Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what the Government's policy is on conversion therapy.

The Government does not recognise ‘gay conversion therapy’ as a legitimate treatment. We have already worked with the main registration and accreditation bodies for psychotherapy and counselling practitioners, including the UK Council for Psychotherapy, to develop a Memorandum of Understanding to end this practice.

The Government are not aware of widespread instances of gay conversion therapy happening in the UK but we want to develop a better understanding of the extent to which it is being practised. That is why we included questions on this topic in our national LGBT survey, which was launched this summer.

We will publish the survey results and our response in the new year.