Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to address the finding from the Positive Voices 2022 survey.

The Positive Voices survey is used to monitor levels of stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) within the health and social care system. The Positive Voices survey 2022 found that one in 13 people had avoided accessing healthcare services and one in seven had worried about being treated differently to other patients by healthcare staff during the previous year.

Therefore, the new HIV Action Plan, developed by the Department, the UK Health Security Agency, and NHS England, and backed by over £170 million in funding, sets out five core priorities to reach our ambition to end new HIV transmissions within England by 2030, including addressing stigma and improving the quality of life for people living with HIV.

The Department is investing £4.8 million from 2026 to 2029 in the newly procured National HIV Prevention England Programme, which will aim to reduce levels of HIV related stigma, particularly self-stigma and stigma within different communities. NHS England is commissioning a new HIV anti-stigma programme to be rolled out across trusts with the emergency department Blood Borne Viruses opt-out testing programme, to ensure that staff have the right knowledge on HIV and can tackle stigma and discrimination. Local areas will also monitor progress through staff surveys, service user feedback and quality assurance mechanisms to promote a culture of understanding and respect.