AIDS (Hansard, 9 February 1988)

§ 15. Mr. Yeo
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services when he will announce the Government's response to the recommendations of the working group under Dr. Joe Smith concerning ways in which the surveillance of the AIDS epidemic can be improved.

§ Mr. Frank Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services when he will publish and when he expects to reach a decision on the recommendation of the working group chaired by the director of the public health laboratory service on ways in which the surveillance of the AIDS epidemic could be improved.

§ Mr. Newton
We have recently received the report of the expert group chaired by Dr. Joe Smith and are carefully considering its recommendations. We plan to publish it in the near future so that we can take account of the views of those concerned.
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§ Mr. Andrew Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what help he will give to local authorities towards the cost of personal social services provided for people with AIDS; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Newton
The Government's reply to the report of the Social Services Committee on problems associated with AIDS (Cm. 297) stresses the importance of provision of care and treatment in the community for people who have HIV-related illness and AIDS. That requires good community support services. The demand for such services is at present heavily concentrated in a few local authority areas in inner London.
For 1988–89 we have decided to make available additional joint finance of £2 million for those inner London boroughs. In allocating this sum, we shall take account of the need for personal support services for people with AIDS resident in these boroughs and the services which local authorities are providing or plan to provide. Details of the arrangements which will apply are being sent to the authorities concerned.
The number of people with AIDS who need personal social services will continue to grow and we are currently considering longer-term financial approaches with the local authority associations.