6. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services: The Public Health Wales Review of Sexual Health Services

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:55 pm on 17 April 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 5:55, 17 April 2018

Thank you for those comments and questions. I am pleased to see a large amount of consistency in issues being raised by spokespeople. I'll try and briefly cover the issues, rather than repeating what I've said in responses to both Angela Burns and Rhun ap Iorwerth on some of the points. I will, though, remind people that I've already indicated there'll be a plan—it'll be costed, it will be timetabled—about how we'll take that forward, so I won't stand up and try and freestyle here now about how that'll be done, or the time and speed for it, otherwise there'd be precious little point in having a group work together to deliver an implementation plan.

I was pleased to hear Caroline Jones mention the reality of the stigma of HIV, but more broadly about sexually transmitted infections, and that's still a challenge for us, in terms of persuading people both to take seriously their own choices, but also for them to seek help at an early enough stage for it to have the best prospect of being successfully treated and managed. Recommendation 9 in the report does refer to sex and relationship education. Now, the review didn't ask them to specifically look at the curriculum review that is taking place, but there's a recognition that's an important tool about how that's done and to make sure that young people growing up in the world are equipped with a range of information and are able to manage the choices that they themselves will make, although, of course, being an adult is no guarantor of being sensible or reasonable, as I'm sure we all know from various parts of our own lives.

I just want to refer back to the point about inequity of access in provision across the country in a variety of settings, and that is recognised in recommendation 1, about the reality that we will need to do more. So, when we see the plan on the improvement, I will expect health boards to be signed up to it and to be able to set out in response to that improvement plan how they're going about not just recognising the inequities that already exist, but what they will be doing about those in response to this report, but, as I say, to the implementation plan that will be drawn up.