There is no case for closing Scotland’s only clinic to offer treatment to gender-questioning young people, Humza Yousaf has said, amid calls for the Scottish government to halt the service in the wake of the Cass review.

The Sandyford clinic, based in Glasgow, offers a range of services including emergency contraception, abortion and support for sexual assault victims as well as transgender healthcare.

This includes the young person’s gender service that can refer under-18s to endocrine specialists for possible prescription of puberty blockers. There are currently 1,100 young people on the waiting list.

Last week, a landmark review by the paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass that was commissioned by NHS England found “weak evidence” for the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to treat young people experiencing gender incongruence and said that this vulnerable cohort had been “let down” by the “toxicity” of the debate surrounding their care.

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