Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many veterans were discharged due to their HIV status between 1982 and 2020.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
Between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2022, 44 UK Regular Armed Forces personnel were medically discharged with HIV cited as the principal or contributory cause. Both principal and contributory causes have been included as it is possible for personnel to be medically discharged for multiple medical reasons.
Medical discharges for personnel leaving the Services between 1982 and 1995 are held in individual's service records and are not centrally compiled by the Ministry of Defence.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for HIV be part of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review; and if none, why.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
While HIV is not an issue exclusive to the LGBT+ community and, therefore, was not specified in the Terms of Reference for the LGBT Veterans Independent Review, Defence recognises the importance of the subject to the community. The Ministry of Defence, jointly with the Office for Veterans Affairs in the Cabinet Office, commissioned the Review to gain further insight into the lived experience of our LGBT+ veterans and facilitate the creation of a more inclusive future for all. The broad Terms of Reference enable the Review to consider the lived experience of LGBT+ personnel who also had HIV. The full terms of reference are available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/terms-of-reference-for-the-lgbt-veterans-independent-review/terms-of-reference-independent-review-into-service-and-experience-of-lgbt-veterans-who-served-prior-to-2000
It is important to note that, regardless of sexuality, under policies in place at the time anyone with HIV would have been prevented from serving or medically discharged. Contemporary policy was based on specialist medical opinion and included consideration of the risk to the individual if operational circumstances precluded access to essential medication or specialist services; and the cost-benefit of training an individual with a chronic medical condition in a fixed liability organisation. How the virus was contracted was not relevant; simply having HIV disqualified individuals from Service until 21 June 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle female genital schistosomiasis.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The UK is supporting research and development into schistosomiasis through funding for the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) which is actively developing new drugs for the disease with the aim to counter the risk of resistance and to treat female genital schistosomiasis. We had previously supported research into female genital schistosomiasis through support to the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD) and this had led to the development of new competencies for the training of health professionals on the disease. Through our funding for The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and support for their Global AIDS Strategy 2021-26 we are also supporting initiatives to address female genital schistosomiasis and integrate treatment and prevention services for the disease with HIV services, sexual and reproductive health and rights services and comprehensive sexuality education.Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to achieve gender parity in their HIV response, to ensure there is equitable (1) investment, (2) priority, and (3) attention, to women in HIV (a) prevention, (b) research, (c) data, and (d) services, in the UK.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Ensuring everyone benefits equally from HIV developments is the cornerstone of our approach in England to achieve our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS- and HIV-related deaths by 2030, as set out in our HIV Action Plan, available in an online-only format.
As part of the Plan, NHS England is investing £20 million from 2022-2025 to support the expansion of opt-out HIV testing in emergency departments in local authority areas with extremely high prevalence of HIV. We are also investing more than £3.5 million from 2021-2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme which supports communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, including black African heterosexual women.
The UK Health Security Agency published a HIV Action Plan monitoring and evaluation report in 2022, which tracks progress across priority actions and identifies further efforts needed across the system to improve equitable access to HIV services for key population groups, including women. We continue working together with our delivery partners to ensure equity in prevention, treatment, and HIV care, and we are developing a plan to improve equitable access to the HIV prevention drug PrEP for key groups, including women.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive open access to most sexual and reproductive health services, including HIV prevention, testing and access to PrEP, through the Public Health Grant, funded at £3.5 billion in 2023-24. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need and to commission the service lines that best suit their population.
The Department also funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which recently published an equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, setting out how NIHR will become a more inclusive funder of research and widen access to participation, including for women.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what research they are undertaking into women who are living with HIV and are experiencing the menopause.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR funded the Menopoz Study which completed in 2018 and aimed to explore the impact of the menopause on HIV-positive women's wellbeing and engagement with HIV care in the UK.
NIHR does not currently fund any specific research into women who are living with HIV and are experiencing the menopause but welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that HIV research (1) addresses specific knowledge gaps around HIV and women, and (2) supports the full participation and meaningful involvement of women.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Since 2017/18, NIHR has spent £35,679,615 on HIV research and support thereof. There are no current plans to assess the HIV portfolio specifically, but NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including HIV.
NIHR actively and openly support patient and public involvement and engagement in research. Applicants are required to provide additional guidance to ensure that there is an explanation of the relevance and importance of the study from the patient/public perspective. In Autumn 2022, the NIHR published the EDI Strategy 2022-2027, available in an online-only format, which sets out how NIHR will become a more inclusive funder of research and widen access to participation. The strategy refers to guidance produced from the NIHR INCLUDE project, also available in an online-only format, which aims to improve the inclusion of under-served groups, for example those with lower representation in research and clinical trials than would be expected, such as women.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the correlation between reductions in public health funding and increases in rates of (1) syphilis, and (2) gonorrhoea.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We have not made a specific assessment of a correlation between the Government’s public health funding and rates of syphilis and gonorrhoea in England.
Local government is responsible for commissioning sexual health services through the public health grant, and the Government allocated more than £3 billion for the public health grant in 2022/23. We will announce the 2023/24 public health grant allocations to local authorities in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish their Syphilis Action Plan.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We remain committed to improving sexual and reproductive health, including reducing rates of syphilis, in England and are considering the need for further government plans. In 2021, we published our policy paper Towards Zero - An action plan towards ending HIV transmission, AIDS and HIV-related deaths in England - 2022 to 2025, available in an online-only format, which sets out the actions that we are taking to move towards ending HIV transmissions and HIV and AIDS related deaths within England by 2030. In August 2022 we also published the Women’s Health Strategy for England which sets out our 10-year ambitions and actions we are taking to improve health for women and girls including reproductive health.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the size of the workforce providing prevention services within Sexual Health Services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are considering actions to ensure that the sexual health workforce has the required capacity and skills to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of the population in multiple settings. Further information will be available in due course.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services, and it is for them to decide on commissioning arrangements, including workforce skills mix and size, based on an assessment of local need for sexual and reproductive health services.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a multi-disciplinary workforce in Sexual Health Services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
We are considering actions to ensure that the sexual health workforce has the required capacity and skills to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of the population in multiple settings. Further information will be available in due course.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services, and it is for them to decide on commissioning arrangements, including workforce skills mix and size, based on an assessment of local need for sexual and reproductive health services.