Primary care trusts are spending too little on contraceptive services and failing to give them the priority they deserve, a report from All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sexual and Reproductive Health in the UK says.

But things could get worse when local authorities take over responsibility for commissioning sexual health services next April, the report says. Local councils are getting little guidance or support on how to commission these services, and the responsibility for them is likely to be split between local authorities and clinical commissioning groups.

The written and oral evidence taken from service users, clinicians, charities, and the shadow public health minister during the inquiry “shocked many of us who have worked in the field of sexual health,” said its chair, Baroness Gould …