Key information
Request reference number: MGLA190124-4639
Date of response:
Summary of request
Your request
The Mayors Strategy for Health Inequalities Strategy Implementation Plan 2021-24
Recommendation 1 from the report 'Trans health matters: improving access to healthcare for trans and gender-diverse Londoners' is that 'the Mayor should convene a consultative group comprised of Londoners with lived experience and subject experts' on the area of transgender and non-binary healthcare and health access.
I would like to know whether this group has yet been formed, whether they have met, whether there is a name for this group, and whether they have made substantive recommendations as of yet.
I would also like any information about the progress on the other recommendations, including what actions have been taken in pursuit of these goals. For example, what is the progress on 'trans-inclusive training programmes for primary care services, such as Pride in Practice'
Our response
The role of the Assembly is to scrutinise the work of the Mayor of London, and its committees can undertake inquiries into any topic they choose, and make recommendations to which the Mayor then responds.
Following the publication of the London Assembly’s Health Committee report in February 2022, the Mayor responded on 31 March 2022, and a copy of his letter is available on the GLA website: Improving access to healthcare for trans and gender-diverse Londoners | London City Hall.
Copies of this, and other correspondence referred to here is also attached. The Mayor is a champion for LGBTQ+ Londoners, including trans and gender diverse people and broadly supported the recommendations laid out in the report. As his response to the Health Committee said, his Heath Inequalities Strategy (HIS) focusses on the social, economic and environmental issues which drive differences in health and is a strategy for all Londoners, but it is not possible in such a broad-ranging strategy to specifically identify all groups with protected characteristics. The HIS was and continues to be informed through engagement with Londoners from many different backgrounds, including trans and non-binary Londoners. This included roundtables as part of the London Community Response Survey.
In his response the Mayor reminded the Committee that he has no powers or responsibility for the commissioning or provision of health or care services. He noted that it was for the NHS to address many of the issues raised, and noted that the Committee had contacted the NHS directly for their comment. The NHS response is available on the GLA’s website at: response_to_london_assembly_health_committee_report_on_gender_june_2022_002.pdf. The report was also shared directly by officers with the senior leadership of NHS London, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) London and with the London Association of Directors of Public Health.
In their report the Health Committee particularly asked the Mayor to implement recommendation 1 (the Mayor should convene a consultative group comprised of Londoners with lived experience and subject experts) and recommendation 3 (the Mayor should urgently commission research in association with the NHS into the healthcare needs of TGD people in London). In his response the Mayor explained that it was not his role to do either. In respect of recommendation one he already had an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group (EDIAG) that includes specific expertise on LGBTQ+ issues, including relating to health, so it was not deemed necessary to set up a new stakeholder group (see actions below). Therefore, the Mayor has not established a new, specific trans and gender diverse group. Officers met with the EDIAG on 06 September 2022 having shared with them the Health Assembly’s report into access for general healthcare for trans and diverse gender Londoners, together with a covering note, include the suggestion that the Health and Well-being Team meet with LGBTQ+ members and any other of the EDI advisory group who wished to join to discuss the recommendations. At that time the Mayor’s LGBTQ+ specific advisers were: Laks Mann, Lisa Power and Harri Weeks.
The Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice, Debbie Weekes-Bernard wrote to the Health Committee in October 2022 setting out the discussions and agreements with the EDIAG. A copy of that letter is attached.
The Mayor also wrote to the interim chief executive, Simon Bolton, of NHS Digital in May 2022 about the recommendations in the report about recording of trans status on NHS records. A copy of that letter is attached. While the Mayor has not received a response to the letter, despite chasing from officers, you will see that the NHS did provide a short response in its overall response to the report (see link above).
As you will see, the majority of the actions were outside the Mayor’s remit – and were for the NHS to pursue. It would be worth taking this matter up with the NHS directly. We have asked the Assembly Health Committee whether any further follow up has happened with the NHS and understand that it hasn’t.