Asked by: David Amess (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many staff of each grade are employed in his Department's Sexual Health Policy Team.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Departmental officials have made a number of visits and have had informal discussions with a number of counselling providers which included pro-life and pro-choice organisations; these are listed below.
Organisations visited or with which contact was made:
- Brook Advisory Centre, Brixton
- British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), Richmond
- Care Confidential, Alternatives Trust, Newham
- City Pregnancy Counselling and Psychotherapy Service, Islington
- Homerton NHS Trust, Hackney
- Hull Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Partnership
- Life Care Centre, Walsall
- Marie Stopes International, Brixton and Bristol
- Norwich Contraception and Sexual Health Clinic
- Plymouth Community Healthcare
The Government produced guidance on the provision of non-judgemental abortion counselling in A Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England (March 2013). The Framework was produced by the sexual health policy team in the Public Health Directorate.
The Sexual Health Policy team is made up of the following staff at each grade:
1 Senior Civil Servant (who also manages policy areas other than sexual health)
1 Grade 6
2 Grade 7
1 Senior Executive Officer
1 Higher Executive Officer (.7 whole time equivalent)
1 Executive Officer