Speeches by McKenna.

“You have already told us that the vast majority of people using services at these clinics are paying for them themselves, which is quite different to much of the health system in this country. I would like to explore what is driving the cost. We have heard that increasingly many clinics are being taken over by private …”

“My heart also goes out to everyone affected by this terrible and unfolding tragedy. I think particularly of my constituents in Sittingbourne and Sheppey, many of whom are students who attend the universities in Canterbury or who go to school in Faversham. Many are staff there, too. It will be particularly hard on my co…”

“We talked about the ban for under-16s. Is this an under-16s problem, or even a men-in-their-20s problem? It wasn’t when I was 18 and everyone said I was an adult that I felt like I was a man; it was in my late 20s. What age groups are we really talking about here? That really impacts on whether an under-16 ban is going…”

“Are they automated? Are they robots crawling?”

“What is the economic engine for this? Where is the money flowing through to these clippers?”

“That is really useful to hear. You talked about the social media ban, Mr Blake, and you were meeting particularly younger users—I do not know what we call them; perhaps people in the manosphere. What is your take on a social media ban at 16? Do you think that could be an effective tool?”

“The demonetisation and deplatforming that you talked about has clearly had some impacts. Could we do more of this stuff long term? Is that really the route to tackling a lot of this?”

“Thank you both; this is really good stuff so far. It has helped me to understand a lot more about what is going on and what is pulling people into the manosphere. There is a real feeling that it is becoming more and more popular and it is a little amorphous to people who may not be engaged with it. Mr Blake, when you w…”

“I have often raised a bit of a wry gay smile at a lot of this, because some of it is actually very familiar. To follow on from what David said, there has always been a bit of a trend of guys who are not comfortable with their sexuality overcompensating publicly, and that was what we picked up on in that interaction. Fr…”

“Geetha, we have heard reports that egg donation is being advertised at university freshers fairs. What is your take on that, particularly the ethics around that sort of approach?”

“I would just like to ask a few questions about how you tell users about your services and how you advertise what you are doing. Emily, how does your clinic present its success rate for egg freezing?”

“Are there barriers in the processes you have or are innate to anything clinically that maybe stop things from being as transparent as people would expect in any service that they use? Are there things that you cannot measure, or things that stop you from being as transparent as you would maybe like to be?”

“If each clinic is different, how widespread do you think the practice of going into university freshers weeks and advertising is?”

“Yes.”

“It is not backed by any statutory backstop. Do you think we need to progress to that, having your position in terms of funding backed—I cannot even say the word now, which is unfortunate for a parliamentarian—by a statutory backstop? Do you think we need that level of legal support?”

“That is really interesting. I take David’s point that many men have experienced the creepy guy as well.”

“With this shift to it being much more transparent, obvious and public who is actually providing money to CIISA, how are you going to ensure that that either does not or is not seen to compromise your independence?”

“Do you think that would help with government commitments to ensuring that you had sustainable funding? Is that something that you would like to see?”

“The counter to this is what happens if your funding comes under threat or is not successful in terms of securing sustainable funding for the future. What would the implications be for people in the industry if you did not have a sustainable funding model, this did not work and then somehow the money dried up for CIISA?”

“Have you looked at the even wider impacts in terms of things like the Government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls and public health impacts of some of the work that you are doing? Have you looked at and modelled what CIISA’s role is in that?”