Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the details of each meeting since 1 December 2021 between (1) the Minister for Women and Equalities, and (2) the Equality and Human Rights Commission, regarding possible amendments to the Gender Recognition Act 2004, including but not limited to meetings about the list of approved countries and territories which would be considered valid for applications under section 1(1)(b) of the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
In reference to discussions with EHRC with regards to the Countries list SI, I refer back to the previous answer to UIN 5635 on 14th December.
More broadly, as is the case with previous administrations, it is a long-established precedent that granular information about ministerial meetings is not disclosed. Equality Hub Ministers do however, engage regularly with the EHRC.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Women and Equalities on 6 December (HC Deb cols 359–60), which organisations she consulted about amending the list of approved countries and territories which would be considered valid for applications under section 1(1)(b) of the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
I refer back to the previous answer to UIN 5635 given on 14th December.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people who have acquired Gender Recognition Certificates using section 1(1)(b) of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 have subsequently been arrested, charged or convicted in connection with any act of violent crime, including but not restricted to sexual offences.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The Home Office collects and publishes data on arrests in England and Wales, by offence group including “violence against the person” and “sexual offences”, and by sex, as part of the Police Powers and Procedures statistical bulletin, available here: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Home Office also collects and publishes data on charged/summonsed in England and Wales, by offence group including “violence against the person” and “sexual offences”, as part of the quarterly crime outcomes statistics, available here: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
However, data is not collected in either collection on whether the person holds a Gender Recognition Certificate.
The Home Office does not routinely collect data on criminal convictions. Information on criminal convictions, by offence group and sex, is collected and published by the Ministry of Justice in their Criminal justice statistics: Criminal justice statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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
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.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support community-led efforts in other countries that focus on HIV prevention, awareness, and support for key affected populations, such as sex workers, LGBTQ+ communities, and people who use drugs.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
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.
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 - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
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 - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
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 Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaboration among countries to accelerate progress toward the global goals of ending new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths by 2030.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The FCDO remains a key funder and political supporter of major multilateral organisations and global health institutions, including WHO, UNITAID, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and others, and engages closely with these partners to promote knowledge exchange and collaboration at every level to accelerate progress on the HIV epidemic. For example, we continue to invest core funding in UNAIDS which remains the global source of authoritative, comprehensive and disaggregated data and information on the global HIV epidemic. We also provide core funding to the WHO, which has recently published new guidelines on HIV, sexually transmitted infections 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.
Asked by: Baroness Barker (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to support community-led efforts in other countries that focus on HIV (1) prevention, (2) awareness, and (3) support for key affected populations, such as sex workers, LGBTQ+ communities, and people who use drugs.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Addressing stigma and discrimination and ensuring equality of access to HIV prevention, testing and treatment services is critical to the global HIV response. Our funding to the Robert Carr Fund and to UNAIDS helps to support legal and policy reform to combat stigma and discrimination and to improve access to HIV services, including prevention, awareness and support services, for key populations, particularly LGBT+ communities. The UK is a champion for human rights. Our £1 billion pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria will support its Strategy which includes focus on addressing inequities and structural drivers of HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths including legal barriers.
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 - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
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.