Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the practice of supplying puberty blockers to those aged under 16; and what plans they have, if any, to prevent this practice in England and Wales.

On 1 December 2020, the High Court ruled that hormone blockers were “innovative and experimental” and there would be “enormous difficulties in a child under 16 understanding and weighing up… information and deciding whether to consent to the use of puberty blocking medication”.

Following this judgment, NHS England immediately suspended referrals of new patients under 16 years old to endocrinology services.