Puberty-suppressing Hormones

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin Excerpts

Monday 16th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I very much welcome the generous and supportive comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, in respect of the Secretary of State’s Statement. I am grateful for those. I note that she finds the reference to “uncapped” scary. I presented it as the way to gather the widest amount of relevant evidence, because that is a clinical trial; that is what is so important. The reason it is being done is that there is insufficient evidence and there has not been such a trial, and we need to do one for this particular situation.

In respect of meeting charities and others, the Secretary of State has been very keen to—what I would call—reset the relationship with various groups which all have different sets of thoughts on this. I have joined him in those meetings. He has also been meeting those with lived experience. We continue to do so. We have wanted to detoxify the debate, and those meetings have helped immensely. We will continue to have that listening ear.

[Baroness Morgan of Drefelin (Lab)]

My Lords, I too welcome the Statement. The tone, as we have already heard, has been absolutely right. Thinking about the clinical trial, I would like to know a little more about the timing. If we are intending to run a clinical trial that is going to be looking at efficacy and safety, it will not be an easy trial to run and it is going to take some time. It would be really welcome if the Minister could keep the House informed, which she has already promised to do.

I am particularly interested in hearing the Minister’s view on the following point. It is really important to get this clinical trial on the puberty blockers going, but we also need to understand the value and the evidence supporting all the other interventions too—the psychosocial support, the psychological support, and all the other interventions—so that it is not just this clinical trial but a broad understanding of what really helps these young people. `

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

My noble friend is right to raise the second point. It is a whole range of interventions, and that is certainly something that we have very much in mind for consideration, for the reasons that we have heard in the Chamber this evening and the points that my noble friend makes. In respect of timings, it is a planned pathway study and that includes a clinical trial component. It is, as I said, to build evidence. I am glad to say that it remains on track to commence recruitment early in 2025, but only after there has been ethical approval. When that is granted, that is when the final study protocol will be ready, and I know that noble Lords will have a lot of interest in that. We will be issuing further updates in early 2025, and if there are any particular questions, noble Lords are very welcome to raise them with me.