Speeches by Brewer.

“What are the barriers to making it happen?”

“The Committee would be very interested in understanding exactly what the barriers are to making that happen.”

“Six months still seems a very long time from where I am sitting.”

“As a woman and parent of a teenage girl, and boy for that matter, my concern is that we are currently living in an age where teenagers can go on to social media sites and strip someone naked digitally but cannot access accurate information about their own bodies. That is a digital problem but also a health problem. Wha…”

“One way that young women access health information—not just young women, it has to be said—is through social media channels: TikTok, Instagram and so on. In order for them to do that, it obviously needs to be pushed out via the right channels and then not be deprioritised or shadow-banned by those social media algorith…”

“I would be interested to know whether those conversations that you are having will feed into the women’s health strategy as a part of it.”

“This is something that is very definitely affecting the content.”

“I want to ask whether you think NHS funding should be more widely available for egg freezing, particularly for women who have medical conditions that might affect their fertility.”

“My semi-rural constituency is less than an hour from London, so people would think the broadband would be tip-top, but it is far from it. In some areas, speeds are less than 1 megabit per second. As we have discussed, this prevents businesses from holding online meetings and so on, but it also means that, for example, …”

“I represent a semi-rural constituency where public transport is, at best, threadbare. We do not even have part of a conurbation, if you see what I mean; we have lots of small towns and villages. Put it this way: it would be an extremely long time, with many women’s health hubs opening up, before we got one in my consti…”

“I am sorry to hear about the experience of my hon. Friend’s mother, and the experiences of my hon. Friend’s constituents. Many people in my constituency of North East Hampshire face similar challenges. I have personal experience with a relative who could not get a diagnosis in Hampshire despite many of us, as her famil…”

“Briefly, Lesley, what has been your proudest achievement as women’s health ambassador in relation to better supporting girls’ and women’s menstrual and gynaecological health?”

“You touched a little on what needs to happen next, but are there any areas where you are disappointed in terms of progress or where there could have been more removal of barriers, for instance?”

“I wanted to talk very quickly about the women’s health hubs that we have mentioned a little, so I am going to cut straight to the chase. Is there a risk that Government reforms, around scrapping NHS England and so on, are going to threaten the sustainability of women’s health hubs?”

“Sue, you are the first ever NHS national clinical director for women’s health. Can you talk a little about the benefits the role has brought to girls and young women’s menstrual and gynaecological health?”

“Thank you; I think we will come on to that in a minute. To clarify, you mentioned earlier that there has been a 27% reduction in school nursing staff. Is that affecting the ability to deliver this particular area?”

“It is really lovely to see you all here today, and thank you for coming in. I will address this to all of you, so if you can keep answers fairly succinct, if possible, that would be great—as Sarah says, we have quite a lot to get through. What advice or support can your organisations offer the Government as it looks to…”

“Have the Government sought your advice on teaching this part of the curriculum? Kate Lancaster indicated assent. Ruth Bailey indicated assent. Dr Porter indicated assent.”

“Ruth, what role can school and sexual health nurses play in identifying and referring girls who need menstrual health care?”

“I am pleased that the Government have listened to my calls, and to those of other Liberal Democrats, to mention the explicit protection of chalk stream rivers in the statement. The Minister mentions the consistent application of policy. Will he confirm whether those policies might include, for example, exclusion zones …”