Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, a) what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the needs of women are reflected in national and local HIV strategies, policies and decision-making structures, b) what action his Department is taking to address evidence and data gaps relating to HIV in women, including disparities in access to HIV prevention, testing and diagnosis, and c) what measures his Department is taking to increase awareness and understanding of HIV among women.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The HIV Action Plan for England, 2025 to 2030, sets out five core priorities needed to reach our ambition to end new HIV transmissions within England by 2030. One of these priorities is to address stigma and improve the quality of life for people living with HIV, including a national action to ensure the needs of women living with HIV are considered and addressed in future work. The plan also includes an action for local partners to embed HIV awareness into wider women’s health strategies.
Furthermore, the Department is committed to increasing the awareness and understanding of HIV. We are investing £4.8 million from 2026 to 2029 in the newly procured National HIV Prevention England Programme. This programme aims to increase awareness and understanding of HIV and reduce levels of HIV related stigma, particularly for communities disproportionately affected by HIV, such as Black African heterosexual women.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will continue to publish HIV surveillance data, new HIV diagnoses, prevention, and outcome indicators, for all populations, including for women. The UKHSA has also committed to work with the voluntary and community sector to publish a specific report on HIV in women that will focus on key trends in HIV diagnoses in women, and highlight any disparities for women in relation to access to testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis, and treatment and care.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his department tracks current levels of NHS app usage across different patient groups.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
We track current levels of NHS App usage through the NHS App Management Information monthly publication. This is broken down by integrated care board and region, rather than demographic or patient group.
Future work will explore how to get more detailed data from the NHS App and use it to support decision-making.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to support research and funding for treatments for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The Government is committed to funding high-quality research to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation, are working together to address the actions for research outlined in the ME/CFS Final Delivery Plan. Two projects have recently received funding to investigate the feasibility of a new clinical trial that tests multiple interventions for the treatment of post-acute infection syndromes, including Long Covid and ME/CFS. In addition, £4.75 million of Government funding has been provided to SequenceME, which will create the first high-resolution genetic map of the condition, paving the way to future diagnostics and treatments. To support research capacity building, the MRC has provided £845,000 to researchers at the University of Edinburgh towards PRIME, a new partnership award that aims to build infrastructure to enable ME/CFS biomedical research, and support is available to researchers to develop competitive funding applications from the NIHR’s Research Support Service.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is his department taking to support new graduate dieticians into work.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.
The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we are working closely with NHS England, employers, and educators to improve transition into the workforce.