Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what timeframe they will (1) assess the first year of opt-out HIV and hepatitis testing, and (2) decide whether to expand opt-out testing to areas with a high HIV prevalence.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will publish the reports for the first year of opt-out human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and blood borne virus testing, including hepatitis, in 2023. When examining the feasibility of further expanding HIV opt-out testing to areas of high prevalence, we will be considering these results and assess its contribution to finding cases of undiagnosed or untreated HIV and preventing further HIV transmissions in the areas it is currently being rolled out. We will also take into account data on progress towards our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions, acquired immune deficiency syndrome and HIV related deaths within England by 2030, including the estimated number of people living with undiagnosed HIV, published regularly by UKHSA through the HIV Action Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the costs and benefits of funding HIV and hepatitis testing in emergency departments.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will publish the reports for the first year of opt-out human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and blood borne virus testing, including hepatitis, in 2023. When examining the feasibility of further expanding HIV opt-out testing to areas of high prevalence, we will be considering these results and assess its contribution to finding cases of undiagnosed or untreated HIV and preventing further HIV transmissions in the areas it is currently being rolled out. We will also take into account data on progress towards our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions, acquired immune deficiency syndrome and HIV related deaths within England by 2030, including the estimated number of people living with undiagnosed HIV, published regularly by UKHSA through the HIV Action Plan Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase awareness of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
NHS England’s ‘Help Us, Help You’ campaign seeks to address the barriers which may deter patients from seeking advice for potential symptoms of cancer, such as pancreatic cancer. A campaign focusing on abdominal and urological symptoms launched on 31 October 2022 and addresses symptoms of pancreatic cancer.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect to publish their 10 Year Cancer Plan.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Following a call for evidence for a new cancer plan earlier this year, we received more than 5,000 responses. Further information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist on 5 October (HL2070), who is responsible for collating information and statistics about the testing of prisoners for HIV in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Data on HIV testing is collected through the Health and Justice Indicators of Performance. NHS England’s health and justice commissioning teams receive the data from providers which is collated at regional and national levels.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current supplies of vaccines for Monkeypox; and whether they are anticipating any future supply problems.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Over 150,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine have been procured with the final deliveries of vaccine expected by the end of October 2022.
As endorsed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) expert advice is to offer two vaccine doses to a defined high-risk cohort of 111,000 individuals in the United Kingdom. Since August 2022, the use of safe and equally effective fractional dosing allows one vial of vaccine to provide three doses. This is the default method of vaccination in some areas of the country.
The UKHSA has procured sufficient vaccine to deliver the current vaccination strategy in full and is monitoring the occurrence, distribution and control of monkeypox.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners in England and Wales have tested positive for HIV while in prison in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Black of Brentwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many new donors who identify as MSM (men who have sex with men) have (1) registered to donate, or (2) donated, blood since the introduction of the current individualised risk-based policy of blood donation.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not collected. The work of the For Assessment of Individualised Risk steering group and subsequent policy change was carried out to improve inclusivity in the blood donor selection criteria so that more people could be eligible to donate based on their health, travel and sexual behaviour.