I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information, which relates to care provided or commissioned for severely learning disabled adults, specifically those who lack capacity to express a view on their own *gender* or any preference as to the *sex* of their care staff, such as the learning disabled female whose rape and infection with HIV by male care staff is described in this Brent Safeguarding Adult Review:
https://legacy.brent.gov.uk/media/16411756/adult-b-final-report-nov-2018.pdf

1. Does your social care management system (the database or other systems your organisation uses to record personal data for disabled adults in connection with your duties under the Care Act 2014) include a field for the characteristic of *gender*? Yes
a) Are there a defined set of responses from which to select, and if so, what are they? Agender, Bi-gender, Demi-boy, Demi-girl, Female, Gender fluid, intersex, Male, Non-Binary, Third gender, Trans female, Trans male, Unknown.
b) Please provide any documents, such as notes of meetings, internal correspondence etc, recording how you determined what should and should not be included in the defined set of responses: These are the values that were included in the latest upgrade of our Mosaic software. We have not deviated from these.
c. How is it populated for adults who lack capacity to express a view on their own gender: Populated by information provided by the referrer until expressed view is known. There is also a open text box entitled " Gender/pronoun notes"

2. Does it include a field for the protected characteristic of *sex*? Yes
a) Are there a defined set of responses from which to select, and if so, what are they? Female, Male, Intersex, Unknown
b) Is it mandatory to populate this field with some value, or can it be left void/completely blank?

3. Do you have policies or procedures that have the objective of ensuring that users of your services (commissioned or provided directly) of the female sex is who require assistance with intimate care receive this from carers of the female sex. If so, please provide copies.
The LA does not hold a specific policy for this, however, our contracts state that providers delivering personal care must be registered with CQC, this is a legal requirement and as part of the CQC registration they must have the relevant policies. We require providers to have sufficient number of staff with the right skills, experience and training levels to carry out the required support. Contracts state: All care delivered is expected to be person centred and individuals supported to have choice and control. Providers must demonstrate they are continually promoting and championing equality for all in line with the principles mentioned above, particularly for people in receipt of services and the staff employed and to continuously improve the lives of those who live in the borough of Wokingham

4. Please provide copies of any policies specific to individual Equality Act protected characteristics (excluding marriage and civil partnership) and the unprotected characteristic of gender of care workers and/or service users, i.e any policies specific individually to a. gender reassignment/trans identified care workers and/or service users b. the age of care workers and/or care workers and/or service users c. the disability of care workers and/or service users d. the pregnancy of care workers and/or service users, but there is no need to provide copies of HR employee maternity leave policies e. the race of care workers and/or service users f. the religion or belief of care workers and/or service users g. the sex of care workers and or service users h. the sexual orientation of care workers and/or service users i. the non protected characteristic of gender of care works and/or service users.
As above, these expectations are detailed in our contractual agreements, there is no specific policy held by the LA and providers are expected to hold relevant policies. Contracts include our legal duties: The Equality Act places statutory duties on the council to:
• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act.
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.