Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 27th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Steve Brine]

Yes, we are interested in access to services for all people, wherever they are on the income scheme. The hon. Lady is right to raise that issue. We need to do better on cancer diagnosis, so I would be interested to hear more about the cancer hub that she mentions.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

9. What recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of demand for sexual health services.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Jackie Doyle-Price)]

Since 2013, when local authorities took on responsibility for these services, attendance has increased from 2.9 million to 3.3 million. Tests for sexually transmitted infections and access to long-acting contraception have also increased, which shows that people are taking their sexual health seriously and that services are responding.

[Nick Smith]

Unfortunately, syphilis and gonorrhoea diagnoses are up 20% since 2016. What are the Government going to do to address this growing trend, given that sexual health services are at their limit?

[Jackie Doyle-Price]

The evidence I have is that sexually transmitted infection rates are stable, that rates of teen pregnancy are falling, that rates of abortion are stable and that rates of HIV testing are increasing. However, the hon. Gentleman raises an important point, and I will look into it. The most important thing is not necessarily where or how people access their services, because we want to make tests and long-term contraception available online too. We will keep the issue under review.