Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what services NHS England commissions to support women and girls who have suffered female genital mutilation.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) services are the commissioning responsibility of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and are often provided linked to maternity services. FGM services are not commissioned by NHS England at a national level.

The commissioning of such services by CCGs is being developed, and can now be informed by the publication of national statistics by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. For the first time these show how many patients are treated who have FGM, with data published about local areas.

The Department recently published FGM guidance for commissioners setting out the elements of a successful and safe service. The aim of the document is to highlight what commissioners might want to consider when developing a new FGM service and it can be used by any healthcare commissioners, clinical commissioning groups, area teams and service development leads.

There are details of 14 FGM clinics across England published on the NHS Choices website at:

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/sexual-health-services/Pages/fgm-health-services-for-women.aspx