Found: The Parliamentary Under– Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Baroness Merron, at Committee

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the comments from Baroness Merron regarding the five-fold increase in use of non-cigarette tobacco (HL Deb Col 741) what data they have that show the specific contribution that handmade cigars have made to the increase in use of non-cigarette tobacco products.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Tobacco is the single most important, entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability, and death in this country, and is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom each year. There is no safe level of tobacco consumption. All tobacco products are harmful. We know that the tobacco smoke from cigars leads to the same type of diseases as the smoke from cigarettes.

A paper by Dr Sarah E Jackson, Dr Lion Shahab, and Dr Jamie Brown titled Trends in Exclusive Non-Cigarette Tobacco Smoking in England: A Population Survey 2013–2023 found that there are approximately five times more people exclusively smoking non-cigarette tobacco in England now than there were a decade ago, with the greatest increase seen in young adults. The products include cigars, pipes, shisha, and cigarillos. The data does not provide precise statistics for handmade cigars, and we do not hold the other detailed information on handmade cigars.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 17 March (HL5423), what plans they have to treat or cure the estimated 1.8 million people suffering from long Covid in the period to March 2024 and those additional people who have contracted the disease since that date.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has invested £314 million since the start of the pandemic to provide care and support for people with long COVID. This includes establishing specialist clinics throughout England to assess adults, children, and young people who are experiencing long-term effects due to COVID-19 infection. A further £86.7 million of funding was included in integrated care board core allocations for 2024/25, and specific regional funding was also allocated for assurance and system support.

To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to develop a new Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice and to support people affected by long COVID. Further information on the Clinical Post-COVID Society is available on their website, in an online only format.

Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Council, we have invested over £57 million on research into long COVID, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The funded projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 14 May (HL7332), whether they plan to explore establishing contractual provisions for community pharmacies to support delivery of the childhood flu national immunisation programme.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England has identified key opportunities to further improve uptake, which include strengthening the childhood vaccination offer by exploring the use of other providers to enhance convenience, including community pharmacies. This work is ongoing in collaboration with the Department, NHS England, and key stakeholders.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 14 May (HL7332), what steps they are taking to increase the role of health visitors in delivering vaccinations.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

To increase the role of health visitors in delivering vaccinations, we are piloting the delivery of childhood vaccinations during health visits from 2025/26. This aims to improve access for families who may face challenges attending general practice appointments, helping to increase uptake and reduce barriers to vaccinations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 10 March (HL5426), which of the research studies relating to long Covid are still running; and how much they are planning to spend in this financial year to treat or cure the symptoms of long Covid.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) have dedicated funding to research into treatment options, clinical trials, and to understanding the underlying mechanisms of long COVID. The overall Government investment in long COVID research is over £57 million. Government research funders welcome applications for funding for long COVID research.

Of the research studies identified in the answer for HL5426, four are ongoing and have expected spend in this financial year, namely: STIMULATE-ICP; PHOSP-COVID; Percutaneous Auricular Nerve Stimulation for Treating Post-COVID Fatigue; and Online cognitive training for people with cognitive impairment following SARS-CoV-2 infection. The total budget for these studies is over £15 million, but spend in this financial year is not yet confirmed, as it depends on the progress of the studies.

No specific assessment has been made of the progress of United Kingdom-based researchers on finding methods to treat the symptoms of long COVID. The UK has a strong track record of developing and evaluating new treatments for COVID-19 through randomised control trials. In November 2020, the NIHR and UKRI launched their first call for research proposals on long COVID and subsequently funded the treatments for long COVID. In 2021, the NIHR funded the STIMULATE-ICP study as the largest trial for long COVID treatments at the time. This study is still ongoing, and emerging findings will be shared with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. The NIHR Innovation Observatory has undertaken a rapid horizon scan to identify repurposed medicines in clinical development for the treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, as well as related conditions such as long COVID and fibromyalgia. The horizon scan focused on medicines with a UK licence that are in phase two or three clinical trials, with trial registration dates from 2020 onwards.

Unfortunately, no study globally has identified a cure for long COVID. The REGAIN study became the first randomised trial to show a benefit from rehabilitation for people with long COVID, and the first high quality evidence confirming the sustained clinical benefit and lack of harm from rehabilitation programmes for long COVID. The NIHR provided £1.5 million towards this trial, which combined exercise with behavioural support, to measure their effects on symptoms, health, and other outcomes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Merron on 23 April (HL Deb col 741), what evidence is there that "There are around five times more people smoking non-cigarette tobacco, such as cigars, than a decade ago"; and what are the precise statistics for different categories of non-cigarette, including hand-made cigars, machine-made cigars, pipe tobacco and shisha, within that statement.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Tobacco is the single most important entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability, and death in this country, and is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom each year. There is no safe level of tobacco consumption. All tobacco products are harmful.

A paper by Dr Sarah E Jackson, Dr Lion Shahab, and Dr Jamie Brown titled Trends in Exclusive Non-Cigarette Tobacco Smoking in England: A Population Survey 2013–2023 provides the evidence behind the statement on other tobacco products. The available data does not provide the precise statistics for the different categories of other tobacco products.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 10 February, what steps they are taking to reduce expenditure and staff time spent on diversity schemes in the NHS.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Taxpayers rightly expect value for money from the funding that is spent in the National Health Service.

The NHS and the Department’s arms-length bodies are continually expected to review their expenditure with a view to finding efficiency savings and ensuring value for money for the public purse.

Equality and diversity initiatives that exist within the NHS focus on targeting health inequalities as well as addressing the abuse and discrimination that some NHS staff face in the workplace. They also help NHS organisations comply with legal requirements set out for public bodies in the Equality Act 2010, and the public sector equality duty.

Found: Answering member: Baroness Merron | Department: Department of Health and Social Care It is a legal

Found: Baroness Merron wrote to the Lords with more information on this.152 Clause 6: Grounds for community

Found: Baroness Merron wrote to the Lords with more information on this.152 Clause 6: Grounds for community

Found: Letter from Baroness Merron to Lords regarding cases that go to the County Court in relation to termination

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Found: Baroness Merron Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Patient Safety, Women’s Health and Mental

Found: accessed January 2025. 6 National Guardian’s Office Annual Report 2023/24 Ministerial Foreword Baroness Merron

Found: Letter dated 21/05/2025 from Baroness Merron to Lords regarding points raised the debate on the Medical