Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rosie Duffield and Karin Smyth
Tuesday 13th January 2026

(2 weeks, 1 day ago)

Commons Chamber
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Rosie Duffield Portrait Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)
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3. What discussions he has had with King’s College London on the compliance of the PATHWAYS puberty blocker trial with the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004.

Karin Smyth Portrait The Minister for Secondary Care (Karin Smyth)
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The PATHWAYS trial has undergone a thorough independent review and has received all the regulatory and ethical approvals. The sponsors of the study, King’s College London and South London and Maudsley NHS foundation trust, are working to ensure that it is conducted in compliance with the relevant regulations.

Rosie Duffield Portrait Rosie Duffield
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The United States Department of Health and Human Services’ peer-reviewed report found that harms from paediatric medical transition are significant, long term and too often ignored and inadequately tracked, as testified by Keira Bell, who is here in Parliament today. What is the Government’s rationale behind medicalising yet more vulnerable children, given that we have no evidence of any benefit to this approach and, in fact, plenty of evidence of harm?

Karin Smyth Portrait Karin Smyth
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As the hon. Lady knows, the Government are acting on the recommendations of the excellent report from Hilary Cass, which I think she would agree is world-leading evidence, and moving the model away from medical intervention towards a more holistic approach to care. The Government will continue to be guided by that evidence, as the whole House will appreciate. The hon. Lady referenced Keira Bell, and I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham Edgbaston (Preet Kaur Gill) has asked the Secretary of State to meet clinicians and others who disagree with the trial. That meeting is being arranged, and we will continue to work under the guidelines for clinical evidence.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rosie Duffield and Karin Smyth
Tuesday 11th February 2025

(11 months, 2 weeks ago)

Commons Chamber
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Karin Smyth Portrait Karin Smyth
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My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the issue is key, and that the results are worrying. I know how proud my friends and family members were to become nurses, and what a great career nursing offered them. We have to deliver on the promise of a good career, and build on that pride in being a nurse. We absolutely recognise that we cannot rebuild the NHS without their skills and their high-quality critical and compassionate care.

Rosie Duffield Portrait Rosie Duffield (Canterbury) (Ind)
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Does the Minister believe that the NHS should expect biologically female nursing staff to get changed in front of biologically male colleagues who identify as female?