The Scottish health service is the only one in the UK that allows for non-medical ritual operations to be paid for and carried out at NHS hospitals.

The National Secular Society, which has the backing of the actors Miriam Margolyes and Alan Cumming, insists that genital cutting is incompatible with the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child.
The legislation, which was incorporated by the Scottish parliament and will come into force on July 16, stipulates that no one should be “subjected to unnecessary medical or surgical treatment during infancy or childhood” and that children’s “bodily integrity, autonomy and self-determination” must...