Anna Soubry MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health

Department for Health

Richmond House

79 Whitehall

London SW1A 2NS

20^th February 2013

Dear Anna,

I have received the correspondence below from a constituent and agree that if there is clear evidence that HPV vaccination for boys and young gay men would deliver concrete benefits it should be introduced.

I have also signed this EDM (no 980 on GENDER-NEUTRAL HUMAN PAPILLOMA VIRUS IMMUNISATION PROGRAMME:

That this House notes that almost 12,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with throat cancer each year, that the number of cases is rising rapidly, the incidence rate of oropharyngeal cancer doubled between 2002 to 2006 alone, and that men are much more likely to be affected; welcomes the launch of a new charity, the Throat Cancer Foundation, which aims to tackle this problem; considers that more must be done to improve the public's awareness of how to prevent throat cancer through healthier lifestyles and also knowledge of the symptoms to enable early diagnosis and treatment; further notes the strong link between human papilloma virus (HPV) infection and throat cancer; further considers that many cases of throat cancer and others, including penile, anal, vulval and cervical cancers could be prevented through a more comprehensive and gender-neutral HPV immunisation programme; and further notes that the Australian government is extending its HPV immunisation programme to boys and urges the Government to consider such a step seriously and urgently.

Please would you let me know if the Government is reviewing its policy and whether any consideration has been given to extending the HPV vaccination programme in line with the suggestion made by my constituent and the EDM?

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion

Read the ministerial response here