Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) funding and (b) training has been provided to GPs to ensure that they and their staff are adequately equipped to support people undergoing treatment relating to their gender identity.

Gender identity services are specialised services that are directly commissioned by NHS England and it is for NHS England to determine the level of spend on these services each year from the overall budget allocated by the Government. Planned spend on gender identity services by NHS England in 2017/18 is £29.3 million (covering adult and paediatric services; surgical and non-surgical services).

NHS England is also responsible for ensuring that there is adequate provision of specialist gender identity services for the population of England; NHS England plans to run a national procurement later in 2017/18 to identify the necessary level of provision, which organisations are best placed to deliver the services, and where those services should be located.

General practitioners (GPs) provide services under contracts with NHS England. These arrangements provide core funding for the provision of all necessary services, including providing advice and the referral for other services, to all their registered patients.

It is for GPs to determine any continuing professional development needs, in discussion with their appraiser, as part of their annual appraisal. GP practices are also responsible for ensuring that their staff are appropriately trained to carry out the duties for which they are engaged.

The costs of prescribing and monitoring hormone treatments are met by the patient’s clinical commissioning group.