Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to address period poverty in East London.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Nobody should have to miss out on education because of their period, which is why the department provides free period products to girls and women in their place of study, through the period products scheme. The scheme aims to remove periods as a barrier to accessing education, addresses pupils being unable to afford period products and aims to destigmatise menstruation.

Since its launch in January 2020, 99% of secondary schools and 87% of post-16 organisations in England have used the scheme to order period products.

The department publishes statistics regarding the scheme’s operation, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/period-products-scheme-management-information.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the effectiveness of HIV health promotion campaigns in reaching (a) under served and (b) at risk communities.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to ending new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030. The Department, the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England, and partners are developing the new HIV Action Plan for England, which we aim to publish this year. The plan will address improving preventive HIV care and HIV health promotion campaigns across England, including in London.

HIV testing is partly funded by local authorities through the ringfenced Public Health Grant (PHG). In 2025/26, we are increasing funding through the PHG to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase, the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.

The London HIV Prevention Programme (LHPP) and Sexual Health London (SHL) are key organisations at the centre of London’s HIV prevention efforts, working to reduce new HIV diagnoses and improve access to testing. The LHPP promotes early testing and prevention, particularly among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, through its Do It London campaigns and targeted outreach. In parallel, SHL offers free, easy-to-access sexually transmitted infection testing for Londoners aged 16 years old and over via online self-sampling and local collection points.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve preventative HIV care in London.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to ending new transmissions of HIV in England by 2030. The Department, the UK Health Security Agency, NHS England, and partners are developing the new HIV Action Plan for England, which we aim to publish this year. The plan will address improving preventive HIV care and HIV health promotion campaigns across England, including in London.

HIV testing is partly funded by local authorities through the ringfenced Public Health Grant (PHG). In 2025/26, we are increasing funding through the PHG to £3.858 billion, providing local authorities with an average 5.4% cash increase and a 3% real terms increase, the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending.

The London HIV Prevention Programme (LHPP) and Sexual Health London (SHL) are key organisations at the centre of London’s HIV prevention efforts, working to reduce new HIV diagnoses and improve access to testing. The LHPP promotes early testing and prevention, particularly among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, through its Do It London campaigns and targeted outreach. In parallel, SHL offers free, easy-to-access sexually transmitted infection testing for Londoners aged 16 years old and over via online self-sampling and local collection points.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Public Health England's report entitled Commercial infant and baby food and drink: evidence review, published in June 2019, what steps he is taking to help tackle commercial baby foods with high levels of added sugar.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Children’s early years provide an important foundation for their future health and strongly influence many aspects of wellbeing in later life.

A 2019 evidence review showed that babies and young children are exceeding their energy intake requirement and are eating too much sugar and salt. Some commercial baby foods, particularly finger foods, had added sugar, or contained ingredients that are high in sugar.

More recently, a report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition highlighted that free sugar intakes are above recommendations, and that commercial baby food and drinks contributed to around 20% of free sugar intake in children aged 12 to 18 months. This does not align with recommendations that, in diets of children aged 1 to 5 years, foods including snacks high in free sugars should be limited, and that commercially manufactured foods and drinks are not needed to meet nutrition requirements.

It is vital that we maintain the highest standards for foods consumed by babies and infants, which is why we have regulations in place that set nutritional and compositional standards for commercial baby food. The regulations also set labelling standards to ensure consumers have clear and accurate information about the products they buy. We continue to keep these regulations under review to ensure they reflect the latest scientific and dietary guidelines.