Puberty Suppressants Trial

Debate between Alex Sobel and Wes Streeting

Wednesday 17th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

The hon. Lady has offered a political opinion, not a clinical judgment. By that logic, we would not have any medicine for children and young people; we would never have undertaken clinical trials or studies, because we would have judged that children and young people could not take part in them. That is objectively not a sensible position.

I understand the sensitivity surrounding this issue, and the hon. Lady is right to say that people in our country have received life-changing clinical interventions that they later regretted. As part of that regret, they have shared that they did not feel, at the time, that they were making or could have made an informed decision. That is why this trial is set up in such a way that it has such strong clinical oversight locally as well as nationally. It cannot happen without not just the assent of a young person but the consent of their parent or guardian. Those are important protections and safeguards. I do not share the hon. Lady’s characterisation of the trial.

[Alex Sobel (Leeds Central and Headingley) (Lab/Co-op)]

I support the pathways clinical trial, but it is clear that many, many young people presenting with gender incongruence will not be able to access it, for whatever reason. I am concerned about the mental health of those who will not be able to access the clinical trial. What additional support can the Secretary of State provide for those people, particularly around their mental health?

[Wes Streeting]

The study includes a lot of research around wider therapeutic support and interventions, including mental health support. We are rolling out more clinics and services across the country to bring that care closer to home.

New Hospital Programme Review

Debate between Alex Sobel and Wes Streeting

Monday 20th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful for the way in which the hon. Gentleman poses his question. I can confirm that pre-construction work is ongoing, with construction due to start between 2027 and 2029.

A lot has been said about what my party said before the election, and I will give Opposition Members a role model in how to do honesty ahead of an election. I stood outside the Royal Cornwall hospital and was asked by local media whether I would commit to a specific timetable, and I said, “We have committed to the new hospitals programme. We are committed to seeing through the new women and children’s hospital at the Royal Cornwall, and I know that enabling work is under way. Beyond that, we are going to take an honest look at the books.” That is the approach I took as shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, and that is how to do it—to under-promise and then over-deliver.

[Alex Sobel (Leeds Central and Headingley) (Lab/Co-op)]

Leeds general infirmary received outline planning permission in 2020. Two Conservative Prime Ministers came to Leeds and promised that we would get our new hospital, despite knowing that the funding was not there in the Treasury.

I thank my right hon. Friend for visiting the LGI. Now that we know we are in wave 2, will he meet me and the chief executive to talk about one of the largest maintenance backlogs in the NHS, how we are going to cope in the intervening period, and how we are going to move forward and hit wave 2 running to get our hospital built before we need to close down our children’s services, which are at risk?

[Wes Streeting]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for highlighting the extent to which Leeds general infirmary was let down over 14 years of Conservative Government, with initial under-investment followed by total inactivity, apart from a big pile of dirt outside the hospital, which I went to see with the then shadow Chancellor. The Chancellor and I are both committed to the project: we know how important it is. We have had to phase the programme so we can say it is genuinely affordable, deliverable and credible on this timetable. I reassure my hon. Friend that pre-construction work will take place over 2030 to 2032, with construction due to start in 2033 to 2035. We would be delighted to receive representations from MPs from his city and across the region about the support we provide to the trust in the meantime.

Puberty-suppressing Hormones

Debate between Alex Sobel and Wes Streeting

Wednesday 11th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Wes Streeting]

I thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for her approach to this matter. I can certainly respond to her questions. We want all those regional centres to be up and running by 2026, and we are working with NHS England to achieve that outcome.

The hon. Lady mentioned the waiting lists. To give people a sense of the challenge, the latest figures show that 6,237 children and young people are on waiting lists for gender services, so we have seen growth in the waiting list in the time that she mentioned. As with all NHS waiting lists, I want to see those numbers fall. It is particularly important to note, in the context of children and young people’s services—be they gender identity or other paediatric services—that a wait of many years can represent a school lifetime. I know that for that group of children and young people, time really does feel of the essence, so we owe it to them to get the waiting lists down faster.

We are also working to implement the recommendation on the follow-through service for 17 to 25-year-olds. I know that there is some anxiety about that issue—some people have interpreted it as an extension of children’s services up to the age of 25, but that is not what we intend. It is about a transitional service from children’s to adult services, which I think will lead to better care.

Finally, in the context of a statement that focuses on puberty-suppressing hormones, it is worth pointing out that they are not the only treatment for children and young people in this area. I think there is a danger that the focus on that treatment—because of an inevitable but necessary political process—means that it is held up as the gold standard, so some children and young people and their families feel that if they miss out on it, they are missing out on all treatment. That is not the case. Indeed, for many trans people of all ages in our country, puberty blockers have never been considered an appropriate intervention. We must see all the treatment options in the round, which is why I support the holistic approach to supporting children and young people with gender incongruence, as Dr Cass outlined in her excellent report.

[Alex Sobel (Leeds Central and Headingley) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank the Secretary of State for addressing the points in my letter to him, particularly on the holistic approach to the health of trans young people. In his statement, he said that the order would

“restrict the sale or supply of puberty blockers”

to under-18s through private prescriptions. Can he assure me that that will apply to all under-18s, not just those with gender dysphoria? Otherwise, it will be used as an attack on trans young people, as he well knows. Is the order universal rather than targeting trans young people in particular?

[Wes Streeting]

The order relates to the use of puberty blockers by that particular group of patients for that particular purpose, where the evidence base is not sound and for which the Commission on Human Medicines has described the current prescribing environment as representing an “unacceptable safety risk.” Puberty blockers are safe and proven for use among children and young people for other conditions, including precocious puberty. Where we lack a sound evidence base and a safe prescribing environment, and where that medicine represents an unacceptable safety risk, is in relation to its use for that particular purpose for that particular group of patients.