The Government and NHS England have made a clear commitment to implement all the recommendations in the Cass Review’s final report, and this includes the data linkage study.

The data linkage study remains an important commitment within the wider national research programme underpinning the design and delivery of the new model of National Health Service care in place in England for children and young people with gender incongruence / dysphoria. The study is observational in nature, linking and analysing existing, routinely collected healthcare data for adults who, as children, were referred into the former Gender Identity Development Service, previously operated by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

The data linkage study design will enable consideration of any associations observed within currently available data, rather than providing direct evidence on the cause and effect of any individual treatment approach. Nonetheless the study aims to provide valuable additional insights into the characteristics, healthcare experience and intermediate outcomes of this previous cohort of children and young people accessing NHS gender care, and to inform future gender care.

The Department has continued to regularly engage with and support NHS England, which has taken on responsibility for study delivery. Since taking over responsibility for delivering the data linkage study, NHS England has taken time to undertake further due diligence on the data sources that will underpin the study, and to re-engage with data-sharing organisations, on which the study will be dependent. This has led to small but important proposed improvements in study design, subject to the approval of the Health Research Authority (HRA), that both respond positively to stakeholder feedback and that will better facilitate the collaboration of study data sharing partners. This will include carefully monitoring and considering whether any further steps may be required to ensure timely progress on data collaboration.

These improvements also include a more appropriately confined data ask of adult gender clinics, planned phasing so that initial linkages can be completed against national data sets already available to NHS England, before additional adult clinic data becomes available from study partners, and the option for individuals in the study cohort to register via a single, more simply accessed study specific data opt-out which can remain open up until just before the study analysis is finalised.

Important final steps are currently being taken to enable the study to begin. On 26 February, an updated order was laid in both Houses of Parliament to facilitate delivery of the data linkage study. The order will provide appropriate legal protections for those individuals and organisations who will be sharing or processing data potentially subject to the specific protections of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, for the purpose of the study. The order is expected to come in to force on 20 March 2026. Final HRA study approval will also need to be in place before the study can begin.

The Government and NHS England have made a clear commitment to implement all the recommendations in the Cass Review’s final report, and this includes the data linkage study.

The data linkage study remains an important commitment within the wider national research programme underpinning the design and delivery of the new model of National Health Service care in place in England for children and young people with gender incongruence / dysphoria. The study is observational in nature, linking and analysing existing, routinely collected healthcare data for adults who, as children, were referred into the former Gender Identity Development Service, previously operated by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

The data linkage study design will enable consideration of any associations observed within currently available data, rather than providing direct evidence on the cause and effect of any individual treatment approach. Nonetheless the study aims to provide valuable additional insights into the characteristics, healthcare experience and intermediate outcomes of this previous cohort of children and young people accessing NHS gender care, and to inform future gender care.

The Department has continued to regularly engage with and support NHS England, which has taken on responsibility for study delivery. Since taking over responsibility for delivering the data linkage study, NHS England has taken time to undertake further due diligence on the data sources that will underpin the study, and to re-engage with data-sharing organisations, on which the study will be dependent. This has led to small but important proposed improvements in study design, subject to the approval of the Health Research Authority (HRA), that both respond positively to stakeholder feedback and that will better facilitate the collaboration of study data sharing partners. This will include carefully monitoring and considering whether any further steps may be required to ensure timely progress on data collaboration.

These improvements also include a more appropriately confined data ask of adult gender clinics, planned phasing so that initial linkages can be completed against national data sets already available to NHS England, before additional adult clinic data becomes available from study partners, and the option for individuals in the study cohort to register via a single, more simply accessed study specific data opt-out which can remain open up until just before the study analysis is finalised.

Important final steps are currently being taken to enable the study to begin. On 26 February, an updated order was laid in both Houses of Parliament to facilitate delivery of the data linkage study. The order will provide appropriate legal protections for those individuals and organisations who will be sharing or processing data potentially subject to the specific protections of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, for the purpose of the study. The order is expected to come in to force on 20 March 2026. Final HRA study approval will also need to be in place before the study can begin.

The Government and NHS England have made a clear commitment to implement all the recommendations in the Cass Review’s final report, and this includes the data linkage study.

The data linkage study remains an important commitment within the wider national research programme underpinning the design and delivery of the new model of National Health Service care in place in England for children and young people with gender incongruence / dysphoria. The study is observational in nature, linking and analysing existing, routinely collected healthcare data for adults who, as children, were referred into the former Gender Identity Development Service, previously operated by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

The data linkage study design will enable consideration of any associations observed within currently available data, rather than providing direct evidence on the cause and effect of any individual treatment approach. Nonetheless the study aims to provide valuable additional insights into the characteristics, healthcare experience and intermediate outcomes of this previous cohort of children and young people accessing NHS gender care, and to inform future gender care.

The Department has continued to regularly engage with and support NHS England, which has taken on responsibility for study delivery. Since taking over responsibility for delivering the data linkage study, NHS England has taken time to undertake further due diligence on the data sources that will underpin the study, and to re-engage with data-sharing organisations, on which the study will be dependent. This has led to small but important proposed improvements in study design, subject to the approval of the Health Research Authority (HRA), that both respond positively to stakeholder feedback and that will better facilitate the collaboration of study data sharing partners. This will include carefully monitoring and considering whether any further steps may be required to ensure timely progress on data collaboration.

These improvements also include a more appropriately confined data ask of adult gender clinics, planned phasing so that initial linkages can be completed against national data sets already available to NHS England, before additional adult clinic data becomes available from study partners, and the option for individuals in the study cohort to register via a single, more simply accessed study specific data opt-out which can remain open up until just before the study analysis is finalised.

Important final steps are currently being taken to enable the study to begin. On 26 February, an updated order was laid in both Houses of Parliament to facilitate delivery of the data linkage study. The order will provide appropriate legal protections for those individuals and organisations who will be sharing or processing data potentially subject to the specific protections of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, for the purpose of the study. The order is expected to come in to force on 20 March 2026. Final HRA study approval will also need to be in place before the study can begin.

The Government and NHS England have made a clear commitment to implement all the recommendations in the Cass Review’s final report, and this includes the data linkage study.

The data linkage study remains an important commitment within the wider national research programme underpinning the design and delivery of the new model of National Health Service care in place in England for children and young people with gender incongruence / dysphoria. The study is observational in nature, linking and analysing existing, routinely collected healthcare data for adults who, as children, were referred into the former Gender Identity Development Service, previously operated by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

The data linkage study design will enable consideration of any associations observed within currently available data, rather than providing direct evidence on the cause and effect of any individual treatment approach. Nonetheless the study aims to provide valuable additional insights into the characteristics, healthcare experience and intermediate outcomes of this previous cohort of children and young people accessing NHS gender care, and to inform future gender care.

The Department has continued to regularly engage with and support NHS England, which has taken on responsibility for study delivery. Since taking over responsibility for delivering the data linkage study, NHS England has taken time to undertake further due diligence on the data sources that will underpin the study, and to re-engage with data-sharing organisations, on which the study will be dependent. This has led to small but important proposed improvements in study design, subject to the approval of the Health Research Authority (HRA), that both respond positively to stakeholder feedback and that will better facilitate the collaboration of study data sharing partners. This will include carefully monitoring and considering whether any further steps may be required to ensure timely progress on data collaboration.

These improvements also include a more appropriately confined data ask of adult gender clinics, planned phasing so that initial linkages can be completed against national data sets already available to NHS England, before additional adult clinic data becomes available from study partners, and the option for individuals in the study cohort to register via a single, more simply accessed study specific data opt-out which can remain open up until just before the study analysis is finalised.

Important final steps are currently being taken to enable the study to begin. On 26 February, an updated order was laid in both Houses of Parliament to facilitate delivery of the data linkage study. The order will provide appropriate legal protections for those individuals and organisations who will be sharing or processing data potentially subject to the specific protections of the Gender Recognition Act 2004, for the purpose of the study. The order is expected to come in to force on 20 March 2026. Final HRA study approval will also need to be in place before the study can begin.

This information is not held centrally. However, no new first assessment appointments have been offered by the Gender Identity Development Service at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust since the end of March 2023.

Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust follows the NHS England’s Serious Incident framework to identify, report and learn from incidents. Information specifically on the categories of ‘serious incident’ reported at the Trust is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Department has been clear that the interim services must fully reflect the recommendations from the Cass Review, which differ significantly to the services currently provided at Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust.

NHS England will continue to work closely with providers to oversee the development of services.

The new services are building multi-disciplinary teams of specialists to provide care to the children and young people referred to these services. This is in line with the Cass Review’s recommended approach, however, they will need to include expertise in treating gender dysphoria in children, alongside other clinical disciplines, of which there is nationally a small pool of specialists. The transformation programme aims to ensure the new teams have the relevant expertise needed to deliver the service. Any staff that move from the Gender Identity Development Service to the new services will be fully signed up to the new clinical model set out by Dr Cass.

This information is not held centrally.

The Government has no plans to set up a public inquiry into the Gender Identity Development Service for Children and supports the ongoing Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People currently being carried out by Dr Hilary Cass, also known as the Cass Review. The review is expected to set out findings and make recommendations in relation to pathways of care, clinical models and management, and the use of, and research into the long-time effects of, hormone treatment. The Cass Review published an interim report in March 2022 and is due to conclude by the end of 2023.

The new services will need to build multi-disciplinary teams. These will include expertise in Gender Dysphoria alongside other clinical disciplines. The transformation programme aims to ensure relevant expertise is transferred to the new teams. The new providers and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust are working together to establish a process that is consistent with employment law and with National Health Service human resources best practice.

The establishment of the new services and closure of the current contract with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust will happen as quickly as possible this year, but crucially at a pace appropriate to the complexity of the change, while minimising disruption and any additional anxiety for patients.

A national transformation programme has been established to oversee the transition of patients from the Tavistock and Portman NHS foundation trust Gender and Identity Development Service into the new Phase 1 services.

New referrals are being directed to NHS Arden and GEM Commissioning Support Unit, who will hold these referrals on behalf of the new service providers in the interim. NHS Arden and GEM will transfer patients on the waiting list to the new providers once they have commenced operation.

The waiting list for children and young people’s Gender Dysphoria Services remains open. New referrals are being directed to NHS Arden and GEM Commissioning Support Unit, who will hold these referrals on behalf of the new service providers. These referrals will be transferred to the new service providers once they have commenced operation.

The closure of the current contract with the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust will happen as quickly as possible in 2023, but crucially at a pace appropriate for the complexity of the change, while minimising disruption and any additional anxiety for patients.

NHS England is progressing the formation of a new service model for children's gender identity services, in line with the recommendations made by the independent Cass Review. Subject to consultation, the new service model will be led by specialist children’s hospitals through an integrated multi-disciplinary team led by a medical doctor. On 21 October, NHS England launched an online only consultation on an interim service specification.