Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the demographic profile of requesting an HIV testing kit during National HIV Testing Week in each of the years 2020 to 2023 inclusive.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
During the period between 1 and 7 February 2021, 19,342 HIV testing kits were dispatched, and 84 were reactive. The following table shows, using the data currently available, the number of HIV testing kits that were ordered and dispatched for National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) campaigns between 2019/20 and 2022/23:
England Total | Ordered kits | Dispatched kits | HIV reactive | HIV reactivity |
2019/20 | 19,863 | 19,496 | 81 | 0.8% |
2020/21 | 30,612 | 30,876 | 135 | 0.7% |
2021/22 | 24,409 | 23,520 | 75 | 0.6% |
2022/23 | 22,408 | 21,626 | 79 | 0.4% |
Notes:
NHTW focuses on communities disproportionately affected by HIV though tests are available to be ordered by anyone in England. We have some data available on the demographic profile of people requesting an HIV testing kit during NHTW, with 44% of HIV testing kit requests in 2023 coming from gay and bisexual men who have sex with men.
Black African people’s uptake of testing kits has tripled since 2021, accounting for 10% of orders made. During NHTW in 2023, self-testing kits were made available for the first time and were particularly popular amongst black African groups. The percentage of heterosexual men who requested a testing kit has doubled since 2021, from 11% to 22% in 2023 and the percentage of heterosexual women has also steadily increased year on year.
We continue working closely together with our key partners in the HIV Prevention Programme monitoring and evaluating the results of the campaign to ensure we continue progressing towards our 2030 ambitions.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of those requesting an HIV testing kit during National HIV Testing Week tested positive in each of the years 2020 to 2023 inclusive.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
During the period between 1 and 7 February 2021, 19,342 HIV testing kits were dispatched, and 84 were reactive. The following table shows, using the data currently available, the number of HIV testing kits that were ordered and dispatched for National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) campaigns between 2019/20 and 2022/23:
England Total | Ordered kits | Dispatched kits | HIV reactive | HIV reactivity |
2019/20 | 19,863 | 19,496 | 81 | 0.8% |
2020/21 | 30,612 | 30,876 | 135 | 0.7% |
2021/22 | 24,409 | 23,520 | 75 | 0.6% |
2022/23 | 22,408 | 21,626 | 79 | 0.4% |
Notes:
NHTW focuses on communities disproportionately affected by HIV though tests are available to be ordered by anyone in England. We have some data available on the demographic profile of people requesting an HIV testing kit during NHTW, with 44% of HIV testing kit requests in 2023 coming from gay and bisexual men who have sex with men.
Black African people’s uptake of testing kits has tripled since 2021, accounting for 10% of orders made. During NHTW in 2023, self-testing kits were made available for the first time and were particularly popular amongst black African groups. The percentage of heterosexual men who requested a testing kit has doubled since 2021, from 11% to 22% in 2023 and the percentage of heterosexual women has also steadily increased year on year.
We continue working closely together with our key partners in the HIV Prevention Programme monitoring and evaluating the results of the campaign to ensure we continue progressing towards our 2030 ambitions.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many HIV testing kits were supplied between 1 and 7 February 2021, and of those, how many positive HIV tests were recorded.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
During the period between 1 and 7 February 2021, 19,342 HIV testing kits were dispatched, and 84 were reactive. The following table shows, using the data currently available, the number of HIV testing kits that were ordered and dispatched for National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) campaigns between 2019/20 and 2022/23:
England Total | Ordered kits | Dispatched kits | HIV reactive | HIV reactivity |
2019/20 | 19,863 | 19,496 | 81 | 0.8% |
2020/21 | 30,612 | 30,876 | 135 | 0.7% |
2021/22 | 24,409 | 23,520 | 75 | 0.6% |
2022/23 | 22,408 | 21,626 | 79 | 0.4% |
Notes:
NHTW focuses on communities disproportionately affected by HIV though tests are available to be ordered by anyone in England. We have some data available on the demographic profile of people requesting an HIV testing kit during NHTW, with 44% of HIV testing kit requests in 2023 coming from gay and bisexual men who have sex with men.
Black African people’s uptake of testing kits has tripled since 2021, accounting for 10% of orders made. During NHTW in 2023, self-testing kits were made available for the first time and were particularly popular amongst black African groups. The percentage of heterosexual men who requested a testing kit has doubled since 2021, from 11% to 22% in 2023 and the percentage of heterosexual women has also steadily increased year on year.
We continue working closely together with our key partners in the HIV Prevention Programme monitoring and evaluating the results of the campaign to ensure we continue progressing towards our 2030 ambitions.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the underlying factors that contribute to higher HIV transmission rates among marginalised groups of women, such as sex workers, transgender women, and immigrants.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We remain committed to improving sexual and reproductive health in England, including for women from all groups.
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 women.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department is investing over £3.5 million from 2021-2024 to deliver the National 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, with a particular focus on black African women. HIV Prevention England (HPE) 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, including women-led organisations.
HPE works with a wide range of models and their network of influencers. As part of HPE campaigns, a range of people share their stories and experiences on HIV, STIs and sexual health this includes women and other people who are likely to be recognisable to specific demographics.
Since 2013, the Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual health services, including free and confidential HIV testing, and provision of the HIV prevention drug PrEP through the Public Health Grant, funded at £3.4 billion overall in 2022/23. 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.
In 2022, we published the Women’s Health Strategy for England setting out our 10-year ambitions and actions to improve health for women and girls.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that women have control over their sexual and reproductive health decisions, and are empowered to negotiate condom use, access PrEP, and make informed choices to prevent HIV transmission.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We remain committed to improving sexual and reproductive health in England, including for women from all groups.
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 women.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department is investing over £3.5 million from 2021-2024 to deliver the National 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, with a particular focus on black African women. HIV Prevention England (HPE) 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, including women-led organisations.
HPE works with a wide range of models and their network of influencers. As part of HPE campaigns, a range of people share their stories and experiences on HIV, STIs and sexual health this includes women and other people who are likely to be recognisable to specific demographics.
Since 2013, the Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual health services, including free and confidential HIV testing, and provision of the HIV prevention drug PrEP through the Public Health Grant, funded at £3.4 billion overall in 2022/23. 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.
In 2022, we published the Women’s Health Strategy for England setting out our 10-year ambitions and actions to improve health for women and girls.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that women have control over their sexual and reproductive health decisions through empowering them to (1) negotiate condom use, (2) access pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and (3) make informed choices to prevent HIV transmission.
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. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all underserved populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including marginalised women. This includes scaling up HIV testing in targeted, high-risk populations and increasing equitable access to and use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Initial analysis recently published by the UK Health Security Agency show that HIV opt-out testing in emergency departments in local authority areas with extremely high HIV prevalence has been particularly successful at reaching women with HIV testing. The HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group is developing a roadmap to help guide our efforts to improve equitable access, uptake and use of PrEP to meet the needs of key populations at significant risk of HIV, including heterosexual and transgender women, which is expected to be made available by the end of the year.
HIV Prevention England delivers a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work designed to complement locally commissioned HIV prevention in areas with high HIV prevalence and for communities at risk of HIV transmission, with a particular focus on women, and includes the promotion of evidence-based HIV prevention interventions such as condom use.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to address factors contributing to higher HIV transmission rates among marginalised women, such as sex workers, transgender women, and immigrants.
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. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all underserved populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including marginalised women. This includes scaling up HIV testing in targeted, high-risk populations and increasing equitable access to and use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Initial analysis recently published by the UK Health Security Agency show that HIV opt-out testing in emergency departments in local authority areas with extremely high HIV prevalence has been particularly successful at reaching women with HIV testing. The HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group is developing a roadmap to help guide our efforts to improve equitable access, uptake and use of PrEP to meet the needs of key populations at significant risk of HIV, including heterosexual and transgender women, which is expected to be made available by the end of the year.
HIV Prevention England delivers a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work designed to complement locally commissioned HIV prevention in areas with high HIV prevalence and for communities at risk of HIV transmission, with a particular focus on women, and includes the promotion of evidence-based HIV prevention interventions such as condom use.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide LGBTQ+ relevant mental health services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We remain committed to the aims of the NHS Long Term Plan, investing at least £2.3 billion of extra funding a year in expanding and transforming mental health services in England by March 2024. This extra funding will enable an extra two million people, including those who identify as LGBT, to be treated by National Health Service mental health services by March 2024.
The funding includes £110 million to expand adult mental health services including NHS Talking Therapies (formerly known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies). In 2021/22, there were 1.81 million referrals to talking therapies in England, compared to 1.46 million in 2020/21. 1.24 million referrals started a course of treatment within this year.
We also provided an additional £500 million in 2021/22 to accelerate our expansion plans to address waiting times for mental health services, give more people the mental health support they need, and invest in the NHS workforce.
The Advancing Mental Health Equalities strategy published by NHS England in 2020 helps set expectations for providers and commissioners to identify opportunities and drive forwards improvements to address inequalities in access to and experience of mental health services. The strategy supports local systems to tailor services to meet the needs of their local populations, including LGBTQ+ people. This includes improvements to the quality and use of data and information, for example the Equality Data Quality Guidance to help improve the collection of demographic data in the Mental Health Services Dataset, and a range of initiatives to improve diversity and representation in the mental health workforce.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how the Major Conditions Strategy will promote the importance of integrated physical and mental health treatment for people with long-term conditions such as diabetes and Parkinson's Disease.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will tackle groups of conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England including cancers, cardiovascular disease including stroke and diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, dementia, mental ill health and musculoskeletal conditions.
Dementia, rather than other neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s Disease, has been identified because it is the leading cause of death in women and the second biggest cause of death for men.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to achieve gender parity in their HIV response, to ensure there is equitable (1) investment, (2) priority, and (3) attention, to women in HIV (a) prevention, (b) research, (c) data, and (d) services, in the UK.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ensuring everyone benefits equally from HIV developments is the cornerstone of our approach in England to achieve our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS- and HIV-related deaths by 2030, as set out in our HIV Action Plan, available in an online-only format.
As part of the Plan, NHS England is investing £20 million from 2022-2025 to support the expansion of opt-out HIV testing in emergency departments in local authority areas with extremely high prevalence of HIV. We are also investing more than £3.5 million from 2021-2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme which supports communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, including black African heterosexual women.
The UK Health Security Agency published a HIV Action Plan monitoring and evaluation report in 2022, which tracks progress across priority actions and identifies further efforts needed across the system to improve equitable access to HIV services for key population groups, including women. We continue working together with our delivery partners to ensure equity in prevention, treatment, and HIV care, and we are developing a plan to improve equitable access to the HIV prevention drug PrEP for key groups, including women.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive open access to most sexual and reproductive health services, including HIV prevention, testing and access to PrEP, 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.
The Department also funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which recently published an equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, setting out how NIHR will become a more inclusive funder of research and widen access to participation, including for women.