Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the gender imbalance in the take up of the HPV vaccine in schools between girls and boys.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was first offered to males in school Year 8 in the 2019/20 academic year. School-aged immunisation providers have been hosting educational activities, such as school assemblies, to educate boys about the benefits of the HPV programme.
NHS England’s Regional Public Health Commissioners work with providers and local authorities to identify any inequalities or variations in uptake and coverage and take appropriate action. Continued public and professional communication campaigns for HPV and other vaccinations are planned throughout the year.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) resilience of abortion services and (b) timely access to care in the event that (i) there are future pressures on health services as a result of the covid-19 outbreak and (ii) permissions that allow for telemedical abortion care ended.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department is aware that there are a number of pressures on abortion services. We continue to work closely with the sector to ensure women are able to access abortion services.
We are developing a new Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy to improve reproductive health outcomes and wellbeing. The Strategy will include a focus on improving information and access to contraception, to support women to make informed choices about their reproductive health.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to make the permission allowing telemedical abortion services permanent.
Answered by Maggie Throup
There are no plans to make this measure permanent. The temporary approval which enabled home use of both pills for early medical abortion was in response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the success of the vaccination and booster programme, face to face abortion services will return by 29 August 2022. A short-term extension of the temporary approval has been made to enable a safe and reliable return to these arrangements.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) availability of a catch up programme for boys who miss out on receiving the HPV vaccine, (b) capacity in sexual health clinics to support the delivery of the HPV vaccine programme for gay and bisexual men and (c) levels of unmet need of eligible boys and men who have not received the HPV vaccine.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
In 2020/21, 71% of males in year 8 received their first dose of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and 54.7% of males in year 9 received a second dose. Providers are running catch up programmes for those academic cohorts who may have missed HPV vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, boys can also receive their vaccination through the National Health Service commissioned School Aged Immunisation Service providers or from their general practitioner until the age of 25 years old.
HPV vaccinations are available in all sexual health trusts for men who have sex with men (MSM). Evidence suggests that well over 50% of MSM regularly attending sexual health clinics have received at least one HPV vaccination. Regional commissioners work with vaccine providers to review uptake numbers and respond to any issues with operational delivery.
Asked by: Jess Phillips (Labour - Birmingham Yardley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support the Government providing to help tackle regional variations in delivery of the HPV vaccine programme in schools.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s regional health commissioning teams work with local stakeholders to monitor uptake data and commission human papillomavirus vaccines. In areas of low uptake, regional teams will host catch up clinics in schools and local venues and manage local call and recall processes.
Additional work is ongoing using the data and technological solutions created for the expanded flu and COVID-19 immunisation programmes to measure and record timely vaccination events, react to regional variations and tackle health inequalities.