§ 20. Sir Michael McNair-WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department is spending on AIDS education advertising.
§ Mr. MellorOur budget for the current year is £10 million; £8.7 million of this funds the work of the health education;authority, and £1.3 million has been allocated to the national AIDS helpline, which provides a free, confidential telephone advice service. We are also spending £2 million on a nationwide campaign warning of the dangers of injecting drug misuse.
§ 60. Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to give statutory force to the British Medical Association's recently issued guidelines to doctors on the disclosure of information to insurance companies about people who have undergone an HIV test.
§ Mr. FreemanI have no such plans. The Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 already contains safeguards about the disclosure of information by doctors to insurance companies.
§ 44. Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to expand community-based AIDS education programmes.
§ Mr. FreemanHealth authorities were asked in the planning guidelines circular (HC(88)43) issued last July, to develop community based prevention initiatives aimed at helping people in selected target groups to change behaviour which puts them at risk of HIV infection. We expect a total of £14 million to he spent on this work by health authorities in 1989–90. In addition, the Health Education Authority's AIDS programme includes work to reach particular target groups and to support local programmes, and a number of voluntary organisations which we support have AIDS education programmes aimed at specific sections of the population.