Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of Civil Service Fast Stream participants were allocated placements outside of London in the latest period for which information is available.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
In the Spring 2023 rotation, 30.0% of Civil Service Fast Stream participants were allocated placements outside of London.
We do not hold data for Fast Stream participants who have graduated in the last five years in respect of; home location at application stage, school type, or parental education data.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of Civil Service Fast Stream participants that have graduated from the scheme in the last five years attended (a) non-selective state schools, (b) selective state schools, (c) independent or fee-paying schools with a bursary and (d) independent or fee-paying school without a bursary.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
In the Spring 2023 rotation, 30.0% of Civil Service Fast Stream participants were allocated placements outside of London.
We do not hold data for Fast Stream participants who have graduated in the last five years in respect of; home location at application stage, school type, or parental education data.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of Civil Servants that graduated the Fast Stream in the last five years have (a) parents or (b) guardians with (i) degree-level qualifications, (ii) qualifications below degree level and (iii) no formal qualifications.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
In the Spring 2023 rotation, 30.0% of Civil Service Fast Stream participants were allocated placements outside of London.
We do not hold data for Fast Stream participants who have graduated in the last five years in respect of; home location at application stage, school type, or parental education data.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of Civil Service Fast Stream participants that have graduated from the scheme in the last five years had a home location at application stage that was (a) outside of London and (b) outside of London and the South East.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
In the Spring 2023 rotation, 30.0% of Civil Service Fast Stream participants were allocated placements outside of London.
We do not hold data for Fast Stream participants who have graduated in the last five years in respect of; home location at application stage, school type, or parental education data.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that specialties such as HIV and sexual health with tariffs are reimbursed within the Integrated care systems framework.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Where delivered by secondary healthcare providers, reimbursement of activities in specialties such as HIV and sexual health is subject to the NHS Payment Scheme rules, which is designed to support the delivery of more and better healthcare within the level of funding available. These services are funded through allocations to commissioners who agree contract values with providers who undertake the activity.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that areas of higher deprivation receive adequate support through the Integrated care systems so that they can continue to deliver preexisting HIV services.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) services are open access and any adults with a diagnosis of HIV can self-refer, regardless of United Kingdom address. Any service diagnosing HIV in adults can refer to any specialised HIV service provider. This facilitates equitable access to care.
As set out in the NHS England Roadmap, specialised HIV inpatient and outpatient services have been identified as key areas for greater integrated care systems leadership by NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs). Integrating the commissioning of HIV treatment services with ICBs, will allow local systems to simplify and strengthen HIV care pathways with other services through effective local partnerships, including in areas of higher deprivation.
The national Service Specification for Adult HIV services is also currently under review by NHS England. The Specification Working Group will ensure that the revised specification reflects any changes in practice since 2013, ensures close working with other relevant services, and is fit for purpose in the new commissioning landscape regardless of the level of deprivation in an area.
As part of the Government’s HIV Action Plan, a retention and re-engagement in care task and finish group was established in 2023. This group will provide advice on increasing the number of people retained and re-engaged in care and receiving effective medical care.
They will present their recommendations to the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group in due course, who will agree how the advice will be taken forward.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to ensure integrated care systems deliver HIV healthcare programmes.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) services are open access and any adults with a diagnosis of HIV can self-refer, regardless of United Kingdom address. Any service diagnosing HIV in adults can refer to any specialised HIV service provider. This facilitates equitable access to care.
As set out in the NHS England Roadmap, specialised HIV inpatient and outpatient services have been identified as key areas for greater integrated care systems leadership by NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs). Integrating the commissioning of HIV treatment services with ICBs, will allow local systems to simplify and strengthen HIV care pathways with other services through effective local partnerships, including in areas of higher deprivation.
The national Service Specification for Adult HIV services is also currently under review by NHS England. The Specification Working Group will ensure that the revised specification reflects any changes in practice since 2013, ensures close working with other relevant services, and is fit for purpose in the new commissioning landscape regardless of the level of deprivation in an area.
As part of the Government’s HIV Action Plan, a retention and re-engagement in care task and finish group was established in 2023. This group will provide advice on increasing the number of people retained and re-engaged in care and receiving effective medical care.
They will present their recommendations to the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group in due course, who will agree how the advice will be taken forward.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to introduce a sexual health strategy; and ensure adequate funding is in place to help reduce sexually transmitted infections.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
We are committed to improving sexual heath in England and have published our HIV Action Plan in 2021 which sets out our ambitions and actions to achieve no new HIV transmission in England by 2030. Great progress has been made during the first year of its implementation, as set out by the annual report to Parliament published on 7 June, and we are considering the next steps needed to continue improving the sexual health of the whole population.
As part of this plan, we are investing more than £3.5 million from 2021 to 2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme for England, including National HIV Testing Week and other campaigns to improve information and testing for HIV and other STIs.
Sexual health services (SHSs) play a key public health role in diagnosis, early treatment and management of STIs and we are providing more than £3.5 billion to local authorities through the public health grant to fund public health services, including SHSs, in this financial year. Individual local authorities are responsible for and well placed to make funding and commissioning decisions about the SHSs that best meet the needs of their local populations.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce HIV transmissions in rural and coastal areas.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning open access sexual and reproductive health services, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing, 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.
As part of the Government’s HIV Action Plan, a low prevalence area task and finish group was established in 2023. This group will provide evidence on HIV control strategies in low prevalence areas, including understanding the impact of rurality on systems and patients. They will present their recommendations to the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group, who will agree how the advice will be taken forward.
Asked by: Florence Eshalomi (Labour (Co-op) - Vauxhall and Camberwell Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish a Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis action plan.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
As part of our HIV Action Plan implementation, we are working together with key stakeholders to improve access to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention drug pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for key population groups. The HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group is working to develop a roadmap, based on the PrEP Access and Equity Task and Finish group’s recommendations, to help guide our efforts to improve equitable access to PrEP for key populations, including in settings other than specialist sexual health services.