Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the HIV Action Plan will measure progress in ending new HIV transmission against 2019 levels.

The HIV Action Plan is due to be published on 1 December 2021. The Plan will be followed by a monitoring and evaluation framework to be published in 2022, which will measure progress in ending new HIV transmission against 2019 levels.

Local Government action on HIV testing and prevention is funded through the ring-fenced Public Health Grant. It was announced in the Spending Review that the Public Health Grant will be maintained in real terms for 2022/25. We will continue to invest in pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) through the Grant, with £11 million provided in 2020/21 and £23.4 million in 2021/22. We will set out our plans to expand the settings in which PrEP might be made available outside of sexual health services in the HIV Action Plan.