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 tackle stigma related to HIV.

We have committed to achieving zero new HIV infections and AIDS and HIV-related deaths in England by 2030. In December 2021 we published an HIV Action Plan, which sets out how we will achieve the interim ambition of an 80% reduction in new infections by 2025.The Plan’s objectives include rapid and adequate access to diagnosis, treatment and support for those living with HIV, including addressing stigma to improve health outcomes and reduce onward transmission of infection. We will improve workforce training in the National Health Service to improve HIV awareness and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and academic partners will monitor levels of stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV.

In February, we delivered a campaign through National HIV Testing Week to increase awareness and the acceptability of HIV testing and reduce barriers, such as stigma. A summer campaign has commenced in July through the National HIV Prevention Programme. For those living with HIV, including those newly diagnosed, we will develop an audit tool to enable local areas to understand provision of availability and accessibility of HIV mental health, psycho-social and peer support services available. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and the UKHSA will share emerging evidence on the effectiveness of voluntary sector-led peer support networks for local commissioners to develop similar models. We have also established the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group which will meet on a quarterly basis to monitor the delivery of the Plan and we will update Parliament annually on progress.