Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on Government support for the health of gay, lesbian and bisexual young people.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
This Government is committed to improving the health and well-being of young people. We recognise that gay, lesbian and bisexual young people often face specific challenges.
We have ended the ban on blood donations from sexually active gay men, and are eliminating barriers for same sex couples to access IVF.
Spend for children and young people’s mental health services has increased from £841 million in 2019/20 to just over £1 billion in 2022/23.
And in 2021, we published our HIV Action Plan which sets our commitment to ending all new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to encourage people to be tested for HIV.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach to drive forward progress and achieve our goal of ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including through testing.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department is investing over £4.5 million from 2021 to 2025 to deliver the HIV Prevention Programme, a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities, in areas of high HIV prevalence and for communities at risk of HIV transmission. The programme also aims to improve knowledge and understanding of HIV transmission and reduce stigma within affected communities through the delivery of public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, and evidence-based HIV prevention interventions in partnership with local organisations and charities. During National HIV Testing Week this year, we dispatched over 24,000 kits.
As an additional part of the HIV Action Plan, NHS England has expanded opt-out HIV testing in 34 emergency departments in local areas in England with extremely high HIV prevalence and the whole of London, including some areas with high HIV prevalence. This programme began in 2022 and is funded by NHS England, with £20 million until the end of March 2025. In the first 21 months, the programme has preliminarily identified 685 people newly diagnosed with HIV, and 384 people previously diagnosed with HIV but not in care.
Given the success of the programme, the Department has committed an additional £20 million for new research, which will involve an expansion and evaluation of opt-out blood borne virus testing, including for HIV, in 47 additional emergency departments in local areas with high HIV prevalence across England. Funding will support 12 months of testing for each emergency department, to begin in April 2024, although it is at the discretion of individual sites when the testing will commence.
Asked by: Judith Cummins (Labour - Bradford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has taken recent steps to (a) raise awareness of HIV among those living in care and (b) provide support for those living with HIV and in care.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach in England, to drive forward progress and achieve our goal to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including those living in care.
As set out in the NHS England Roadmap, adult specialised HIV inpatient and outpatient services have been identified by NHS England as key areas for greater integrated care systems leadership and integrated care boards (ICBs). Integrating the commissioning of HIV treatment services with ICBs will allow local systems to simplify and strengthen HIV care pathways with other services through effective local partnerships, including psychosocial support and mental health services, for a more holistic approach to care including links with social services.
Asked by: Lord Farmer (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to bring forward a strategy for addressing the recent increase in sexually transmitted infections among 15–24 year-olds as called for by respondents to the House of Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee on 24 January.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are considering the next steps needed to continue improving the sexual health of the whole population. The UK Health Security Agency is undertaking work with partner organisations to identify best use of existing and emerging interventions to address the increase in sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
The Department for Health and Social Care published the HIV Action Plan in 2021 which sets out the actions that we are taking over the period of 2022 to 2025 to move towards ending HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. As part of the plan, we are investing £4.5 million in our National HIV Prevention Programme, which annually runs National HIV Testing Week as well as summer campaigns. Their aim is to raise awareness of ways to prevent the spread of HIV and other STIs among the most affected communities, with a particular focus on young people and other at-risk populations.
The Department for Education is currently reviewing the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) statutory guidance which includes reference to STI transmission, testing and prevention methods and is expected to soon launch a public consultation on the guidance. Following the consultation, they will make a decision about any new or revised content to be included in the RSHE curriculum, including the use of resources, and whether any further action would be appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Strathcarron (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, having regard to the relative burden of disease, of the level of investment in the World Health Organization's pandemic agenda, relative to efforts to counter endemic diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK provides the vast majority of funding to WHO as unearmarked flexible funding (£340 million in 2020-2024). Funding helps WHO deliver its General Programme of Work, supporting WHO reform and addressing UK global health priorities. This includes building resilient health systems around the world, especially in the poorest countries, and helping prevent and prepare for pandemics. Additionally, over its lifetime, the UK has been the 3rd largest contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This funding has contributed towards saving 59 million lives, our recent pledge of £1 billion will continue to contribute to this effort.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with his international counterparts on taking steps to help eliminate HIV/AIDS.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK remains a world leader in efforts to end the global AIDS epidemic and funds all key partners in the global AIDS response, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNITAID, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria. The Minister of State (Development and Africa) regularly engages with the leadership of these organisations on our key shared priorities for global health, including on approaches to ending AIDS as a public health threat.
The UK's investments, including to the WHO, help to ensure that people at high risk of HIV in the global south can access Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and other HIV prevention and treatment services. WHO has recently published new guidelines on HIV, STI and viral hepatitis prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations, which will support countries and local organisations in designing and implementing their HIV strategies and interventions.
Our pledge of £1 billion to the Global Fund will save over 1 million lives, including by providing antiretroviral therapy for 1.8 million people, HIV counselling and testing for 48 million people, and reaching 3 million members of key affected populations with prevention programs.
Our funding for the Robert Carr Fund and UNAIDS supports initiatives to empower local civil society and grassroots organisations, predominantly in the Global South, to increase access to HIV prevention, testing and care services, particularly for LGBT+ people.
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Towards Zero - An action plan towards ending HIV transmission, AIDS and HIV-related deaths in England - 2022 to 2025, updated on 21 December 2021, what recent progress has been made on (a) reviewing existing late diagnosis protocols and (b) strengthening the protocols prior to a national roll out.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A late HIV diagnoses steering group will be held in the second quarter of 2024 to review and agree the content of the protocol. Software is also under development to enable information to be captured.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to expand provision of HIV peer support in all areas of England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach in England to drive forward progress and achieve our goal to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS- and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. It includes a key objective to improve the quality of life for people living with HIV, including through peer support.
The Department is working with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to share emerging evidence on the effectiveness of voluntary sector-led peer support networks for local commissioners to develop similar models. The forthcoming UKHSA publication of the results of the Positive Voices survey will include data on the experiences of people living with HIV and inform our work to improve the provision of HIV services, including peer support.
A subgroup of the HIV Action Plan implementation Steering Group, providing advice on increasing the number of people retained and re-engaged in care and receiving effective medical care, is also considering the role of peer support services in achieving these outcomes.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, ahead of the 30-year review of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, what progress they have made since 1994 on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the UK.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are proud of the United Kingdom’s progress regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the last thirty years and of our country’s leadership as the top performing country in SRHR policies according to the European Combined SRHR Ranking Atlas 2020-2023.
In Great Britain, women have access to safe, regulated National Health Service-funded termination of pregnancy services under the Abortion Act 1967. Abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland through the introduction of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc.) Act 2019. Health is devolved in the UK, and progress on SRHR in England has included several areas of SRHR.
Contraception plays a vital role in preventing unintended pregnancy and a wide range of contraceptive choices are available free of charge in a range of primary and community care venues in England, including through the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service since April 2023. The conception rate amongst women under 18 years old in England is now lower than it was twenty years ago and has more than halved between 2011 and 2021. The conception rate for those aged under 16 years old is approximately a third of what it was 10 years ago.
The 2022 Women’s Health Strategy for England sets out our plans for boosting the health and wellbeing of women and girls, and for improving how the health and care system engages and listens to all women. This includes investing £25 million in women’s health hubs to improve women’s access to essential services for menstrual problems, contraception, menopause care and more.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive open access to most sexual health services (SHSs) through the public health grant funded at £3.5 billion in 2023/24. Individual local authorities are well placed to make funding and commissioning decisions about the SHSs that best meet the needs of their local populations. This includes oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, which has been routinely available in specialist SHSs since 2020.
The National Chlamydia Screening Programme focuses on reducing reproductive harm of untreated infection in young women aged 15 to 24 years old. The programme has the secondary aims of reducing re-infections and onward transmission of chlamydia and raising awareness of good sexual health.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common sexually transmitted infection, and some types can cause genital warts or cervical cancer. The national HPV vaccination programme was introduced for girls in September 2008 and extended to eligible boys in September 2019. In 2022, genital warts diagnoses among young women aged between 15 and 17 years old attending SHSs were 67.9% lower than in 2018.
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach in England to drive forward progress and achieve our goal to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030 backed by almost £45m over 2020-2025. We continue to celebrate the progress made from 2019 when the Government first made its HIV commitments, with approximately 4,500 people living with undiagnosed HIV and extremely high levels of antiretroviral therapy coverage and viral suppression.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to facilitate international knowledge exchange and collaboration to accelerate progress towards the global goals of ending new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths by 2030.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK remains a world leader in efforts to end the global AIDS epidemic and funds all key partners in the global AIDS response, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria.
The UK's investments, including to the WHO, help to ensure that people at high risk of HIV in the global south can access Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and other HIV prevention and treatment services. WHO has recently published new guidelines on HIV, STI and viral hepatitis prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care for key populations, which will support countries and local organisations in designing and implementing their HIV strategies and interventions.
Our recent pledge of £1 billion to the Global Fund will save over 1 million lives, including by providing antiretroviral therapy for 1.8 million people, HIV counselling and testing for 48 million people, and reaching 3 million members of key affected populations with prevention programs.
Our funding for the Robert Carr Fund and UNAIDS supports initiatives to empower local civil society and grassroots organisations, predominantly in the Global South, to increase access to HIV prevention, testing and care services, particularly for LGBT+ people.