Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the NHS document A guide for young trans people in the UK stereotypes gender characteristics and advises young people to go abroad for puberty blocking treatment which is not permitted in the UK.

No assessment has been made of the content of the document A guide for young trans people in the UK as it is no longer current.

This document was published in 2007, before NHS England’s inception in 2013, when it became the direct commissioner of specialised gender dysphoria services for the population of England.

In 2016, NHS England published a clinical commissioning policy that sets out strict guidelines regarding the prescription of puberty-blocking and cross-sex hormones in youngsters. These drugs may only be prescribed with the agreement of a specialist multidisciplinary team and after a diagnosis of gender dysphoria has been made following a careful assessment of the individual, and generally once the patient is around 15 years old for hormone blockers and 16 years old for cross sex hormones.

A copy of NHS England’s commissioning policy NHS Standard Contract for Gender Identity Development Service For Children And Adolescents is attached.