Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of off-label puberty blockers; and how many children have been given off-label puberty blockers in the last five years.

Clinicians can prescribe medicines outside the licensed indication where it is considered the best treatment for the patient. Gonadotropin-releasing hormone antagonists are used in line with granted medical authorisations and ‘off label’ to treat several medical conditions in children, including precocious puberty, some forms of cancer, gender dysphoria and endometriosis. Clinicians are professionally accountable for prescribing decisions and to service commissioners.

Dr Hilary Cass is currently reviewing how the National Health Service prescribes puberty blockers to children and young people with gender dysphoria. Her interim review concluded that there is insufficient evidence currently available for any firm recommendations on the routine use and that further research is needed. NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research are designing and commissioning a research protocol which will prospectively enrol young people being considered for hormone treatment. Information on prescriptions of puberty blockers dispensed in the community in England for gender dysphoria is not held centrally.