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 reduce HIV transmissions in rural and coastal areas.

Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning open access sexual and reproductive health services, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing, 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.

As part of the Government’s HIV Action Plan, a low prevalence area task and finish group was established in 2023. This group will provide evidence on HIV control strategies in low prevalence areas, including understanding the impact of rurality on systems and patients. They will present their recommendations to the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group, who will agree how the advice will be taken forward.