Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department provides to women who are survivors of sexual violence to access cervical screening.

The NHS Cervical Screening programme encourages practices to be sympathetic and supportive to all women going through the procedure, in order to make it as comfortable as possible. All women undertaking their screening test have the support of a chaperone available. A female general practitioner/ nurse also undertakes the screening test.

In addition, the NHS Cervical Screening Programme’s sample taker training guidance covers various barriers which sample takers should be considerate of, this includes guidance on women with fears of cervical screening following a history of sexual assault or rape. The guidance can be viewed at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cervical-screening-education-and-training

The Department has have been working with NHS England to develop a five-year Sexual Assault and Abuse Strategy, which aspires to ensure victims receive joined-up pathways of care over the course of their life time whenever they need it – this was published in April 2018. It will develop and improve integrated pathways of care for people that have experienced sexual assault and abuse.