Puberty Blockers Clinical Trial

Rachel Taylor Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Rachel Taylor (North Warwickshire and Bedworth) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. Over the past year, the public debate has become often heated and personal and, at times, deeply harmful. The rhetoric has consequences, and we in this House must take responsibility for the climate that we help to create.

The Cass review’s recommendations were so important, and among them was a clear call for carefully designed clinical trials to build the evidence base around puberty blockers. Those trials would allow clinicians, patients and families to make informed decisions grounded in robust data rather than speculation or ideology. Those who argued that puberty blockers should be restricted due to insufficient evidence are now opposing the very research that would provide that evidence. That does not suggest a commitment to scientific rigour; it suggests a shifting position driven by political ideology. I am not a clinician, and I do not pretend to be. On matters such as these, we must be guided by medical evidence.

[Jonathan Hinder]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Rachel Taylor]

For the sake of time, I will not.

The need to be guided by evidence is precisely why the current situation is so troubling. It is concerning that the MHRA initially raised no objections to the trial when it was approved but has since changed that position. As Dr Cass made clear, no new evidence has been presented to justify that shift. That raises serious questions about the basis of the decision, and whether an independent regulator has buckled to pressure from a well-funded lobbying campaign. As a consequence, vital research is now at risk, and that matters. The trials are not an optional extra; they are the mechanism through which we build the evidence base that critics say is lacking.

[Tonia Antoniazzi]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Rachel Taylor]

No, I am not giving way.

We cannot afford to sacrifice the future of vulnerable young people on the altar of ideology. The trials received ethical approval and were recommended by one of the country’s foremost experts in child health. It is vital that they go ahead so that we can build the evidence we need to support safe, effective healthcare for young trans people.

[Sarah Pochin (Runcorn and Helsby) (Reform)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Mundell. I am concerned about the motivation behind the trials. I went to the initial meeting hosted by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, where we met the panel of so-called experts, and came away with the impression that this was nothing more than a spine-chilling, state-sponsored experiment on our children, with no regard to safeguarding them.

In the main Chamber, I asked the Secretary of State to introduce statutory legislation to access the extensive data that is already available from Tavistock; yet again, I was not provided with an answer as to why he could not do that. I am concerned about the profile of the children being used. I asked at the initial meeting for a lower age limit, but I was refused. I asked whether the Government would consider not including vulnerable children, children in care, or children on drugs for anxiety or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but I was refused.

We have all talked about the long-term damage that seems to be ignored, but one of the most important things that has not really been covered is parental consent. We have heard that consent would be needed from only one parent, if a parent was present in a child’s life. This can cause irreversible damage to families. Last week, I hosted a roundtable about the indoctrination of our children in schools on this very subject, and I heard horrific stories from isolated parents whose children were lost to them because of brainwashing and the fantasy world they had been taught about at school.

[Rachel Taylor]

Will the hon. Member give way?

[Sarah Pochin]

No, I will not.

Overall, we are creating a generation of lost, anxious young people who are confused about their identity, socially insecure and physically scarred.

--- Later in debate ---

[Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) (Ind)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Mundell. This is a Government who have shown that they care for the safety and welfare of children. They supported the Online Safety Act 2023 to counteract harmful digital content and removed, albeit eventually, the punitive two-child benefit cap to reduce poverty. The Government have committed to halving violence against women and girls, and have banned the pre-watershed advertising of junk food on TV.

However, the trial flies in the face of the Government’s explicit mission to protect children from harm. It would expose children to severe and irreversible harm when viable, less harmful alternatives are available. Despite that, the Government are happy to permit a clinical trial that would give puberty blockers to 226 children. Research has shown that over 95% of children who start out on puberty blockers continue on to cross-sex hormones, while other research has shown that between 60% and 98% of children with gender dysphoria will outgrow that feeling and go on to live a normal, natural, healthy life in their born body.

[Rachel Taylor]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Iqbal Mohamed]

I am going to continue, given the lack of time.

The numbers are important. They mean that the Government are choosing to prioritise the interests of between five and 90 of the 226 children involved in the clinical trial at the expense of deliberately harming between 135 and 203 children, who will eventually come to terms with their birth sex. I ask the Minister, will the Government now confirm that the current pause—which I welcome and am grateful to the Government for—will remain in place unless and until all safety, ethical and scientific concerns are fully and transparently resolved?

--- Later in debate ---

[Karin Smyth]

Thank you, Mr Mundell.

Dr Cass also recommended that we take forward the data linkage study as part of the wider national research programme. The linkage study is not a clinical trial, and as such it will not in and of itself provide the type of evidence that can demonstrate cause and effect for any particular treatment. It is observational in nature, linking and analysing existing routinely collected data for adults who were referred as children to the Tavistock before it was decommissioned. The study requires no active patient participation; instead, it relies on an analysis of digital information held within health records and other databases.

Data linkage studies have faced difficulties that are a matter of public record, but since then there have been great efforts to improve the collaboration of the adult clinics and other organisations. Important final steps are currently being taken to enable the study to begin. We expect the study analysis to then take around one year to complete. On 26 February, we laid an order before the House to make it lawful for people and organisations to share or process data that could be subject to protections under the Gender Recognition Act 2004 where it is for the purpose of the study. That order came into force last week.

The PATHWAYS clinical trial is a key step that we are taking to build an evidence base to prove whether puberty blockers are safe and effective in treating gender incongruence and gender dysphoria. As we speak, the new clinical model is collecting a consistent and comprehensive core clinical dataset while we develop a supporting national registry.

In the meantime, hormone medications are not being prescribed. NHS England now prevents the routine use of puberty-suppressing hormones in the NHS children and young people’s gender services, and the Government have indefinitely extended restrictions that prevent them being supplied privately. Last year, NHS England issued guidance to GPs that strongly advised against supporting prescribing agreements with unregulated providers, who do not always have children’s best interests at heart. That includes online overseas providers who are known to have supplied puberty suppressants and cross-sex hormones to children in the past without any proper safeguarding. NHS England issued that warning because of the serious safety risks that unregulated providers continue to pose to children in this country. In some cases, we are talking about puberty blockers being prescribed following a questionnaire or a brief Zoom call.

I will come on to other issues around future services, although I think I have answered most questions. All clinical trials have appropriate insurance to cope with the issues outlined by the right hon. Member for Tonbridge (Tom Tugendhat). The trial sponsor is King’s College, so my understanding is that the issue raised by the hon. Member for South West Devon (Rebecca Smith) with regard to the state having conflicts does not arise. The hon. Member for Bristol Central (Carla Denyer) cited regulations that were mainly from overseas, but the UK has its own regulatory independent network: the MHRA, which we work with. The Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Dr Johnson), who I respect in her role as a paediatrician, asked a number of questions about timing and process. She will be aware that there is a judicial review, but I will make sure that she gets an answer on some of those issues.

I want to update the House that since April 2024, NHS England has opened three new services in the north-west, London and the south-west. I can confirm that a fourth service will become operational at Cambridge University hospitals NHS foundation trust very shortly. Those are important services for young people and their families who are awaiting treatment and who want to understand when and how they will receive care.

[Rachel Taylor]

Will the Minister give way?

[Karin Smyth]

I am not going to give way.

Those services operate under a fundamentally different clinical model from the Tavistock clinic. Children and young people will get comprehensive, tailored assessment and support from multidisciplinary teams made up of experts in paediatrics, neurodiversity and mental health.

Under this Government, mental health spending has gone up in real terms, and we are putting specialist mental health teams in every school to support those young people. However, I know there are still families who are desperately worried by some of the debate and are concerned about the future, often to the detriment of their own mental health. They want clarity on the options open to them. I want to end by assuring hon. Members that we will update the House on all these issues as soon as possible. I urge all hon. Members to continue to engage with the evidence that best supports our young people. That is what we, as a Government, continue to be focused on.