Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will request that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation undertakes an assessment of the recommendation from the Britain Against Cancer conference held in December 2015 to report its review on extending HPV vaccination to boys in 2016.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JCVI) advice needs to be based on a robust cost-effectiveness analysis. This is underway and Public Health England is due to report by early 2017. The JCVI has agreed that shortcuts could undermine the validity of the results and will begin its deliberations on extending vaccination to adolescent boys once all the necessary evidence is available. It is important that we follow a proper process and that the JCVI has a full understanding of the cost-effectiveness of vaccination programmes.