Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress the Government has made on implementing the recommendations of the report by Dr Hilary Cass entitled Independent review of gender identity services for children and young people, published in April 2024.

The Government and NHS England are fully committed to implementing the recommendations of the Cass Review. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care updated the House on the progress to implement the Cass Review on 11 December.

In line with NHS England’s ambitious two-year implementation plan, three new Children and Young People’s Gender Services have opened in the North-West, London, and the South-West. These services operate under a fundamentally different model, where children and young people get the tailored and holistic care they need from multi-disciplinary teams of experts in paediatrics, neurodiversity, and mental health. NHS England remains on schedule to open a Children and Young People’s Gender Service in each region of England by 2026.

NHS England has updated its service specification in line with the recommendations from the Cass Review. A referral to the specialist Children and Young People’s Gender Service can now be made only by a National Health Service-commissioned, secondary care-level paediatric service, or a children’s and young people’s mental health service. This will ensure that the needs of these children and young people are met holistically

The Government is supporting NHS England to set up a study into the potential benefits and harms of puberty suppressing hormones as a treatment option for children and young people with gender incongruence.

The study team’s application for funding is going through all the usual review and approval stages, including peer review and National Institute for Health and Care Research funding committee consideration, and full ethical approval processes ahead of set up. The trial will be uncapped and aims to begin recruiting participants in early 2025.

As recommended by the Cass Review, NHS England has commissioned a comprehensive study of adult gender services, which is currently underway.