care it deserves. It is crucial that providers have legally robust guidance on how to apply the Equality Act, which is why we are considering the draft code properly.

Let me reassure all noble Lords. We have set out our expectation that service providers follow the law as clarified by the Supreme Court ruling and seek specialist legal advice wherever necessary. The Prime Minister has underlined this recently. We have always been absolutely clear that due process needs to be followed by all, in line with the Equality Act. Our priority is getting it right. That is why it is so important that we give it proper and due consideration.

I could do without anybody storing water in the aquifer next to the Chipping Sodbury tunnel and cutting. If they try it, there will be some serious legal action. The water companies have their part to play in managing surface water, just as landowners do and just as Network Rail does. It is an increasing problem, it needs to be treated seriously and a lot of public money is going into dealing with it.

No, I do not recognise that because it is not true. Any suggestion that the Government are delaying the code is both totally inaccurate and unhelpful. This is a long and complex document, and we are carefully considering it. Frankly, it would be catastrophic for single-sex services, which have always been supported by this Government and this party, to implement guidance that was not legally sound, which would then place them in legal jeopardy again. That is why it is vital that we get this right. We have always been clear that the proper process needs to be followed, which includes understanding the potential impact on businesses, public functions and services. Understanding impacts is a routine and regular aspect of decision-making; it is not a delaying tactic.

My Lords, the Services, Public Functions and Associations: Code of Practice provides guidance on all protected characteristics, not solely sex and gender reassignment. As the sponsoring body, the Office for Equality and Opportunity is responsible for providing advice to Ministers on the code. Other government departments have been consulted as required on specific elements of the code.

The Minister is following the process in the Equality Act 2006 and is consulting the Devolved Governments at the relevant stages, as required under section 14(9).

Consultation with Welsh and Scottish Ministers is required if, or in so far as, the Code relates to a duty imposed by or under the Public Sector Equality Duty. As part of the consultation, the draft Code has been shared with the Devolved Administrations.

I refer the noble Lord to my contribution in Hansard, Volume 849, column 1924: debated on Wednesday 5 November 2025: Equality and Human Rights Commission: Draft Updated Code of Practice:

"…the EHRC has not been asked to carry out a full regulatory impact assessment, but rather to provide a minimum proportionate cost assessment to evidence exclusion from a full regulatory impact assessment and enable us to take an informed decision. Understanding costs and impacts is not new; it would have been a consideration in the 2011 code.”

The EHRC has submitted its Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations to the Government. The Code addresses a broad range of issues for service providers, beyond those relating to single sex spaces. The Government is considering the draft updated Code and, if the decision is taken to approve it, the Code will be laid before Parliament.

Under Section 14 of the Equality Act 2006, the Secretary of State is required to consult with Scottish and Welsh Ministers at relevant stages in this process. Ministers are following this process.