Government accused of 'mishandling' approach to transgender issues
MP Maria Miller says many trans people do not have access to basic healthcare - something her committee raised three years ago.
Thursday 3 January 2019 09:33, UK
The government has been accused of "mishandling" its approach to transgender issues by a senior Conservative MP.
Maria Miller, chairwoman of the women and equalities committee, said many trans people still do not have access to basic healthcare - something the committee raised with ministers three years ago.
The former cabinet minister said the focus should be on improving service provision, rather than reforms to the legal recognition process.
"Many trans people simply don't have access to the basic healthcare that the rest of us take for granted - things like cervical smears are often things that trans men are not able to access," she said.
"(The provision of services) seems to have somewhat been eclipsed by an announcement by the government on the Gender Recognition Act - that was one of our recommendations, but only one of 33."
Mrs Miller described the focus on legislation as "wrongheaded", adding: "There has been very little headway made on that and indeed even on the area the government has announced its interest - the Gender Recognition Act - there has been very little concrete proposals put forward over the last three years, and I think that has left a vacuum which has been unhelpful."
She said the Gender Recognition Act policy - announced two years ago - had not been followed up by any evidence that "much thought had been put into how that announcement would actually be taken forward".
She said: "As a result there has been a debate focusing in on things that really are not as important as making sure that trans people have access to public services, and the debate has been focused in on issues that are much less important to trans people's lives.
"I think they have mishandled their approach to trans issues and if they were actually looking carefully at my select committee report they would have focused in on the provision of services first to make sure that that was right.
"Those are the issues that really matter to trans people's lives, and then look at the review of the Gender Recognition Act - that was not the most pressing issue for trans people that we met as part of the inquiry."
A government spokeswoman said its "ambitious" £4.5m action plan puts LGBT people's needs "at the heart of the NHS".
"This includes improving the way gender identity services work for transgender adults and appointing a national adviser to lead improvements in LGBT healthcare," they said.
"Since November, we have also launched the LGBT health and social care fund, which will provide £1m to tackle the health inequalities LGBT people face.
"Everyone in this country should feel safe, supported and happy to live their lives - and this includes accessing appropriate support and treatment from the NHS as and when they need it, regardless of their sexual orientation, race or gender identity."