Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what equality impact assessment he has made of the effect of extending entitlement to the human papilloma virus vaccination only to designated categories of people and not to others.

In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted human papillomavirus vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men up to 45 years of age who attend genitourinary medicine and HIV clinics. They noted that this should be subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price.

The Department is considering the JCVI’s advice and is undertaking a full equality analysis. The Department will confirm its plans in due course.