Gender notified on applications 218/2024
FOI Reference: 218/2024
Request:
I would like to know if your application forms for staff and for members of panels record the real scientific biological sex of an applicant or whether the forms ask for imagined sex (gender).
If you ask for gender, then how do you monitor your responsibilities to women under the Equality Act 2010?
I would like to be assured that you collect crime data according to biological sex, rather than professed gender.
If not, how do you capture the fact that males are more likely to commit crime than females?
Clarification Q:
Please can you be more specific as to what data you require when you ask " how do you monitor your responsibilities to women under the Equality Act 2010?"
With regards to Q3, we are unsure as to what you are actually requesting, please can you be more specific
Clarification A:
- The Equality Act 2010 includes separate provisions for the protected characteristics of 'sex' and 'gender reassignment'. The interests of those groups of people are different and in some circumstances will be at odds. If Dyfed Powys Police does not record data on 'sex' and 'gender' separately, how can it produce the statistics and the evidence to illustrate to each individual group concerned that they are being treated equally in terms of :-
- career opportunities
- workforce balance
- promotion
- representation on panels
- Furthermore, how does Dyfed Powys Police protect vulnerable groups of women in the community, for example those who have experienced domestic or sexual abuse, who perhaps wish to deal only with women and not transgender women, because of the male violence they have experienced; and also perhaps for religious reasons?
I am aware of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, which established certain rights for transgender people specifically in relation to certification, marriage and benefits but there are exclusions in that piece of legislation, including gender-specific offences; and it was not envisaged as a means of trampling on the rights of women.
My request here is simply:-
- to be informed whether you record data of crimes committed on the basis of the 'sex' of the person committing the crime and not the 'gender'.
- whether Dyfed Powys Police consider it important to know the statistics for criminal actions based on 'birth sex'; and whether it considers that this information is useful for researchers and interventions.
Response 1:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
Our application forms ask for both gender identity and sex under the equal opportunities section of the form. It also asks the applicant if they have undergone gender reassignment.
The shortlisting and interview panel would not have access to this information. All applications are anonymised prior to shortlisting and the panel do not have access to any personal details or sensitive information for the candidates.
Response 2:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
Dyfed Powys Police will accommodate victims’ requests where possible however when an incident such as a domestic or sexual assault needs an immediate response the closest officers are deployed regardless of their gender as the priority is to swiftly safeguard the individual at risk.
Furthermore, the force must protect officers and staff in line with the Equality Act which states ‘you must not be directly discriminated against because you have the protected characteristic of gender reassignment’. This also means that personal information must not be shared other than on a need-to-know basis. Therefore, the individuals deploying officers to jobs would not be at liberty to know the birth assigned gender of their colleagues.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 09/04/2024)