Purpose

Cabinet is recommended to approve the
re-procurement of the London Sexual Health Programme by 15 August
2026. Waltham Forest will participate as a member of a pan-London
commissioning consortium led by City of London. The service to be
procured is SHL.UK, an online sexual and reproductive health
service which provides direct-to-consumer testing for sexually
transmitted infections to Waltham Forest residents.
 

Content

Cabinet:

(1)         
agreed that Waltham Forest can sign up as a
participating authority in the London Sexual Health Programme, a continuation of a pan-London partnership
which delivers cost savings to the Council, good outcomes for
residents and benefits regional partnership working
arrangements.

(2)         
approved the participation of Waltham Forest in the re-procurement
of SHL.UK, which will require signing a memorandum of understanding
and paying a one-off cross-charge to City of London for procurement
costs;

(3)         
delegated authority to the Director of Public Health, in
consultation with the Portfolio Lead Member for Adults and Health,
to:

agree to the contract award on
behalf of Waltham Forest Council, pending completion of the
procurement process to the satisfaction of participating
authorities. The procurement process will take place between June
2025 and March 2026. The contract will commence on 15 August 2026
for a contract term of five years plus two two-year extensions (a
maximum term of nine years, ending in August 2035). The spend will
be linked to activity and modelled for population growth, estimated
at £5.6 million over the nine years for Waltham Forest.
agree any future changes to the
scope of the contract, pending local review, which could
include: online access to contraception;
online access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); online access to condoms.
agree any future extensions to the
contract, up to the maximum four additional years permitted.

 
Options &
Alternatives Considered
 
Officers considered three
alternatives to the proposed approach:

Option 1: Do nothing

Not continuing in the LSHP or the procurement of the
e-service would redirect residents to face-to-face STI testing,
predominantly done in clinics, which has higher unit costs and
would therefore be more costly. This could also have a detrimental
effect on public health and increase unmet need as clinics may not
have the capacity to meet the activity taking place online
currently. This route is not favoured for these reasons.

Option 2: Procuring an e-service on a local
level

Undertaking a procurement exercise locally would be
costly and resource-intensive and would negate the benefits
realised by the economies of scale approach in the LSHP. This route
is also not favoured.

Option 3: Take part in the re-procurement of SHL.UK
as a direct award

Members of the LSHP considered whether utilising a
direct award route to procurement would be beneficial but agreed
that the benefits in efficiencies and innovation offered by a
competitive procurement exercise were preferential. Hence this
option was rejected by the LSHP.