Government issues sexual health guidance for councils
Tristan Donovan
Friday, March 15, 2013
The Department of Health has set out what it expects of local authorities when they take over responsibility for commissioning sexual health services on 1 April.
The department’s framework says England’s councils need to commission integrated services that will maintain the decline in teenage pregnancy rates and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STI).
These services should include STI testing and treatment services, and youth sexual health services that have a focus on outcomes.
The framework also calls for all children and young people to receive “good-quality” sex and relationships education, and to have access to confidential advice on sexual health.
Simon Blake, chief executive of the youth sexual health charity Brook, welcomed the department’s call for sex education for all young people, but warned that “this ambition will never be realised while the Department for Education fails to ensure that every school is required to deliver a comprehensive programme of sex and relationships education".
