Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections in England; and whether he plans to allocate public health funding to this.

Dedicated local sexual health services play a key public health role in the diagnosis, early treatment, and management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Individual local authorities, funded through a ring-fenced Public Health Grant (PHG), are responsible for commissioning decisions about the sexual health services that best meet the needs of their local populations, including providing open-access sexual health testing and treatment services.

In 2025/26, we are increasing funding through the PHG to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase. This represents a significant turning point for local health services, marking the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.

We continue to support the delivery of local sexual health services, including addressing rates of STIs, by providing guidance and data to support local decision makers. In October 2024, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published the STI Prioritisation Framework, which, combined with ongoing support from the UKHSA, will enable local systems to identify which combination of interventions to focus on for which populations, informed by the local situation.

The Department is also investing over £6 million to deliver a National HIV Prevention Programme between 2021 to 2026 to raise awareness of HIV, and STI testing and prevention strategies. Also, the Department, the UKHSA, NHS England, and a broad range of system partners are developing the new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish this year. A key objective of the plan will be to stabilise and support system enablers, including the wider sexual and reproductive health system.