Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to support commissioners in developing local responses to the forthcoming sexual and reproductive health strategy; and whether new funding will be provided as part of that support.

We will set out plans to improve outcomes in sexual and reproductive health in an action plan later this year, which will complement the HIV Action Plan published in December 2021. It aims to strengthen collaboration across the system to deliver sexual and reproductive health services which meet the needs of the population. We continue to engage with stakeholders, including local authorities and commissioners, NHS England and NHS Improvement and integrated care systems in the development of the plan.

We have committed £20 million over the next three years to support the expansion of opt-out HIV testing in emergency departments in local authority areas with the highest prevalence. We have also invested £33 million in pre-exposure prophylaxis in the last two years. The Government has mandated local authorities to commission comprehensive open access sexual and reproductive health services through the Public Health Grant. The 2021 Spending Review confirmed that the Public Health Grant will increase in each of the next three years.