Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will direct Public Health England to commission research into the inequality of the distribution of sexually transmitted infections between young people and the rest of the population.

The Department’s National Institute for Health Research funds the Health Protection Research Unit in Blood Borne and Sexually Transmitted Infections. This is a research partnership between University College London and Public Health England, in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The unit has a programme of research looking at reducing risk of sexually transmitted infections among important risk groups, and at reducing inequalities and improving sexual health.