I am pleased that the Government is committed to banning conversion therapy, and I understand that ministers are considering all legislative and non-legislative options in order to end these quack ‘treatments’ for good.

Conversion therapy has no place in a civilised society. Being gay is not an ‘illness’ to be ‘cured’, and I am encouraged that the head of the NHS, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the UK Council for Psychotherapy, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and the British Medical Association all agree conversion therapy is unethical and potentially harmful.

No child can consent to conversion therapy, and many of the adults who undergo it have been pressured into doing so. However, unfortunately, in a large-scale LGBT survey conducted by the Government Equalities Office in 2017, 2% of respondents said they had undergone conversion therapy in an attempt to ‘cure’ them of being LGBT.

Further research is currently underway to look at the experiences of those subjected to conversion therapy. I welcome the Government’s firm commitment to stopping these activities, and I am looking forward to them outlining their plans in the near future.