Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Local Government Association finding that spending on STI testing, contraception and treatment in England has fallen by 17 per cent over the last seven years.

No specific assessment has been made. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services to meet local demand and individual local authorities decide on spending priorities based on an assessment of local need for sexual health services. 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. We will announce the 2023/24 public health grant allocations to local authorities in due course.