Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that funding for HIV (a) testing and (b) prevention is not allocated from funding for HIV care.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment and care, including its funding, fall under NHS England’s responsibility. The main funding for HIV testing and prevention is provided to local authorities in England through the public health grant, funded at £3.5 billion in 2023/24, through which they are mandated to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual health services, including free and confidential HIV testing, and provision of the HIV prevention drug PrEP. 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.

This is further supported by national initiatives under the Government’s HIV Action Plan. As part of the Plan, NHS England is investing £20 million over three years to implement opt-out HIV testing in Emergency Departments in local areas with extremely high HIV prevalence. This funding was not allocated from funding for HIV care. The Department is also investing over £3.5 million from 2021 to 2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme, to work alongside local prevention activities by developing resources for populations most affected by HIV.