§ Mr. Andrew MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will publish the report of the working group on the monitoring and surveillance of HIV infection and AIDS; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonWe have today published the working group's report, and copies have been placed in the Library. We are grateful to Dr. Smith and to the members of the group for the very thorough work they have done.
The group has made a number of recommendations to improve existing arrangements for the reporting of test results, for studies based upon them, and for further steps to improve information about the prevalence of HIV infection and its spread. In particular, it has recommended a programme of antenatal testing, based on three large samples drawn from different parts of the country, with participation being voluntary, and provision being made for unnamed testing if an individual wished.
The Government accept all the group's recommendations in principle, and will be consulting interested bodies about their implementation. In respect of the proposal for antenatal testing, consultation will build on the experience of work already undertaken towards establishing antenatal testing in parts of Scotland, which we would seek to incorporate into the wider programme recommended by the working group.
In the Government's view, implementation of the group's recommendations will significantly improve the information needed both for planning services and for the continued development of measures to minimise the spread of the disease.
However, the Government are aware of a substantial body of opinion which believes that there is a greater likelihood of achieving these objectives through studies based on the testing of unnamed samples without specific consent—usually described as "anonymised testing"; and note that the working group itself recognises the possibility that this might in future be required. In view of this, and of the difficult ethical and legal issues associated with such testing, we consider it right that the issue should be the subject of further and wider public debate. We would welcome views by the end of August 1988.