§ Dr. Julian LewisTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what Prison Service policy is on the transfer of prisoners to(a) men's and (b) women's prisons following sex change operations; and on how many occasions such transfers have occurred in each of the last 10 years; [140143]
(2) what his policy is in respect of requests by serving prisoners for access to NHS sex change operations. [140148]
§ Mr. BoatengGender dysphoria is a recognised medical condition for which treatment, including gender re-assignment surgery, is available on the National Health Service (NHS). The Prison Service aims to provide prisoners with access to the same range and quality of health services as the general public receives from the NHS. A prisoner who had been receiving treatment for gender dysphoria under the supervision of an NHS specialist would normally be permitted to have gender re-assignment surgery on the recommendation of that specialist.
A post-operative transsexual prisoner would normally be held in an establishment for prisoners of his/her gender of choice but the decision in an individual case would be reached only after careful consideration of all the relevant factors. In the last 10 years no prisoners have been transferred from establishments for prisoners of their gender at birth to establishments for prisoners of their gender of choice following gender re-assignment surgery while in prison custody.