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 (a) reduce new hepatitis C virus infections and (b) support local authorities' efforts to tackle that transmission of that virus, such as needle and syringe programmes.

NHS England and NHS Improvement delivers the Hepatitis C Elimination Programme in England, working towards elimination by 2025.

Since 2015/16, the National Health Service has treated 65,000 people with hepatitis C. In addition, a cross-Government Prevention and Harm Reduction Working Group has been established to develop a national process to identify and reduce reinfection amongst those already treated. NHS England and NHS Improvement provide local authorities with guidance on the provision of syringes, harm reduction messaging and encourages testing and treatment. NHS England and NHS Improvement also commissions community pharmacies to contact and conduct screening for injectors identified via their needle exchange programme.