Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase HIV screening.

The Department has asked the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) to commission a review of the evidence for a universal HIV screening programme in adults. The UK NSC plan to consult on their review in spring 2015.

The Department’s A Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England (2013) sets out how we will continue to tackle HIV through prevention and increased access to testing to enable early diagnosis and treatment. Also, reducing the proportion of people with HIV diagnosed late is included as an indicator for local authorities in the Public Health Outcomes Framework.