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 expand access to preventative HIV care beyond sexual health services.

The Government is committed to ensuring equality and equity of access to HIV prevention and treatment for all. We recognise that testing is the best way to determine your HIV status, and to ensure people can take appropriate measures to protect themselves and others from transmitting or acquiring HIV.

We are making excellent progress with the blood borne virus opt-out testing programme in the highest HIV prevalence areas, helping us reach those who do not typically engage with sexual health services. In its first 28 months, the programme has identified 1,360 undiagnosed or untreated HIV cases, and over 5,000 cases of untreated or undiagnosed hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

The Department has commissioned officials for advice on how to progress the development of a new HIV Action Plan, including content and scope, which we aim to publish by summer 2025.