Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the extent to which Care Quality Commission inspections of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in each of the last five years investigated the ability of young people treated by the Gender Identity Development Service (1) to have sufficient understanding, and (2) to be able to assess, the potential long-term consequences of receiving puberty-blocking treatment.

In 2016, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reviewed capacity and consent for young people during its inspection across the variety services provided by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. To sufficiently assess capacity and consent for puberty-blocking treatment, a specific assessment by the CQC was required to identify practices at Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, University College London Hospitals, and Leeds General Infirmary. This took place between September and November 2020 in response to concerns identified by the CQC and the subsequent reports will be published in due course.

From early 2019, the CQC has been monitoring the Trust’s action plan which includes capacity and consent for puberty-blocking treatment and has requested specific information from the trust on this topic.