BASHH welcomes the Government’s commitment to a sexual and reproductive health framework for England

07 January 2026 (Last updated: 7 Jan 2026 16:23)

The Government has today made a commitment to a new national sexual and reproductive health framework for England. This came in a letter from Ashley Dalton MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, to Layla Moran MP, Chair of the Health and Social Care Committee who wrote to the Department in late 2025.

The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH) has welcomed the letter. BASHH President, Professor Matt Philips, said:

“This decision to develop a framework couldn’t come at a more critical moment. We have not had a comprehensive strategic approach for sexual health in England since 2013, and we’ve since seen unprecedented changes in the sexual health landscape, from the conditions and complexities we see, variations in population needs, to the technologies at our disposal.

Despite the significant progress we have made in many aspects of HIV, inequities persist against a backdrop of a general deterioration in sexual health outcomes. There are rising inequalities seen across sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and their outcomes, while syphilis has also re-emerged as a key concern.

While we remain of the view that a full, comprehensive national sexual health strategy is needed, we nonetheless strongly welcome the opportunity to bring together the numerous threads of related work into an overarching framework that looks at the nation’s sexual health and wellbeing in the whole, reducing duplication and confusion. We are also greatly encouraged by the important work of the Health and Social Care Committee in bringing attention to what has been a too often overlooked area of policy.

We now have a key moment for achieving renewed focus on the nation’s sexual health and wellbeing. Doing this well, and in the context of wider transformations across the NHS that incorporate neighbourhood care and workforce plans, will bring wider benefits to the public and the system. Minister Dalton highlighted some of this, along with related commitments to workforce development within the HIV Action Plan, and we are pleased to see these issues being prioritised and linked to wider NHS planning.

It is now time to mobilise and work with experts and affected communities across the sexual health and reproductive health sectors and we look forward to being part of this.”