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 improve NHS sexual healthcare provision (a) nationally and (b) in Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle constituency.

We remain committed to improving sexual and reproductive health in England. The Department published a HIV Action Plan in 2021 setting out our actions during 2022-2025 to move towards ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. Great progress has been made during the first year of its implementation, as set out by the annual report to Parliament published on 7 June. In 2022 we published the Women’s Health Strategy for England setting out our 10-year ambitions and actions to improve health for women and girls.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services to meet local demand and individual local authorities decide on spending priorities based on an assessment of local need for sexual health services. We are providing more than £3.5 billion this financial year to local authorities through the Public Health Grant to fund public health services, including sexual health services, increasing to £3.575 billion in 2024/25.

Regarding sexual health provision in Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle constituency, Hull and East Riding have integrated sexual and reproductive health services that work to ensure that residents receive the best care, advice and treatment possible. The service continues to develop with the support of the Local Authority and the NHS to meet the needs of the communities it serves.

The Conifer Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Service is based in Hull City Centre and holds clinics at various health centres around the East Riding, including at Hessle Health Centre. It is a progressive and innovative service provided by City Health Care Partnership CIC, where Genitourinary Medicine and Family Planning, Community Gynaecology, Social Services, non-statutory services and voluntary services work together to offer a holistic service to meet the differing needs of diverse populations in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.