Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department has provided for research and development into a (a) cure and (b) vaccine for HIV in each year since 2019.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department supports research on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The remit of the NIHR is translational, clinical, and applied healthcare research. Basic research towards the development of a novel cure or vaccine for HIV is supported by other research funders such as the Medical Research Council. The NIHR has awarded over £10 million of funding since 2019 for research to evaluate new HIV treatments. The below table shoes the specific NIHR spend on HIV treatments, for each financial year since 2019:
Year | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | Total |
NIHR spend | £3,260,413 | £1,884,962 | £1,299,676 | £2,377,284 | £1,209,822 | £10,032,156 |
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department plans to provide for research and development into HIV in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial year.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department supports research and development on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). For the financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26, the Government has committed to a new £20 million research project to evaluate an expansion of HIV opt-out testing, in 47 emergency departments in England where HIV prevalence is high.
However, NIHR funding awarded for HIV projects varies depending on the volume and quality of applications received and approved via open competition, which means overall NIHR funding for HIV research in the financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26 is not yet known. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including HIV.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on how much local authorities spent on sexual health services in (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019, (d) 2020, (e) 2021, (f) 2022 and (g) 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows how much local authorities have reported spending on sexual health services, including testing and treatment, contraception and sexual health advice, and prevention and promotion, each financial year from 2017 to 2023:
Financial Year | Spend |
2017/18 | £572,054,000 |
2018/19 | £555,906,000 |
2019/20 | £539,484,000 |
2020/21 | £507,167,000 |
2021/22 | £530,595,000 |
2022/23 | £546,928,000 |
Source: Data has come from annual published local authority revenue expenditure which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive open access to most sexual health services. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and to commission and evaluate the service lines that best suit their population, including online and in-person provision.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what change there has been in the rate of sexually transmitted infections since 2012.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The total rate of new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) decreased from 844.8 per 100,000 in 2013 to 764.4 per 100,000 in 2017. The rate increased in 2018 and 2019, to 801.7 per 100,000 and 831.9 per 100,000 respectively, before falling in 2020 to 550.8 per 100,000. The rate has been increasing since 2021 and 2022, to 560.7 per 100,000 and 694.2 per 100,000 respectively. A table showing the STI diagnosis numbers and rates in England, each year from 2013 to 2022, is attached.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS sexual health consultants were there in England in (a) 2017 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information about the total number of staff delivering sexual health services in the National Health Service. However, the table below shows the number of full-time equivalent consultants working in sexual health specialties in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England, as of October 2017 and October 2023:
Specialty | October 2017 | October 2023 |
Consultants Working in Community Sexual and Reproductive Health | 83 | 135 |
Consultants Working in Genito-Urinary Medicine | 268 | 241 |
Source: Data is drawn from the monthly NHS workforce statistics published by NHS England.
Notes: Data excludes staff directly employed by general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers. This is relevant as local authorities are responsible for commissioning most sexual health services and some will be commissioned from bodies outside of NHS trusts, of which the Department holds no staffing information.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff worked in sexual health services in (a) 2017 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information about the total number of staff delivering sexual health services in the National Health Service. However, the table below shows the number of full-time equivalent consultants working in sexual health specialties in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England, as of October 2017 and October 2023:
Specialty | October 2017 | October 2023 |
Consultants Working in Community Sexual and Reproductive Health | 83 | 135 |
Consultants Working in Genito-Urinary Medicine | 268 | 241 |
Source: Data is drawn from the monthly NHS workforce statistics published by NHS England.
Notes: Data excludes staff directly employed by general practitioner surgeries, local authorities, and other providers such as community interest companies and private providers. This is relevant as local authorities are responsible for commissioning most sexual health services and some will be commissioned from bodies outside of NHS trusts, of which the Department holds no staffing information.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate she has made of when the HIV action plan implementation steering group will publish its PrEP roadmap.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The roadmap to help guide our efforts to improve equitable access, uptake and use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is now expected to be made available in early 2024.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of (a) men who have sex with men, (b) women, (c) Black men and (d) Black women that were accessing PrEP in England in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iii) 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data for 2023 is not yet available and is to be published in autumn of 2024. The following table shows the number of people in 2021 and 2022 who initiated or continued HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) at sexual health services (SHSs) in England in the past two years for the demographic groups requested, as well as the proportion among those with HIV PrEP need:
| 2021 | 2022 |
England | 61,510 (69.7%) | 86,324(71.0%) |
Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men | 51,689 (72.2%) | 72,457 (73.5%) |
Women | 1,237 (31.5%) | 2,467 (41.9%) |
Black men (black African, black Caribbean and black other categories) | 2,408 (61.7%) | 2,986 (61.7%) |
Black women (black African, black Caribbean and black other categories) | 80 (19.0%) | 175 (30.2%) |
More data is available at the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-annual-data-tables
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much her Department spent on PrEP in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is extremely effective at preventing HIV, and oral PrEP is routinely available in specialist sexual health services (SHSs) since 2020.
Routine HIV PrEP services are commissioned by local authorities through the public health grant (PHG) which covers a wide range of public health services, including HIV PrEP and other SHSs. HIV PrEP medication is provided by NHS England and funded through the Department’s overall budget allocation to NHS England.
The Department provided £11 million in 2020/21 and more than £23 million in 2021/22 through the PHG for routine commissioning of PrEP services. From 2022/23, funding for PrEP services has been fully included within the PHG.
The Department allocated more than £3.4 billion to local authorities in England to fund public health services through the PHG in in 2022/23 and more than £3.5 billion in 2023/24.
Individual local authorities decide on spending priorities and commissioning of SHSs, including HIV PrEP services, based on an assessment of local need and the type of services that best suit their population and which may include activities to raise awareness of HIV PrEP.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department is investing over £3.5 million from 2021-2024 to deliver HIV Prevention England (HPE), which aims to improve knowledge of HIV, including evidence-based prevention interventions such as PrEP, and reduce stigma within affected communities. HPE is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas of high HIV prevalence and for communities at significant risk of HIV.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department provided for educational programmes to inform people at high risk of acquiring HIV about PrEP in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is extremely effective at preventing HIV, and oral PrEP is routinely available in specialist sexual health services (SHSs) since 2020.
Routine HIV PrEP services are commissioned by local authorities through the public health grant (PHG) which covers a wide range of public health services, including HIV PrEP and other SHSs. HIV PrEP medication is provided by NHS England and funded through the Department’s overall budget allocation to NHS England.
The Department provided £11 million in 2020/21 and more than £23 million in 2021/22 through the PHG for routine commissioning of PrEP services. From 2022/23, funding for PrEP services has been fully included within the PHG.
The Department allocated more than £3.4 billion to local authorities in England to fund public health services through the PHG in in 2022/23 and more than £3.5 billion in 2023/24.
Individual local authorities decide on spending priorities and commissioning of SHSs, including HIV PrEP services, based on an assessment of local need and the type of services that best suit their population and which may include activities to raise awareness of HIV PrEP.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department is investing over £3.5 million from 2021-2024 to deliver HIV Prevention England (HPE), which aims to improve knowledge of HIV, including evidence-based prevention interventions such as PrEP, and reduce stigma within affected communities. HPE is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas of high HIV prevalence and for communities at significant risk of HIV.