Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and (b) voluntary sector organisations on the implementation of the forthcoming Civil Society Covenant in relation to the next HIV Action Plan for England.

While not specifically in relation to the Civil Society Covenant, Department of Health and Social Care officials have engaged with officials from across the Government, including at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, to align resources and efforts across the Government in relation to the next HIV Action Plan for England.

Collaboration is at the core of the next action plan, which we aim to publish this year, and we are therefore engaging a wide range of system partners in its development, including people with lived experience, the voluntary and community sector (VCS), professional bodies, and local partners, amongst others.

We recently hosted engagement sessions with approximately 60 VCS and external partners to discuss what the next action plan should look like, though the Civil Society Covenant has not been discussed specifically. Professor Kevin Fenton, the Government’s Chief Advisor on HIV, has also hosted a series of engagement workshops, with approximately 250 system partners, including the VCS, industry, primary care, and integrated care board colleagues, to inform our plan.