Health Bill [HL]

I should like to ask a few questions about Amendment 132. As a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS, I should like to ask the Minister: why are people waiting in England for decisions about their status, or if they are waiting to be deported, denied HIV drugs? From a public health interest, why are those vulnerable people denied therapy, which would make them less infective? People with HIV/AIDS in the UK are covered by the Disability Discrimination Act. Are these individuals not classified as people? Is it not odd to treat them for TB and not HIV/AIDS if they are co-infected? Many people will not come forward with HIV because of stigma, and stigma among their own people is worse than other sorts of stigma. The present situation just makes a double stigma.