Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to support the post-covid-19 recovery of sexual health and HIV services; and what plans he has to increase the capacity of those services.

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services remained open during the pandemic, with some temporarily reduced face-to-face appointments. Only emergency cases were seen in person. Similarly, HIV services continued to operate with clinics across the country providing virtual and face-to-face clinics to ensure patient care was maintained.

Departmental officials are working closely with local government, NHS England and other delivery partners to support the recovery of SRH and HIV services. Issues related to capacity within SRH and HIV services, as well as new opportunities that have arisen during the pandemic, such as increasing online services, will be considered as part of the development of the SRH strategy which will be published in 2021.