Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to expand the gender clinic pilot schemes.

NHS England has so far commissioned five new pilot gender identity clinics based in primary care and sexual health services. These services are currently operating in London, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Merseyside and East of England. Another pilot testing the primary care-based model, will go live in Sussex in September 2023. Following a positive evaluation of one of the pilots, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded a seven-year contract to develop and expand its service.

The intention, if further pilots are evaluated positively, is to award substantive contracts, following due governance processes. Ongoing evaluation will inform NHS decisions on rolling this model of provision out nationally