Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to protect public policy being influenced by the commercial interests of the tobacco industry.
Answered by Lord Markham
The Government takes obligations to protect public policy from the commercial interests of the tobacco industry under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control very seriously. The ‘Guidance for government engagement with the tobacco industry’ was published on 19 June 2023 to support Government Departments and public bodies to adhere to Article 5.3 and remind them of their commitments. This document builds on established measures that the Department has put in place internally to limit interactions with the tobacco industry and ensure the transparency of the interactions that do occur. A copy is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take together with NHS England to ensure that children currently in receipt of the NHS Special Schools Eye Care Service who attend day special schools will continue to access the service to meet their needs.
Answered by Lord Markham
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.
NHS England are currently considering the evaluation of this special school programme, to determine how services to meet the eye care needs of children with learning disabilities in school settings should be commissioned and will set out next steps shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when the independent evaluation of the NHS Special Schools Eye Care Service will be made publicly available
Answered by Lord Markham
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. To fulfil that commitment, NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021, piloting sight testing and the dispensing of glasses in special schools.
NHS England are currently considering the evaluation of this special school programme, to determine how services to meet the eye care needs of children with learning disabilities in school settings should be commissioned and will set out next steps shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of hospice beds that have been lost due to shortfalls in the funding through integrated care boards and where no alternative provision has been made by local NHS providers.
Answered by Lord Markham
No specific assessment has been made. Palliative and end of life care is commissioned at a local level by integrated care boards (ICBs) in response to the needs of their local population. NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications to support ICBs in commissioning a range of palliative and end of life services, including inpatient beds, that meet local needs and preferences.
In addition, NHS England has funded the establishment of a palliative and end of life care Strategic Clinical Network in every NHS England region to work closely with local commissioners on the development of accessible, high quality and sustainable services.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that integrated care boards fulfil their obligations under the Health and Care Act 2022 to provide palliative care services to meet the needs of their population.
Answered by Lord Markham
NHS England has actively increased its support to local commissioners to improve the accessibility, quality and sustainability of palliative and end of life care for all. This has included the publication of statutory guidance and service specifications, with further resources available on the FutureNHS Collaboration Platform. Copies of these documents are attached.
In addition, NHS England has funded the establishment of a palliative and end of life care Strategic Clinical Network in every NHS England region, which work closely with local commissioners regarding the development of accessible, high quality and sustainable services.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Maldives will be granted the same trade agreement as other Commonwealth Small Island States and no longer be charged 20 per cent tax on fish exports to the UK from their sustainable tuna line fishing; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Lainston
The UK currently applies the UK Global Tariff of 20% to imports of tuna from the Maldives. This rate is also applied to imports from all other trading partners where preferential arrangements are not in place.
The Government continues to explore pragmatic opportunities to enhance bilateral trade relations with the Maldives in areas of mutual interest, including fishing.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much income the Exchequer received in (1) 2021, and (2) 2022, from import duty of food from the Maldives’ sustainable tuna line fishing industry.
Answered by Baroness Penn
HMRC does not hold the information requested.
Traders pay customs duty and import VAT based on calculated liabilities for goods, either immediately or on a monthly basis via duty deferment accounts. Also, VAT-registered businesses can account for import VAT on their VAT Return by using postponed VAT accounting. The subsequent revenue collected is not recorded on a product or sector basis and thus no breakdown by product or country of origin is held. This is because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level within their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce health and social care workforce sickness absence.
Answered by Lord Markham
Local National Health Service leaders have been asked to consider the health and wellbeing of all staff as a priority and establish a preventive approach to health and wellbeing. A national growing occupational health and wellbeing programme has been launched to ensure a preventive, organisation-wide approach to health and wellbeing. In addition, all NHS staff have access to a free confidential text service and to the online Headspace and Unmind platforms until 31 December 2023.
The NHS sickness absence toolkit provides advice to managers to support staff to return to work, including considering reasonable adjustments and discussing the direct causes of absence. For winter 2022/23, NHS organisations will support staff to prevent the transmission of respiratory illnesses and all frontline healthcare workers will be offered free COVID-19 and flu vaccines.
The majority of care workers are employed by private sector providers which set pay and terms and conditions, independently of central Government. We are encouraging adult social care providers to invest in mental health and wellbeing services for staff. We will continue to work with the sector to ensure that wellbeing resources and best practice advice are available.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to maintain the UK’s international leadership on tackling antimicrobial resistance by building on the momentum generated by the UK’s G7 presidency in 2021.
Answered by Lord Markham
We continue to work with G7 partners to implement commitments made on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including those secured during the United Kingdom’s 2021 presidency. The UK Special Envoy on AMR, Professor Dame Sally Davies, also recently attended the Third High-level Ministerial Conference on AMR in Oman. In November 2022, the Government issued a call for evidence to seek expert contributions to the next five-year AMR national action plan, which has been shared with international counterparts.
Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of additional market incentive options to encourage industry and others to fund research and trials for new antibiotics, including those used to treat chronic lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis.
Answered by Lord Markham
In July 2019, a pilot was launched to develop and test a ‘subscription-style’ evaluation and payment model for antibiotics in England, which would pay pharmaceutical companies for access to antibiotics based on the value to the National Health Service, rather than the volume used. This model aims to incentivise pharmaceutical companies to develop new, novel antimicrobials which can be used appropriately, including those to treat chronic lung disease in people with cystic fibrosis.
Payments from NHS England to two pharmaceutical companies involved in the pilot commenced on 1 July 2022. Officials are considering how the new frameworks for the evaluation and payment of new antimicrobials can be developed, including through consultation with domestic and international stakeholders. The consultation process will continue until spring 2023.
Findings from the pilot have been shared online via the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and at international conferences. The Government has also advocated for such models internationally, including during the United Kingdom’s G7 Presidency in 2021, to jointly explore incentives to bring new antimicrobials to market.