Publication - FOI/EIR release

Gender recognition consultations - information collection: FOI release

Published: 27 January 2020
Directorate: Justice Directorate
Part of: Equality and rights, Law and order, Public sector
FOI reference: FOI/201900010673
Date received: 24 December 2019
Date responded: 27 January 2020

Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Information requested

You asked for:

"Evidence of consultation with any other professionals experienced in working with gender dysphoric children and young people.

Evidence of all research studies on gender dysphoric children and adolescents that were considered.

Evidence of consultation with professionals in the area of child development and child and adolescent psychology.

Evidence of attempts made by the Scottish government to collect evidence from neutral sources and from professionals who have expressed concerns about the current cohort of adolescents being referred to gender clinics in the UK and other countries.

Evidence that the Scottish government sought evidence from other sources such as parents of gender dysphoric adolescents, detransitioners and lesbian advocacy groups such as the Lesbian Rights Alliance and Get the L Out."

Response

I enclose a copy of the information you requested regarding research studies on children and young people that were considered.

As outlined in more detail below, some of the information you have requested is available from:

The 2019/2020 consultation document itself at https://www.gov.scot/publications/genderrecognition-reform-scotland-bill-consultation-scottish-government/,
The 2017/2018 consultation document at https://consult.gov.scot/family-law/review-of-the-genderrecognition-act-2004/, and
The analysis of the 2017/2018 consultation at https://www.gov.scot/publications/review-genderrecognition-act-2004-analysis-responses-public-consultation-exercise-report/.

I will now respond to each of your questions in turn:

"Evidence of consultation with any other professionals experienced in working with gender dysphoric children and young people."

Information on who the Scottish Government met with is available in the consultation documents: the links are above.

In addition, the 2017/2018 consultation, like the current consultation, was open to all. The Scottish Government has published (link above) an independent analysis of that consultation.

Information on the development of the 2017/2018 consultation was provided in FOI release FOI/18/02545 at https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-18-02545/.

The Scottish Government would welcome any further evidence from professionals working with gender dysphoric children and young people and they can submit responses to the current consultation

"Evidence of all research studies on gender dysphoric children and adolescents that were considered."

The attachment to this letter contains the information requested. I attach:

Document 1, dated March 2017, a Scottish Government Library literature search request on puberty blockers.
Document 2, the results of the search request at Document 1.
Document 3, dated April 2017, a summary of evidence and resources looking into the effects of puberty blockers on trans young people.
Document 4, dated April 2017, a collation of relevant abstracts from Library literature search on trans young people.
Document 5, dated April 2017, a paper on when children who say that they have gender dysphoria remain of that view.
Document 6, dated October 2019, the results of a literature search.
Document 7, dated October 2019, the results of a literature search.

You can also find information in the Children's Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments for the 2017/2018 consultation and the 2019/20 consultation: links to these are included above.

"Evidence of consultation with professionals in the area of child development and child and adolescent psychology; evidence of attempts made by the Scottish government to collect evidence from neutral sources and from professionals who have expressed concerns about the current cohort of adolescents being referred to gender clinics in the UK and other countries."

Information on who the Scottish Government met with is outlined in response to your first question.

"Evidence of attempts made by the Scottish government to collect evidence from neutral sources and from professionals who have expressed concerns about the current cohort of adolescents being referred to gender clinics in the UK and other countries."

As indicated above, the Scottish Government has:

Carried out literature searches
Undertaken one consultation and seeking views in a second consultation

"Evidence that the Scottish government sought evidence from other sources such as parents of gender dysphoric adolescents, detransitioners and lesbian advocacy groups such as the Lesbian Rights Alliance and Get the L Out."

The Lesbian Rights Alliance responded to the 2018 consultation: https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20190711105556/https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00539369.pdf
The Scottish Government also met with Transparentsees, a support group for parents and family members of trans people. Transparentsees responded to the 2017/18 consultation: https://webarchive.nrscotland.gov.uk/20190711105843/https://www2.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00539490.pdf

As noted above, the Scottish Government welcomes further responses to the current consultation.

Reasons for not providing information
An exemption applies

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested, because it is personal data of a third party, in that it consists of the names of individuals, email are covered by the terms of the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016. See addresses and other information which may identify the individual and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.