Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide resources to sexual health services to help relieve potential capacity issues, including targeting additional funding and support to local authorities in regions which are reporting longer waiting lists.

In 2022/23, we have allocated more than £3.4 billion to local authorities in England to fund public health services, including sexual health services, through the Public Health Grant and provided funding for the mpox response, including medicines and vaccinations.

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services to meet local demand, including monitoring and acting if required to reduce waiting times for services. Individual local authorities determine spending priorities based on an assessment of local need for sexual health services, including targeted outreach programmes.