An NHS Trust will review its involvement with the controversial charity Mermaids after The Telegraph revealed it was running training sessions for staff.
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, which is taking over care of trans children from the Tavistock clinic, was due to receive training later this month.
The trust said on Saturday that the staff training sessions were not related to its new gender-identity clinic and it was planning to commission professional training courses from a range of providers.
Further criticisms emerge
However, following further criticism over the weekend about the procurement of training from the charity, the trust’s CEO, David Bradley, said arrangements would now be reviewed.
Mr Bradley wrote on Twitter: “That’s a fair point. Will review current arrangements next week.”
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust was unable to provide further details of the review on Sunday night.
The trust will provide specialist mental-health support for children through a new gender-identity clinic after it was found that Tavistock’s service was “not safe”.
Some whistleblowers claimed campaigners for Mermaids, which is currently facing a statutory inquiry by the Charity Commission, put pressure on medics to affirm children’s belief that they were trans.
The trust previously said Mermaids has provided sessions of “LGBT+ awareness training” for staff.
Mermaids under investigation
The Charity Commission announced in September it was investigating governance and management issues at Mermaids, after The Telegraph revealed it was sending breast-binding devices to children without their parents’ knowledge.
South London and Maudsley NHS Trust is expected to start offering new services in the spring, while the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust will provide support for the services.
It comes as a report published on Monday revealed Stonewall, the controversial trans rights charity, had received more than £1.2 million in funding from public bodies last year.
Stonewall continued to rake in taxpayers’ cash even though government departments have been told to withdraw from its Diversity Champions scheme.
An audit by the Taxpayers’ Alliance found that both the Foreign Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs paid subscriptions.
Liz Truss orders withdrawal
Liz Truss ordered Whitehall officials to withdraw from the programme in 2021 while she was foreign secretary, arguing the cost could not be justified.
But, in total, 175 public organisations said they are still paying into it, with membership fees costing them over £700,000 combined.
The top 10 donors identified included the Scottish Government, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Leicestershire County Council.
As well as paying for the Diversity Champions scheme, almost £110,000 of taxpayers’ money was also used for other programmes run by the charity.
Stonewall received a further £400,000 in grants from public bodies, including almost £170,000 from the Welsh Government and £100,000 from the Scottish Government.
Duncan Simpson from the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “Taxpayers should not be subsidising controversial campaigners.
“Some public bodies continue to prop up pressure groups like Stonewall with taxpayers’ cash, despite ministers urging against it and budgets facing a serious squeeze.
“Withdrawing from unnecessary schemes and cutting gratuitous grants are obvious ways that savings can be found.”