Information held about the founder of GenderGP: FOI Review

Information requested

Original request 202500494996

All information held about contact with Dr Helen Webberley or any consideration internally of Dr Webberley's activities or advice, including where she is named or referred to in any way in any document. This should any internal or external communications with or about Dr Webberley, and records of any discussions with or about Dr Webberley.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for “all information held about contact with Dr Helen Webberley or any consideration internally of Dr Webberley's activities or advice, including where she is named or referred to in any way in any document. This should any internal or external communications with or about Dr Webberley, and records of any discussions with or about Dr Webberley."

I have concluded that the original decision should be confirmed, with modifications.

In re-evaluating your request and revisiting the searches made, we established that a very small amount of information is held which refers to the published information provided by the original case handler. I have considered the information and can confirm further information is held and can be released to you. The NHS England guidance for GPs, which included reference to Dr Helen Webberley, was shared with Scottish Government (SG) colleagues for their awareness by UK Government counterparts.

NHS England Guidance to Primary Care About Unregulated Providers Who Supply Hormone Medications to Children and Young People for Gender Incongruence - April 2025

NHS Scotland guidance was later published but did not refer to Dr Helen Webberley so was outwith the scope of the original request.

Please see the following documents held by SG which refer to the published NHS England guidance which includes reference to Dr Helen Webberley:

• Document 1: Guidance to Primary Care on Unregulated Providers who supply hormone medications to children and young people for gender incongruence
• Document 2: Guidance to Primary Care on Unregulated Providers who supply hormone medications to children and young people for gender incongruence
• Document 3: Puberty blocker guidance to Healthcare professionals
• Document 4: GnRH analogues - Advice for healthcare professionals

The tweet by Dr Helen Webberley was included in a summary of social media posts compiled by SG Communications colleagues on 16 April 2025 when the UK Supreme Court ruled in the case of Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers.

Dr Helen Webberley (she/her) on X: "Where is the government’s assurance that transgender people will be looked after? How much longer do we have to wait? Statement from @GenderGP in response to NHS England’s latest GP guidance: https://t.co/exWMGYzfBz #TransHealthcare #GenderGP#TransRightsAreHumanRights" / X

Please see the following document held by SG which refers to the tweet by Dr Helen Webberley:

• Document 5: Supreme Court Decision Social Listening

However, a limited amount of information has been redacted under the following exemptions:

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, 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.

An exemption under section 30(b)(ii) of FOISA (free and frank exchange of views) applies to some of the information requested. This exemption applies because disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation. This exemption recognises the need for Ministers and officials to have a private space within which to discuss and consider the NHS England guidance in order to inform decisions on similar SG guidance. Disclosing the content of free and frank discussions on a sensitive and complex issue relating to gender-related healthcare in children and young people and the use of unregulated providers during the development of SG guidance may inhibit such discussions in the future.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing Ministers and officials a private space within which to explore and refine the Government’s position during the development and agreement of SG guidance on this topic.

I hope you find this additional information helpful and apologies it was not included as part of our original response.

About FOI

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

FOI 202600501335 - Information released - Documents

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