Written question asked by Luke Evans (Conservative) on Thursday, 11 June 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 June 2026. It was answered by Sharon Hodgson (Labour) on Friday, 19 June 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.
Steroid Drugs: Young People
- Question
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To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to WPQs 2849, 2850 and 2851 answered on 9 June 2026 about Steroid Drugs: Young People, if he will ensure that issues surrounding Anabolic Steroids, IPEDs and SARMs are included in work to improve men's health literacy, as set out in the Men’s Health Strategy.
- Original answer
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The UK Health Security Agency published a national Syphilis Response Plan in March 2026, which is available at the following link:
The plan focuses on four key areas: preventing infection; improving testing; ensuring timely treatment; and eliminating congenital syphilis, where infection is passed from mother to baby during pregnancy. Actions include raising public and professional awareness, strengthening prevention activity, expanding and optimising access to testing, improving care pathways, and supporting partner notification to reduce onward transmission.
During 2025, national provision of doxycycline post exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) through sexual health services was implemented as a new intervention. This followed evidence of its impact on reducing syphilis incidence in clinical trials and real-world application. United Kingdom guidelines recommend doxyPEP for gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men and transgender women at elevated risk of acquiring syphilis.
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The answer was corrected by Stephen Kinnock (Labour)
on Monday, 6 July 2026 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.
- Corrected answer
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The UK Health Security Agency published a national Syphilis Response Plan in March 2026, which is available at the following link:The plan focuses on four key areas: preventing infection; improving testing; ensuring timely treatment; and eliminating congenital syphilis, where infection is passed from mother to baby during pregnancy. Actions include raising public and professional awareness, strengthening prevention activity, expanding and optimising access to testing, improving care pathways, and supporting partner notification to reduce onward transmission.During 2025, national provision of doxycycline post exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) through sexual health services was implemented as a new intervention. This followed evidence of its impact on reducing syphilis incidence in clinical trials and real-world application. United Kingdom guidelines recommend doxyPEP for gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men and transgender women at elevated risk of acquiring syphilis.Since the strategy’s launch, significant work and focus has been on implementing the commitments set out in the Men’s Health Strategy. For example, our landmark partnership with the Premier League will bring together football clubs and government to improve health literacy, particularly around mental health and suicide prevention.
We have established the Men’s Health Academic Network, to bring together experts and academics across men's health, public health, social and behavioural sciences and specific health conditions. The network will help to build the evidence base on a number of important topics, like health literacy, societal norms and health inequalities.
The Strategy recognises the role that the media plays in shaping how men interpret health information and commits to take action to identify ways to build media literacy skills in men to help them critically assess health information and protect against misinformation that harms health. We are currently scoping delivery of this action and will consider the inclusion of issues surrounding anabolic steroids, image and performance enhancing drugs, and selective androgen receptor modulators.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 9089
- Session
- 2026-27
- Related items
- Subjects
- Health education Men Young people Steroid drugs
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2026-07-13 11:03:04 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2026-27/9089
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