Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to advance sexual and reproductive health in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and (b) Staffordshire.

Local authorities across England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual and reproductive health services to meet local demand, and it is for them to decide on commissioning arrangements based on an assessment of local need.

These services are commissioned through the ring-fenced Public Health Grant (PHG). In 2025/26, we have increased the PHG funding to £3.884 billion. This represents a significant turning point for local health services and marks the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending between 2016 and 2024.

The Government remains committed to ensuring the public receive high quality sexual and reproductive health services across the country, including in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Staffordshire. For example, as part of our commitment to end new HIV transmissions within England by 2030, we are developing a new HIV Action Plan which we aim to publish by the end of the year. We will also continue to work with NHS England on how to take forward the Women's Health Strategy, by aligning it to the Government's Missions and the 10-Year Health Plan.