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Interdepartmental Working Group –
Report Published 26 July 2000 Note from Lynne Jones MP:
The Interdepartmental Working Group, has completed a recent review and a report was put to the Home Secretary and also went to ministers in Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland. The Home Office report was published on 26 July 2000. In the press release that accompanied the report, Jack Straw is quoted as saying:
"As I know from my constituency casework, the journey which individuals face when they find that they have been born with the wrong gender can be deeply distressing and depressing for them. We have to approach their circumstances with compassion and care. This report seeks to do just that. We will welcome public comments on it before coming to firm conclusions on its recommendations."
The report is available on the Home Office website at:
https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20030917085423/http://www.lcd.gov.uk:80/constitution/transsex/wgtrans.pdf
If you cannot access this and would like a copy of the full report please contact your MP, who I am sure will be happy to obtain a copy for you. As you will see from the conclusion of the report, it does not commit the Government to a particular policy or any kind of timetable. However, the report draws heavily on advice given to it by Press for Change and other campaign groups and therefore does contain a great deal of positive material. When I have had the opportunity to study the report in more detail I will be liaising with members of the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism to discuss how to use the report as a tool to call on Ministers to start drafting new legislation.
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NOTES OF MEETING - PARLIAMENTARY FORUM ON TRANSSEXUALISM
18 May 2000
1. Oxford Text Book of Psychiatry
The Forum discussed an extract from the Oxford Text Book of Psychiatry. It contained inaccurate and quite unpleasant information. A member of the Forum wrote to them expressing concern and pointed out that if someone used the book as their authority, litigation might be aimed at the publisher. They replied saying that they would be re-working the entry on Transsexualism.
The Forum will be writing to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, with a request that the Oxford text book should not be used as the standard source.
2. Death Certificates Update
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) have admitted they need to ensure consistency of approach. Members of PFC are drafting up proposed guidance for them. PFC have spoken with two families whose transsexual relatives were registered appropriately this year. It was agreed that the big agenda was to educate people. The ONS need to be given clear guidance and we must make sure it is disseminated to registrars and then also on from there. When draft guidelines are done, PFC will ask Lynne Jones to "commend" them. It was suggested this might make a good press article.
3. Legal Update - Judicial Review of Employment regulations.
In a case regarding West Yorkshire Police Authority and the Department for Education and Employment, PFC reported that there have been responses from both parties.
The DfEE said they understood the point that was being made but that they had done what was required of them under the law.
WYPA said that they would happily employ TS people but that they were bound by the law.
There is an appeal hearing date for the first week in October but the case may well end up in the European Court.
4. Transsexual Prisoners Update
There has been a delay in the issuing of guidelines due to the Chief Inspector of Prisons time being taken up dealing with youth custody issues arising from the European Courts ruling on the case of the two boys in the Bulger case. Other work had therefore been postponed but the guidelines should be available soon – Lynne Jones quoted from a letter from Paul Boateng, Minister of State from the Home Office, stating that the Prison Health Policy Unit had set a revised target of June 2000 for completion of the Guidelines. However, PFC have been told that they wouldn’t be available until September. There have been some positive signs and PFC reported that the latest drafts were much better.
5. Health Authorities Update
PFC reported that another survey hasn’t been undertaken as they have received a second draft of a protocol from North West Lancs. Health Authority which showed promise even though it was still in breach of confidentiality and the Patient’s Charter. Responses to this have now been sent and a third draft has been prepared. It is hoped that the 3rd draft can be used as a model. PFC have not been shown a copy of the 3rd draft.
Hammersmith and Charing Cross have closed their list for surgery as they have not currently got a trained surgeon. Their previous surgeon has retired and they are looking at re-training. A request was put in for funding for a second surgeon, but this has not yet been granted.
The Forum discussed whether some HA’s are ultra vires regarding their protocols for treatment, i.e. they are not competent bodies to set standards of clinical care and have not consulted appropriately with those who are. There was some discussion as to whether this was worth taking to The Health Service Confederation (previously known as the National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts (NAHAT)) but Lynne Jones has previously taken this to them when Phil Hunt (now Health Minister) was secretary. They were unwilling to tell Health Authorities what to do. DOH Guidelines are needed to tackle this problem.
It was suggested that we could prepare and circulate model guidelines for HAs to use in a similar way to the "Current Medical Viewpoint".
In discussion a member of PFC pointed out how many TS people could have received treatment with the money that will have to be paid out in legal compensation. It was also mentioned that we need to point out the cost benefit of treatment in comparison with non-treatment. It was agreed to draft guidelines for Health Authorities, including a cost-benefit analysis of treatment/non-treatment and that the final document should go via Lynne Jones to the Minister, with a request that they be forwarded to NICE for evaluation.
Lynne Jones commented that where there is a strong body of consensus amongst experts in a particular field, there should be a fast track for NICE.
A member of the Forum expressed concern about funding arrangements for specialist services such as those provided for young people. The Portman and Tavistock Trust’s application for the Gender Identity Development Unit for children and adolescents had been refused.
6. AOB
The Forum discussed the Evangelical Alliance, who have put out a very negative press release with sentiments which are generally against everything the Forum is working for. PFC reported that this received hardly any coverage. The Evangelical Alliance is an umbrella body for quite a large number of evangelical churches representing about 1.5m people (mostly ‘fundamentalists’). PFC have been trying to engage with them and there has been some more accepting language coming out.
There was some discussion about the "Section 28" debate and about discrimination in the workplace on the grounds of sexual orientation. Lynne Jonse mentioned that perhaps a case needs to go to Europe to force something to be done, as had been the case with P v Cornwall County Council.
Next meeting - November 2000
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