A Labour minister has warned that a passport can no longer be used to check for biological sex as the House of Lords continues to clash with the Commons over the Supreme Court ruling.
Last month, top judges unanimously ruled the terms woman" and "sex" in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
It comes after peers voted on measures to demand public authorities record sex data based on biological sex.
Science minister Lord Vallance of Balham, the former Chief Scientific Adviser during the Covid pandemic, spoke in the Lords as he said politicians needed to approach the subject.
Politics LIVE: Labour minister claims passport cannot be used to check biological sex despite Supreme Court gender rulingPA/Getty
He said: "Let me be clear that this Government accept the recent Supreme Court judgment on the definition of sex for the purposes of equality legislation.
"We need to work through the effects of this ruling holistically and with care, sensitivity and, dare I say it, kindness. In line with the law, we need to take care not to inappropriately extend its reach."
Lord Vallance added that digital verification services needed clarity, saying: "If an organisation needs to know a person’s biological sex, this Government are clear that a check cannot be made against passport data, as it does not capture biological sex.
"DVS could only verify biological sex using data that records that attribute specifically, not data that records sex or gender more widely."
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Sir Patrick Vallance
PAHis Conservative frontbench counterpart Viscount Camrose called for gender identity to also be recorded.
He said: "It is now very clear that we need accurate sex data recorded for a whole host of reasons, including for medical research and the protection of same-sex spaces.
"There is no reason why gender may not also be recorded in a separate field, and it is important that gender data is accurate too."
Tory peer and former MP Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom also stressed the need for accurate data adding: "In the absence of any reliable document, how is a care home to ensure that a person who is to provide intimate care for an elderly woman, who has understandably demanded that such care be provided by a woman, will actually be provided by a woman?"
Retired top judge Baroness Butler-Sloss said: “If we are to have data, the data must be accurate.”
Non-affiliated peer Baroness Fox of Buckley said: “The minister called on us to have kindness.
"Of course, we should all have kindness all the time, in every instance. However, nobody here is trying to be unkind. The intent is to clarify."
