§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent efforts his Department has made to make access to contraception easier, cheaper, and provided with relevant advice. [56266]
§ Yvette CooperI have been asked to reply.
Contraceptives are available free of charge from the national health service on prescription. One of the aims of the Sexual Health and HIV Strategy, which was published for consultation in July 2001, is to improve access to contraception and to advise on sexual health. In addition, we have also provided funding to 14 areas to enable them to develop schemes for the free NHS supply of emergency contraception in pharmacies using a patient group direction.
The Government's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy recognises the importance of helping young people resist peer pressure to have early sex, while seeking to ensure that those who are sexually active have easy access to high quality contraceptive advice. A series of guidance notes have been issued to local teenage pregnancy co-ordinators on improving contraceptive and advice services for young people. Local co-ordinators have audited youth contraceptive services in clinics and general practice against these criteria for effective services in order to identify gaps in service provision and to plan improvements. We are also working closely with the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Nursing to improve young people's access to contraceptive advice within general practice.