Human Papillomavirus

Department of Health and Social Care written question – answered at on 27 June 2018.

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Photo of The Countess of Mar The Countess of Mar Deputy Chairman of Committees, Deputy Speaker (Lords)

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether colposcopy clinics test all human papilloma virus (HPV) infections for strain types in cohorts of women who were offered HPV vaccination; and if not, why not.

Photo of Lord O'Shaughnessy Lord O'Shaughnessy The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care

Human papillomavirus (HPV) triage testing is performed in the screening programme on specimens collected from women attending for cervical screening which show borderline or low grade abnormalities. If this test identifies a high-risk HPV infection then the woman will be referred to colposcopy. No further HPV testing is conducted in colposcopy on these specimens to identity the specific HPV types. It is not the role of colposcopy to test HPV infections.

However, Public Health England does carry out surveillance which has demonstrated a reduction in the HPV types included in the vaccines since the introduction of the national vaccination programme.

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