Recommendation 9

HM Government Accepted

Accept The government accepts this recommendation. Individual local authorities are responsible for funding and commissioning decisions about the SHSs that best meet the needs of their local populations, including prevention campaigns. Dedicated SHSs play a key public health role in prevention, diagnosis, early treatment and management of STIs. The government also supports action by local areas through a number of national campaigns focusing in particular on high–risk populations. As part of the previous HIV Action Plan, £4.5m was invested in HPE to raise awareness of ways to prevent the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among the most affected communities, including young people and black African populations. The government has recently agreed an extension to HPE for 2025/26, backed by £1.5m funding. HPE delivers the NHTW and the HIV and STI prevention summer campaigns, aimed at increasing knowledge and awareness and reducing stigma. NHTW 2024 took place from 5–11 February 2024 and over 25,000 kits were ordered. DHSC covered the costs of the self–sampling and self–test kits for the period of the campaign. Work has also taken place with local partners, such as barber shops and hair salons to improve access for Black African populations. In 2024, orders from women from an ethnic minority background formed 49% of the total orders of self–testing kits placed by women and orders of self-testing HIV kits among Black African women nearly doubled when compared with 2023 (491 in 2023 vs 928 in 2024). Similarly, there has also been an increase in the number of heterosexual women, disproportionality affected by HIV, who ordered self–testing kits, with 3345 orders in 2024 versus 2407 orders in 2023. Plans for NHTW 2025, which will take place from 10–16 February 2025, are currently underway. HPE also run the summer campaign ‘Get Ready for a Hot Summer’. To support action, 20,000 condom packs containing condoms, lube sachets and campaign leaflets with further information on the importance of correct and consistent use of condoms were distributed during the campaign. In 2024, 10,000 packs were distributed at events and 10,000 were available to order online. During the campaign, local activation community partners (LAPs) deliver information and advice as well as point of care testing, targeting the most at risk communities, GBMSM and Black African heterosexuals as well as some other key ‘at–risk’ audiences (non–binary, trans people, sex workers, drug users and people in prisons). The activities sought to reduce risk behaviours and increase access to community–based testing as a ‘top–up’ to support existing locally provided services. During 2023/24 LAPs delivered: • 16,623 information and advice interventions • 2,706 HIV POCT tests, broken down by; ○ 1342 GBMSM individuals ○ 1131 Black African ethnicity individuals ○ 336 other key populations of these, 6 reactives were found The roll–out of statutory relationships and sex education in all secondary schools in 2020 ensures that young people are educated on how STIs are transmitted and how risk can be reduced through safer sex (including condom use). The Department for Education is currently reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance and will publish the analysis of the public consultation and the government’s response to it in 2025. We are currently working with stakeholders and key delivery partners in the development of a new HIV Action Plan, which we aim to publish in 2025. As part of its development, we are exploring the interventions needed to ensure we achieve no new HIV transmissions within England by 2030, including how to raise awareness with key groups by aligning activity across the system.