Philippa East (Author)

Is the Review recommending that puberty blockers should be banned? No. Puberty blocker medications are used to address a number of different conditions. The Review has considered the evidence in relation to safety and efficacy (clinical benefit) of the medications for use in young people with gender incongruence/gender dysphoria. The Review found that not enough is known about the longer-term impacts of puberty blockers for children and young people with gender incongruence to know whether they are safe or not, nor which children might benefit from their use.

Anyone want to tell The Telegraph that Cass did not recommend a ban 🙄🙄🙄

webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/202503...

Dear EHRC and EHRC Data Protection Officer I recently responded to the EHC online survey on the new Code of Practice. The information I received when submitting to the survey was as follows: “The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) undertakes research under its statutory duties and the information you provide will only be processed under these powers, for the purpose of this research. All information will be stored in line with our privacy notice and used only for the purposes of this research. We are collecting this information under our statutory powers and we may publish a report of our research. Please do not provide any information that may identify you in any free-text responses. However, any information you provide will be anonymised in our published report and you will not be identified in our report. Some data may be collected through the SmartSurvey website when you complete the survey. To find out more about this, please refer to SmartSurvey's privacy policy.” Code of practice consultation 2025 - questions for individuals and legal professionals.docx equalityhumanrights.com The EHRC privacy notice states: “Where you have provided your consent for us to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time.” Data protection and your rights | EHRC equalityhumanrights.com favicon-32x32.png I have today learned that the EHCR plan to process the 50,000+ responses to their consultation using the third party contractor SurveyMind.

Since I was not asked permission, or even informed, about the possibility of my consultation submission being processed using AI technology, I would like to withdraw consent for my data to be processed in this way. I would, of course, still want my data to be processed as part of the EHRC consultation — just not by AI. Please advise me on how I can update my permissions regarding the use of my data, to exclude processing by AI. Alternatively, can you let me know the basis on which the EHRC has permission to process my (and other respondents’) submissions using AI technology, given that no information about this possible method of processing data was mentioned to those responding to the survey. With many thanks as always for your time and help in answering my enquiries. Yours sincerely, Philippa East

Let’s see what the EHRC say to my request… 😡

Yay! Another 1,000 words written!
That's me up to 56,000 (of a planned 60,000 - this book gonna be a li'l one)
And if you're getting bored with these relentless and repetitive word count updates, think how *I* feel! 😆

I want to know what coding framework they create, thow they decide if the framework is "fit for purpose", and how they then refine it.
If the AI's initial coding is devastating to the EHRC's aims, will they just re-write the code frame until it isn't?
FOIs at the ready.
bsky.app/profile/phil...

SurveyMind do look legit, in themselves.

By using AI, it would be quite funny if the report they get back just says "What the EHRC is cruel and transphobic".

I REALLY want to know about the coding framework the EHRC create with SurveyMind. How do we get that info?

Our AI-assisted approach 1. Framework Development If you do not already have an agreed coding framework, we can collaborate with you to create a coding framework using AI. This framework will serve as the foundation for coding your data. 2. Initial Coding of Sample Responses Once we have a draft framework, we will code a sample set of 100 responses using our AI-powered system to give you a sense of whether the code frame is fit for purpose

We're going to want to know how the EHRC set this bit up👇
Also, if they've got all this AI power, why are they planning to dump 50% of responses from organisations?
goodlawproject.org/ehrc-consult...

Screnshote from link abouve, that reads: Our AI-assisted approach 1. Framework Development If you do not already have an agreed coding framework, we can collaborate with you to create a coding framework using AI. This framework will serve as the foundation for coding your data. 2. Initial Coding of Sample Responses Once we have a draft framework, we will code a sample set of 100 responses using our AI-powered system to give you a sense of whether the code frame is fit for purpose 3. Final Coding and Quality Assurance Once the framework is finalised, our AI will code the full set of verbatim responses. Our team will then perform a comprehensive QA check to ensure the coding is accurate, consistent, and aligned with your expectations. Why us? We have an expert qualitative research team who streamline the process of developing and implementing coding frameworks for qualitative data analysis, using our own AI technologies. We can reduce costs for Central and Local Government Departments by up to 90%, providing both speed and efficiency. All our data processing, hosting, and storage are handled solely within the UK. If you are carrying out a consultation process within the public sector, and would like to understand how our process can accelerate your consultations and lead to significant cost savings, please do get in touch.

By Jove, I think you're right!
The dates line up.
Interesting that they closed the tender for applications on 26th June, 4 days before the Code consultation itself closed.
Seems they were planning to use AI before the consultation even closed.
surveymind.io/consultations/

Also: pushing back on orgs jumping the gun wih trans-exclusion: transactual.org.uk/equality-act...

And making it clear to those who are still not getting it, that the EHRC planned Code *mandates* trans exclusion and makes trans-includive single sex services unlawful: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

EHRC consultation: Responses ignored because of artificial deadline Leaked documents reveal why the commission is sweeping aside half of the 50,000 responses to its consultation – a self-imposed deadline of 18 August.

There are folk already bringing legal challenges about that, and disavowing the EHRC off the back of it, and submitting to GANHRI.
Probably, for now, best to focus on challenging the EHRC's plans to use AI to process 50,000+ consultation responses by 18th August.
goodlawproject.org/ehrc-consult...

Behind the ruling: how ‘Sex Matters’ is shaping UK policy on trans rights The UK Supreme Court ruling redefined ‘sex’ – but for trans people, it’s the start of something far more sweeping and exclusionary

In meantime, keep sharing this article, which exposes Sex Matters and their agenda for what they truly are ("elliminationist").
Get everyone who references Sex Matters to read it, reply linking it to every article that quotes Sex Matters, etc.
yorkshirebylines.co.uk/news/home-af...

Thank you 🙏

Where you have provided your consent for us to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time. To exercise your rights or withdraw your consent, contact our Data Protection Officer. You can find more information about your rights on the Information Commissioners Office website.

Maybe we can all write in and say we don’t want our data processed by AI, but we still want it processed (by a human).

a cartoon drawing of snoopy sitting at a desk writing on a piece of paper Alt: a cartoon drawing of snoopy sitting at a desk writing on a piece of paper

Right! Today is a day for WRITING!!!! Here we go!

Your rights You have the following rights under data protection legislation in respect of your personal data: You have the right to know how we handle, store, use or otherwise process your personal data (‘the right to be informed’). You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal data (‘the right of access’). You have the right to ask us to rectify data you think is inaccurate or to complete data you think is incomplete (‘the right to rectification’). You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data where we do not have an overriding legal obligation or reason to retain it (‘the right to erasure’). You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data (‘the right to restriction’). You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data (‘the right to object’). You have the right to ask us to transfer data you gave us to another organisation on your behalf (‘the right to data portability’). These rights are not absolute and are subject to a number of exemptions. Some rights may also apply only in certain circumstances. Where you have provided your consent for us to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time. To exercise your rights or withdraw your consent, contact our Data Protection Officer. You can find more information about your rights on the Information Commissioners Office website.

Mmm. I mean, I’m pretty sure none of us were asked consent to feed our response into AI when we completed the survey.
Here’s EHRC’s position in data handling.

www.equalityhumanrights.com/data-protect...

How I feel as an introvert having to do small talk. 🤣

Thanks for all you work on this 🙏

Are they on Bumble?

Yes, that seems worth asking. Keep me posted. Might write an article on this.

Kitties have always been nawty

I'm going to be at @edbookfest.bsky.social next week!

On Tues, Aug 12th (18:30-19:30), I'll be talking about A City on Mars, & the @royalsociety.org will announce which books made the 2025's Royal Society Science Book Prize shortlist!

Hope to see you there!

www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...

47% of people think immigration is primarily illegal. There were 4% irregular arrivals in March

New YouGov polling. A monumental failure of our political class to educate, a monumental failure of our media to report fairly, for a generation

Wow. They don’t hold the information?

Yeah.

Crash Wigley: For Women Scotland: A Case of Significant Silences For Women Scotland v Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 16 is a judgment that has triggered great public discussion about the position of trans people in Great Britain (for an interesting discussion of…

So relieved to see that @crash-w.bsky.social is already on this, as she lays out in her article here:
ukconstitutionallaw.org/2025/05/06/c...

I think I can finally sleep tonight 😅😅😅

Our buildings insurance came up for renewal and we decided we need to find a bite, the bullet and sort the rest out too.

🤣🤣🤣
We need that word count maths to get us through the first draft though, don’t we? “If I can just write 1000 words a day for 90 days, I’ll have a book!”

Ahem, yeah, us too until now 🫣

Also, I was camping. It was always going to go badly

But then your insurance cover is more expensive! Don’t want to be paying more than you have to…