'Prof Michael Biggs, a sociologist at Oxford University, said: “We do know from a longitudinal Dutch study that there is compelling evidence that socially transitioning does lock in transgender identity.
Social transition ‘locks in’ identity
“It measured gender dysphoria before puberty and then came back several years later. You cannot treat it as an innocuous measure.
“I am hoping that the review will acknowledge that this was a major intervention which prepared the ground for medical interventions. We have to at the very least understand that this is the beginning of the process of physical transition.”
Last month, the NHS announced an immediate ban on prescribing puberty blockers to under-18s unless they are part of a clinical trial. Ministers said the “landmark decision” was in children’s “best interests” and would help to ensure youngsters who feel their gender is not the same as their sex are treated using medical evidence.
But campaigners warned of a loophole since there is nothing to stop transgender children getting hold of puberty blockers from private clinics.
The Cass review is expected to note the dangers of obtaining such drugs from private doctors and also raise the prospect that this could restrict their access to future NHS care for gender dysphoria.
In 2021-22, the NHS reported more than 5,000 referrals to the Gender Identity Development Service run by Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, up from just under 250 who were questioning their gender a decade earlier.
Draft guidance from the DfE, published at the end of last year, told schools to presume that a child could not change gender.
Under the new “parent-first” approach, head teachers must tell parents if their child wants to change gender. The guidance had been promised since 2018 but was delayed amid a disagreement within the Government over how to respond to the rise in the number of children who say they are trans.
Some gender-critical campaigners have said it does not go far enough because it does not ban social transitioning completely.
Ministers had considered an outright ban on social transitioning, but Victoria Prentis, the Attorney General, advised that such a move would be unlawful under the Equality Act 2010'