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Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee

The prevalence of sexually transmitted infections

Closed Opened 22 Jul 2025 Closed 5 Mar 2026

Women and Equalities Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
This session will explore trends in rates of STIs, including among particular groups, and the effectiveness of Government strategies aimed at reducing their prevalence. The session will also cover HIV and access to PrEP.

Where it stands

The inquiry is closed, opened 22 July 2025.

The committee has published 1 report, most recently 9th Report - Tackling HIV transmission on 19 November 2025.

The government's response

Published 6 February 2026. The deadline was 19 January 2026.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government says it is united in its "ambition to end new HIV transmissions in England by 2030", and its response to the report's recommendations is a mix of 'partially accept' and 'accept'.

  • On a public awareness campaign for young people, it partially accepts, saying a campaign aimed at all young people "would not be cost effective" and one covering both HIV testing and contraception "risks being ineffective". It points to the £4.8 million HIV Prevention England programme from April 2026 to March 2029.
  • On expanding opt-out testing, it partially accepts. It will invest £156 million from April 2026 to March 2029 for opt-out testing in emergency departments in very high and high prevalence areas, but opt-out testing is not recommended in low prevalence areas as it "is not cost-effective".
  • On PrEP access, it partially accepts a national digital rollout. It will "review options" for online PrEP through the NHS App from 2026, and states "there is no additional funding for PrEP appointments" beyond the public health grant increase.
  • It accepts the recommendations on awareness of PrEP among Black African communities and on injectable PrEP, noting cabotegravir was approved by NICE in November 2025 and is "currently being rolled out at sexual health clinics across the country".

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

Reports

All reports

Evidence

  • 1 oral evidence sessionLatest 3 September 2025
  • 5 witnesses
All evidence

Recent activity

Reports

1 report

Oral evidence sessions

1 session

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Date Session and witnesses Source
3 Sep 2025
Women and Equalities Committee
Cathy Morgan · Department of Health and Social Care, Dr Amanda Doyle · NHS England, Kate Folkard · UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Kat Smithson · British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH), Richard Angell OBE · Terrence Higgins Trust 		View ↗

Who gave evidence

5 witnesses

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WitnessOrganisationSessions
Cathy Morgan · Director of Secondary Prevention Department of Health and Social Care 1
Dr Amanda Doyle · National Director for Primary Care and Community Services NHS England 1
Kat Smithson · Chief Executive Officer British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) 1
Kate Folkard · Head of Programme Delivery and Service Improvement, Blood Safety, Hepatitis, STIs and HIV Division UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) 1
Richard Angell OBE · Chief Executive Terrence Higgins Trust 1

Correspondence

1 letter

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PublishedDirectionLetter
10 Dec 2025 Not recorded Correspondence from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention re HIV Action Plan, dated 1 December 2025