The HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact trial that began in October 2017 was funded by NHS England to recruit 10,000 participants over a three-year study period. In 2018, the allocation of places was increased to 13,000 to take account of a surge in people taking part. On 30 January, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced that the PrEP Impact trial would be expanded to 26,000 places. Work is underway with partners to take this forward. The PrEP Oversight Board has requested information on local capacity to make the additional places available and will review this shortly. After assessing their capacity to utilise any extra places, investigators in each site, including those in Blackpool, can request additional trial places.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4067", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Steve Brine"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Winchester"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Steve Brine"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-02-27", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-02-27T16:16:50.147Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "17"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-02-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "HIV Infection: Drugs"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government's commitment to double the number of places available for men on the PrEP Impact Trial will be rolled out at the Whitegate Health Centre in Blackpool.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/465", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Gordon Marsden"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Blackpool South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Gordon Marsden"} ], "uin" : "223523"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/771515", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department of Health"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/771515/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
No assessment has been made on this specific issue. The Government is investing over £16 billion over the Spending Review period for local authorities (LAs) to spend on public health. LAs are responsible for making decisions on how to spend their local allocation but the public health grant conditions make it clear that they must have regard for the need to improve the take up of, and outcomes from, their drug and alcohol misuse treatment services.<\/p>
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Public Health England (PHE) led an inquiry last year into the rises in drug-related deaths. The report of the expert working group convened by PHE concluded that the reasons behind the increase in drug-related deaths are multiple and complex. However, the recent rise has likely been caused \u2013 at least in part \u2013 by an increase in the availability of heroin, following a fall in deaths during a period when heroin purity and availability was significantly reduced.<\/p>
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The longer-term upward trend in drug-related deaths is largely caused by an ageing cohort of heroin users, many of whom started to use heroin in the 1980s and 90s, who are now experiencing cumulative physical and mental health conditions that make them more susceptible to overdose.<\/p>
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The inquiry report was published in September 2016 and is available at:<\/p>