Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 17 October 2023 to Question 200545 on Hepatitis and HIV Infection and to the Emergency department bloodborne virus opt-out testing: 12-month interim report 2023, published by the UK Health Security Agency on 9 November 2023, what recent progress she has made on expanding the programme to all areas with a high prevalence of HIV.

On 9 November, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published an evaluation of the first year of the bloodborne virus (BBV) opt-out testing in emergency departments in local areas with extremely high HIV prevalence. Findings show that the programme has made a significant contribution to BBV testing in England with more than half the number of tests done in the programme compared to BBV tests in other settings.

We continue to assess available evidence alongside data on progress towards our ambitions to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS- and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030 to decide on further expansion of the programme.