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 Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is providing support to (a) the HIV Justice Network and (b) other organisations working to repeal HIV-specific laws globally.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Addressing stigma, discrimination and criminalisation is critical to ensuring equality of access to HIV prevention, testing and treatment services and to achieving progress in the global HIV response.
The UK is a champion of human rights around the world and we are committed to the principle of non-discrimination on any grounds, including on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The UK's network of over 280 Diplomatic Missions monitor human rights in host countries.
At the UN High Level Meeting on HIV in June 2021, the UK worked hard to secure the highest level of commitment from our global partners and garner support for the ambitious, rights-based Global AIDS Strategy 2021-2026, so the world has the best chance of meeting the 2030 goal to end AIDS. We also endorse the Global Fund's 2023-2028 Strategy, with a focus on addressing inequities and structural drivers of HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths including barriers to services due to stigma, discrimination and criminalisation.
Our funding to the Robert Carr Fund and to UNAIDS helps to support legal and policy reform to combat stigma, discrimination and criminalisation, and to improve access to HIV services for those most at risk, as well as supporting civil society and grassroots organisations to challenge harmful policies and attitudes that exclude minorities and put them at greater risk of HIV infection and increase access to services for these groups.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help encourage the repeal of HIV specific laws in the 20 jurisdictions in the Commonwealth that still have them.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Addressing stigma, discrimination and criminalisation is critical to ensuring equality of access to HIV prevention, testing and treatment services and to achieving progress in the global HIV response.
The UK is a champion of human rights around the world and we are committed to the principle of non-discrimination on any grounds, including on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The UK's network of over 280 Diplomatic Missions monitor human rights in host countries.
At the UN High Level Meeting on HIV in June 2021, the UK worked hard to secure the highest level of commitment from our global partners and garner support for the ambitious, rights-based Global AIDS Strategy 2021-2026, so the world has the best chance of meeting the 2030 goal to end AIDS. We also endorse the Global Fund's 2023-2028 Strategy, with a focus on addressing inequities and structural drivers of HIV infection and AIDS-related deaths including barriers to services due to stigma, discrimination and criminalisation.
Our funding to the Robert Carr Fund and to UNAIDS helps to support legal and policy reform to combat stigma, discrimination and criminalisation, and to improve access to HIV services for those most at risk, as well as supporting civil society and grassroots organisations to challenge harmful policies and attitudes that exclude minorities and put them at greater risk of HIV infection and increase access to services for these groups.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to paragraphs 7.16 and 7.17 of the Ministerial Code, on how many occasions Ministers in his Department have informed the Law Officers that they are the defendants in a libel action in (a) their personal capacity, (b) their official position and (c) both since 19 December 2019.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
I refer the Hon Member to paragraph 2.13 of the Ministerial Code which states: “The fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority”.
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 for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Department’s call for views on new local authority capital flexibilities published on 19 December 2023, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the listed options in that publication on sales of local authority assets that are not classified under IAS 40.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government does not collect data on individual local authority assets, including investment assets. Details of these assets should be held locally by councils.