The ban on giving puberty blockers to under-18s questioning their gender identify is to be made permanent, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced.

Streeting told MPs he was making the temporary ban introduced in May indefinite across the UK, following a consultation and advice from the Commission on Human Medicines – calling the way the drugs had been used a “scandal”.

The expert group said prescribing the drugs to children for gender dysphoria was an “unacceptable safety risk”.