Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when opt-out testing for HIV will be expanded to (a) Slough and (b) and other areas with a high prevalence of HIV.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
HIV testing is essential, as it allows those with HIV to be offered lifesaving treatment, and prevents its onward transmission. This is why we have committed to scaling up HIV testing in our HIV Action Plan. As part of the HIV Action Plan, NHS England made an initial £20 million available over three years to 2025, for HIV opt-out testing in 34 emergency departments (EDs) in areas with extremely high HIV prevalence, areas with five or more HIV cases per 1,000 residents aged 15 to 59 years old. The plan also included Blackpool in 2019, at 4.9 HIV cases per 1,000 residents aged 15 to 59 years old, and the whole of London, including some local areas with high HIV prevalence supported with additional funding from NHS London.
In November 2024, the Government announced new research, commissioned through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to evaluate an expansion of blood-borne virus opt-out testing, including HIV, in 47 additional EDs in local areas of England with high HIV prevalence. These would be areas with two to five HIV cases per 1,000 residents aged 15 to 59 years old, and would include the Wexham Park Hospital and Frimley Park Hospital in Slough. The research project is currently in the set-up phase, and funding will support 12 months of testing for each ED, although it is at the discretion of individual sites when the testing will commence. It is the responsibility of individual EDs to make service users aware of the availability of HIV and other blood-borne virus opt-out testing, as appropriate.
HIV opt-out testing in EDs in areas with extremely high HIV prevalence has shown very encouraging outcomes so far, and at 21 months has delivered 2.6 million HIV tests, and found more than 1,000 people with undiagnosed or untreated HIV, including those who would not have been found via other testing routes. Making HIV testing routine in a front-line health care setting such as an ED, raises the awareness of HIV and helps remove the stigma associated with HIV testing.
We are also working to improve workforce training in the National Health Service to increase HIV awareness, and in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), to continue to monitor the levels of stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV within the health and social care system, as well as within community settings. The UKHSA published the positive voices survey report in early 2024, which presents key indicators for HIV stigma, and is available at the following link:
Further work is underway to develop key indicators for monitoring quality of life and stigma for people living with HIV.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to publicise opt-out testing for HIV to those attending emergency departments.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
HIV testing is essential, as it allows those with HIV to be offered lifesaving treatment, and prevents its onward transmission. This is why we have committed to scaling up HIV testing in our HIV Action Plan. As part of the HIV Action Plan, NHS England made an initial £20 million available over three years to 2025, for HIV opt-out testing in 34 emergency departments (EDs) in areas with extremely high HIV prevalence, areas with five or more HIV cases per 1,000 residents aged 15 to 59 years old. The plan also included Blackpool in 2019, at 4.9 HIV cases per 1,000 residents aged 15 to 59 years old, and the whole of London, including some local areas with high HIV prevalence supported with additional funding from NHS London.
In November 2024, the Government announced new research, commissioned through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to evaluate an expansion of blood-borne virus opt-out testing, including HIV, in 47 additional EDs in local areas of England with high HIV prevalence. These would be areas with two to five HIV cases per 1,000 residents aged 15 to 59 years old, and would include the Wexham Park Hospital and Frimley Park Hospital in Slough. The research project is currently in the set-up phase, and funding will support 12 months of testing for each ED, although it is at the discretion of individual sites when the testing will commence. It is the responsibility of individual EDs to make service users aware of the availability of HIV and other blood-borne virus opt-out testing, as appropriate.
HIV opt-out testing in EDs in areas with extremely high HIV prevalence has shown very encouraging outcomes so far, and at 21 months has delivered 2.6 million HIV tests, and found more than 1,000 people with undiagnosed or untreated HIV, including those who would not have been found via other testing routes. Making HIV testing routine in a front-line health care setting such as an ED, raises the awareness of HIV and helps remove the stigma associated with HIV testing.
We are also working to improve workforce training in the National Health Service to increase HIV awareness, and in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), to continue to monitor the levels of stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV within the health and social care system, as well as within community settings. The UKHSA published the positive voices survey report in early 2024, which presents key indicators for HIV stigma, and is available at the following link:
Further work is underway to develop key indicators for monitoring quality of life and stigma for people living with HIV.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to reduce the stigma of HIV testing.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
HIV testing is essential, as it allows those with HIV to be offered lifesaving treatment, and prevents its onward transmission. This is why we have committed to scaling up HIV testing in our HIV Action Plan. As part of the HIV Action Plan, NHS England made an initial £20 million available over three years to 2025, for HIV opt-out testing in 34 emergency departments (EDs) in areas with extremely high HIV prevalence, areas with five or more HIV cases per 1,000 residents aged 15 to 59 years old. The plan also included Blackpool in 2019, at 4.9 HIV cases per 1,000 residents aged 15 to 59 years old, and the whole of London, including some local areas with high HIV prevalence supported with additional funding from NHS London.
In November 2024, the Government announced new research, commissioned through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to evaluate an expansion of blood-borne virus opt-out testing, including HIV, in 47 additional EDs in local areas of England with high HIV prevalence. These would be areas with two to five HIV cases per 1,000 residents aged 15 to 59 years old, and would include the Wexham Park Hospital and Frimley Park Hospital in Slough. The research project is currently in the set-up phase, and funding will support 12 months of testing for each ED, although it is at the discretion of individual sites when the testing will commence. It is the responsibility of individual EDs to make service users aware of the availability of HIV and other blood-borne virus opt-out testing, as appropriate.
HIV opt-out testing in EDs in areas with extremely high HIV prevalence has shown very encouraging outcomes so far, and at 21 months has delivered 2.6 million HIV tests, and found more than 1,000 people with undiagnosed or untreated HIV, including those who would not have been found via other testing routes. Making HIV testing routine in a front-line health care setting such as an ED, raises the awareness of HIV and helps remove the stigma associated with HIV testing.
We are also working to improve workforce training in the National Health Service to increase HIV awareness, and in collaboration with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), to continue to monitor the levels of stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV within the health and social care system, as well as within community settings. The UKHSA published the positive voices survey report in early 2024, which presents key indicators for HIV stigma, and is available at the following link:
Further work is underway to develop key indicators for monitoring quality of life and stigma for people living with HIV.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of people working in community rehabilitation services.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England published the Intermediate Care Framework and Rehabilitation and reablement model in September 2023. The Framework sets out actions systems can take to increase intermediate care rehabilitation and reablement capacity, including through optimising the use of the registered therapy workforce and maximising the use of skilled support workers. The framework is available at the following link:
The Intermediate Care Frontrunner sites, and pilot work with seven local geographies has worked to define the workforce required to meet the demand for bedded and non-bedded intermediate care rehabilitation and reablement. NHS England is planning further work in 2024/2025 to progress the implementation and learning from the workforce pilots and to support systems nationally to progress workforce planning processes and estimate the workforce required to meet the demand.
Better Care Fund capacity and demand plans will inform alignment and reporting of progress to increase workforce capacity across health and care including rehabilitation and reablement workforce capacity.
The NHS Long term workforce plan commits to supporting Integrated Care Systems to develop local strategies that would support local quality apprenticeship programmes targeted at specific occupational shortages and skills gaps and transformation across a number of settings including community care. The NHS long term workforce plan is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-long-term-workforce-plan/
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to ensure that people with significant mental health issues are not discharged to the community.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Clinicians will decide when a person is medically fit for discharge. On 26 January 2024, new statutory guidance was published for those being discharged from mental health inpatient settings. This sets out how health and care systems can work effectively together to support the discharge process from hospital, and ensure the right support in the community. The guidance also includes best practice in relation to patient and carer involvement in discharge planning.
NHS England has asked all systems to review their community mental health services, to ensure that they have clear policies and practice in place for patients with serious mental illness, who require intensive community treatment and follow-up, but where engagement is a challenge. NHS England will provide national guidance to support reviews, which will be completed by Autumn 2024. NHS England will consider further steps as appropriate, following the completion of the reviews.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ensuring that rehabilitation is given an equal status in healthcare as to medicine and surgery.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ensuring that patients have access to effective rehabilitation is a priority for the Government. NHS England published its intermediate care framework for rehabilitation, reablement and recovery following hospital discharge, to help ensure high quality step-down care, in September 2023. Implementation of the framework aims to improve patient experience and outcomes. It should also improve patient flow, and free up National Health Service hospital capacity for those who need it most.
A new community rehabilitation and reablement model was published alongside the framework. It focuses on how systems should use the workforce effectively, put patients and families at the centre of discussions, and ensure any transition points will be as seamless as possible. Integrated care systems, commissioners, and providers should work together with social care partners to implement the recommended actions.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Sentencing Council on the implementation of guidelines that require judges to consider factors such as poverty and social deprivation in sentencing; and whether his Department will provide training on these factors.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
On 1 April 2024, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales introduced a new mitigating factor ‘difficult and/or deprived background or personal circumstances’ across all offence specific guidelines, following consultation. As a statutory consultee, the Lord Chancellor made clear in his response his opposition to the inclusion of this new mitigating factor. However, as an independent body, the Government cannot require the Council to review particular guidelines.
Regarding the implementation of the guidelines, under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, the Council is required to monitor the operation and effect of its guidelines once published. The Council decides on its own priorities and work plan for producing and monitoring guidelines.
In relation to judicial training, in order to preserve the independence of the judiciary, the Lady Chief Justice has statutory responsibility under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 for the maintenance of appropriate arrangements for the welfare, training and guidance of the judiciary. The Lady Chief Justice exercises this responsibility through the Judicial College.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she made of the adequacy of the HIV Action Plan deadline of 2030.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030, and our HIV Action Plan from 2021 sets out how we will achieve our interim ambitions by 2025. The HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group, chaired by the Government's chief adviser for HIV, is supporting and driving forward the implementation of the HIV Action Plan, to ensure progress is in line with the plan's ambitions.
The UK Health Security Agency publishes an annual monitoring and evaluation report of the HIV Action Plan, which tracks progress towards achieving our long-term commitment to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. The 2023 report demonstrates progress made to date, with under 4,500 people living with undiagnosed HIV, and extremely high levels of antiretroviral therapy coverage and viral suppression. The report also highlights areas which needs further work, such as strengthening HIV prevention and testing, retainment in care, and tackling HIV related stigma. The report is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hiv-monitoring-and-evaluation-framework.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to (a) commission and (b) access scientific studies on the (i) physical and (ii) psychological impact of vaping (A) non nicotine and (B) nicotine products.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The health advice is clear, if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, and children should never vape. Vaping can play a role in helping adult smokers to quit, but the Government is concerned about the worrying rise in vaping among children, with youth vaping tripling in the last three years and one in five children having now used a vape.
Using the best available evidence is central to the development of regulations and requirements regarding vapes. This includes evidence on the health harms from vaping, both nicotine and non-nicotine vapes, in the short, medium, and long term. We monitor and assess the emerging international research, as can be seen in Public Health England’s Nicotine Vaping in England reports, and work closely with the academic and scientific community to interrogate the data on the physical and psychological effects of vaping and smoking.
We are also keen to ensure that we play an active role in driving forward the knowledge around longer-term health harms. As part of this, we are actively exploring options to partner with research bodies and commission research. We will provide more detail in due course.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact of changes in the level of social security benefits on people living in unsuitable housing.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions spends around £30bn a year on housing support for renters in both the private and social rented sectors. Benefit rates and the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) are reviewed annually.
From April this year the Government is investing £1.2 billion increasing LHA rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents. This significant investment ensures 1.6 million private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit gain on average, nearly £800 in additional help towards their rental costs in 2024/25.
LHA provides a reasonable level of housing support towards rental costs in the private rented sector. LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas.
The Department works closely with other government departments, stakeholders, jobcentres, and local authorities to understand the impact of its policies.
For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.