More than 100,000 cases of cancer will be prevented under plans to give boys the HPV jab as well as girls, health officials have said.

Until now, only teenage girls have been given the free vaccine, with parental consent, which protects against cervical cancer.

From September, boys aged 12 and 13 will also be given the jab at school.

Giving boys the vaccine protects girls from the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is passed on through sexual contact.

And it will also protect them from a range of other forms of the disease, including some cancers of the head and neck, and penile, anal and genital cancers.

Scientists hope that cervical cancer could be eradicated within decades, because of the success of the jabs.

Since the vaccine was introduced for teenage girls in 2008, cases of HPV have fallen by 86 per cent among the age groups vaccinated.