Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 25 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government when it will report on the progress that it has made on implementing the relevant recommendations from the Independent review of gender identity services for children and young people (the Cass Review).
The Cass Review only considered services offered by NHS England, and the report’s 32 recommendations are made to NHS England. As such, NHS England holds responsibility for implementing these recommendations.
The Scottish Government did, however, commit to closely consider the Review’s findings in the context of NHS Scotland services. Accordingly, the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland convened a multidisciplinary team to consider the Review’s recommendations and how they might be applicable to Scotland, which published its findings on 5 July 2024. The Scottish Government has accepted this report and its recommendations.
A “Task and Finish” group, supported by the Scottish Government’s Chief Operating Officer’s Directorate, has now been convened to design a sustainable model for young people’s gender identity services, and the work of this group will be shaped by the multidisciplinary team’s recommendations. Additionally, as recommended by the report, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde ended self-referrals to the Sandyford Gender Identity Clinic in August 2024, and the health board is taking forward work to move young people’s gender identity services into a paediatric clinical setting.