Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government when the results of the data linkage study recommended by the Cass Review will be published, and whether the results will be published before the commencement of the NHS England puberty blocker trial.

The Government and NHS England are committed to implementing the recommendations of the Cass Review in full. NHS England’s ambitious two-year implementation plan sets out how it will continue to transform services, while ensuring safe and holistic care.

NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Research have jointly established a programme of research that is underpinning the design and delivery of new services for children and young people with gender incongruence. The programme reflects the recommendations of the Cass Review and the need for more high-quality evidence to inform the advice and care provided to an increasing number of children with gender incongruence, and their families, when making important treatment decisions. The current research programme includes the following studies: the data linkage study, which will enable us to learn from the experience and outcomes of a particular group of up to 9,000 adults who, as children, were cared for under a previous and now decommissioned model of National Health Service care; and the PATHWAYS study, which has several elements, including a longitudinal observational study of children and young people attending NHS Gender Services, charting their development over time, and longitudinal qualitative interviews to explore the needs and care experiences of children, young people, and their families, and how these change over the course of time and the treatment

These studies are independent investigations and will run to their own timescales.