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 establish programme for the roll-out of the HPV vaccine for boys to ensure parity of take-up with the girls' HPV programme.

Preparation to implement the extension of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme to boys is progressing well. NHS England has carried out a series of assurance surveys to assess the preparedness of the system for the extension of the HPV vaccination programme to boys, specifically covering the service provision, delivery, data collection and coverage. The outcome of that exercise has shown that roll-out is on track for the 2019/20 academic year.

Public Health England is undertaking research with families and parents of young boys to ensure that we are able to communicate the benefits of the HPV vaccine and ensure parity with the girls’ programme.