§ Lord Braine of Wheatleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the commitments regarding teenage pregnancy on pages 23 and 42 of the consultation document, The new NHS—modern and dependable: a national framework for assessing performance, include easier access to abortion services. [HL467]
§ Baroness Jay of Paddington:The national framework is a consultation document seeking views on performance assessment in the National Health Service. The indicators in the consultation document have been chosen, within the constraints of available data, to throw light on particularly important health service objectives and activities, one of which is the number of conceptions below age 16. The Government have announced a national programme to tackle the problem of unwanted teenage conceptions. The principal aim of this programme is to reduce the number of unwanted teenage conceptions by supporting young people in deferring sexual activity and improving access to advice and counselling services, including contraception for those who are sexually active. Any advice on abortion is given in the context of the 1967 Abortion Act.