An independent evaluation of the Cass review on child gender services
The Parliament petitions site records 17,353 signatures for this petition, which closed on 12 June 2025. The Government responded on 14 January 2025.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
An independent evaluation of the Cass review on child gender services
We believe that trans healthcare should be based on unbiased research that is peer reviewed. We think that the Cass review's findings have led to restrictive practices that are being directly felt by transgender children.
We feel that an independent evaluation is necessary to ensure children aren’t being unduly harmed. We think that only through a transparent process can we guarantee fair access and treatment for trans children as well as restore faith in the current NHS services.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 14 January 2025; the petitions site lists the Department of Health and Social Care as responsible. Its summary:
The Government and NHS England are fully committed to implementing all recommendations from the independent and evidence based Cass Review. We do not support an independent evaluation of the Review.
The opening 397 words of the 721-word response:
The Independent Review of gender identity services for children and young people (the Cass Review) was a comprehensive and independent review commissioned by NHS England to make recommendations on how to improve NHS gender identity services for children and young people. The government and NHS England have made a clear commitment to implement its 32 recommendations in full.
The Cass Review is robust, evidence-based, and the most comprehensive assessment of gender incongruence in children and young people that has been produced to date. It was underpinned by a systematic review conducted by the University of York and a programme of proactive engagement. Dr Cass’ team engaged with over 1000 individuals and organisations across the breadth of opinion on this subject including trans, gender questioning young people, as well as support and advocacy groups.
Dr Cass’ team have been transparent around the methodology used throughout the Review and have made this information publicly available on the Cass Review website. The link to access the peer-reviewed systematic evidence reviews that informed the report and recommendations is available here: https://adc.bmj.com/pages/gender-identity-service-series.
The government is clear that healthcare provision for children and young people experiencing gender dysphoria and incongruence must be safe, evidence-based and clinically appropriate. Implementing the Cass Review ensures that this will happen. The government does not, therefore, believe an independent evaluation of the Cass Review would be beneficial and there are no plans for an independent evaluation.
NHS England published its ambitious two-year action plan to implement the Cass Review, which sets out how it will continue to transform and improve services, helping to tackle waiting lists while ensuring safe and holistic care. This can be found here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/gender-dysphoria-clinical-programme/implementing-advice-from-the-cass-review/
A summary of the progress made is included below:
NHS England has opened three new services in the North West, London, and the South West (Bristol) that offer a fundamentally different clinical model, embedding multi-disciplinary teams in specialist children’s hospitals. This model includes a nominated paediatrician or psychiatrist with overall clinical responsibility for patient safety in these services. A fourth service will open in the East of England in Spring 2025. NHS England is making progress towards its commitment for there to be a specialist children’s gender service in every region by 2026.
Investment in children and young people’s gender services in 2024/25 has more than doubled compared to 2023/24 and this will increase further as new services are established.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions.json?state=with_response&page=16UK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
561d71dc45ae8f92… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
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