Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their policy paper 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth: summary of the heads of agreement, published on 20 November 2023, what assessment they have made of any potential detrimental impact on women's health if the tax on the contraceptive implant Nexplanon is increased to 35 per cent.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth (VPAG) introduces a new way of controlling the cost of older medicines that is explicitly pro-innovation and pro-competition. We do not anticipate this resulting in a detrimental impact on women's health or, given the available mitigations, on the supply of medicines.
Medicines for women’s health will be subject to the VPAG in the same way that all other medicines are. They will be subject to the top up payment percentage only when they have not seen a sufficient price decline since the active substance lost market exclusivity.
In exceptional circumstances, where a product would otherwise be uneconomic to supply, companies can apply to the Department for a price increase or for an adjustment to the top up payment percentage that applies.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, ahead of the 30-year review of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action, what progress they have made since 1994 on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the UK.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are proud of the United Kingdom’s progress regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the last thirty years and of our country’s leadership as the top performing country in SRHR policies according to the European Combined SRHR Ranking Atlas 2020-2023.
In Great Britain, women have access to safe, regulated National Health Service-funded termination of pregnancy services under the Abortion Act 1967. Abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland through the introduction of the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc.) Act 2019. Health is devolved in the UK, and progress on SRHR in England has included several areas of SRHR.
Contraception plays a vital role in preventing unintended pregnancy and a wide range of contraceptive choices are available free of charge in a range of primary and community care venues in England, including through the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service since April 2023. The conception rate amongst women under 18 years old in England is now lower than it was twenty years ago and has more than halved between 2011 and 2021. The conception rate for those aged under 16 years old is approximately a third of what it was 10 years ago.
The 2022 Women’s Health Strategy for England sets out our plans for boosting the health and wellbeing of women and girls, and for improving how the health and care system engages and listens to all women. This includes investing £25 million in women’s health hubs to improve women’s access to essential services for menstrual problems, contraception, menopause care and more.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive open access to most sexual health services (SHSs) through the public health grant funded at £3.5 billion in 2023/24. Individual local authorities are well placed to make funding and commissioning decisions about the SHSs that best meet the needs of their local populations. This includes oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, which has been routinely available in specialist SHSs since 2020.
The National Chlamydia Screening Programme focuses on reducing reproductive harm of untreated infection in young women aged 15 to 24 years old. The programme has the secondary aims of reducing re-infections and onward transmission of chlamydia and raising awareness of good sexual health.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common sexually transmitted infection, and some types can cause genital warts or cervical cancer. The national HPV vaccination programme was introduced for girls in September 2008 and extended to eligible boys in September 2019. In 2022, genital warts diagnoses among young women aged between 15 and 17 years old attending SHSs were 67.9% lower than in 2018.
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach in England to drive forward progress and achieve our goal to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030 backed by almost £45m over 2020-2025. We continue to celebrate the progress made from 2019 when the Government first made its HIV commitments, with approximately 4,500 people living with undiagnosed HIV and extremely high levels of antiretroviral therapy coverage and viral suppression.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 13 October (HL2369), how many dengue fever infections there were in the UK in (1) 2020, and (2) 2021, based on data held by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in (a) England, (b) Wales, and (c) Northern Ireland, comprised of laboratory reports from the UKHSA’s Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory at Porton Down.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of imported cases of dengue cases reported by the UK Health Security Agency’s Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory at Porton Down in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2020 and 2021.
| 2020 | 2021 |
England | 101 | 93 |
Wales | 1 | 1 |
Northern Ireland | 0 | 1 |
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 13 October (HL2369), what measures they have in place to monitor for an increase in dengue fever cases; how many cases would be sufficient to warrant further investigation; and what such investigations may involve.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dengue fever cases reported in the United Kingdom have been acquired as a result of travelling to endemic areas, such as South and South East Asia, South and Central America, Africa and the Caribbean. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) advises health professionals to be alert to the possibility of dengue fever in returning travellers. Where a case is suspected, health professionals should contact the UKHSA’s Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory for advice and diagnosis.
There is no pre-determined threshold for the number of cases which would warrant a response. Laboratory clinical and epidemiological teams monitor changes in the pattern of diagnosis and respond as appropriate, such as updating current advice for travellers and the National Health Service, increasing diagnostic testing and reporting in accordance with international health regulations. The UKHSA also works with local authorities, port health and the Animal and Plant Health Agency to monitor points of entry for the invasive mosquito species currently implicated in local cases of dengue in France.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 13 October (HL2370), whether the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will provide an update on the progress made in the areas of mutual interest for cooperation under its Memorandum of Understanding with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on matters of communicable diseases prevention and control.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
These discussions are continuing. However, the United Kingdom has a nominated EpiPulse Focal Point to oversee and manage access as a non-European Union country within the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s (ECDC) co-operation framework. EpiPulse was launched on 22 June 2021 and integrates several surveillance systems, provides new functionalities and access to data in a single platform. The platform facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration and connects users from different sectors through which the ECDC aims to strengthen the prevention and control of infectious diseases by enhancing early threat detection and assessment.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what data they hold on the (1) incidence, and (2) impact, of dengue fever on different demographic groups in the UK.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dengue case numbers in the United Kingdom were provided annually to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control until 2019, which is the most recent data available. This information showed there were 827 dengue cases in the UK in 2019.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) holds data on dengue infections in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, comprised of laboratory reports from the UKHSA’s Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory at Porton Down. However, the UKHSA does not routinely receive information on outcomes and clinical details, including information on symptoms, deaths and risk groups for these cases. In the event of an apparent increase in dengue cases, the UKHSA would undertake additional investigations.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they are still (1) engaged with, and (2) submitting reports to, the memorandum of understanding on communicable diseases agreed with the European Centre for Disease Control on 1 December 2021.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Future cooperation with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was included in the United Kingdom’s mandate for the future relationship with the European Union and reference was included in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. On 1 December 2021, the Director of the ECDC and the Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen the collaboration between the ECDC and the UK on matters of communicable disease prevention and control.
Conversations about the future relationship with the ECDC are ongoing. To ensure effective, continued engagement, a joint action plan with objectives and performance metrics is under discussion. The UKHSA and the ECDC aim to meet once a year to review activities within the scope of the MoU. The UKHSA is committed to maintaining technical and expert collaboration on matters related to serious cross border health threats with its international partners, including the ECDC.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 5 March (HC Deb, cols. 1078–1079), what assessment they have made of the success of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) 2030 project in accelerating the implementation of strong tobacco control policies and advancing sustainable development in low-and middle-income countries; whether, in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the countries participating in the FCTC 2030 project will be given more time to implement the project; and whether official development funds will be made available beyond 2021 to support low-and middle-income countries to implement the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As a world leader in tobacco control, the Government is continuing to deliver its commitments under the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control 2030 project. The countries receiving support continue to make good progress in strengthening their tobacco control measures.
The five-year project is in its final year and scheduled to end in March 2021. Year 5 (2020/21) objectives have been set and the project delivery revised to take account of the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
No decision has been made on whether Official Development Assistance funding will be made available to support the project beyond the original commitment of March 2021.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of smoking rates in low- and middle-income countries and how those rates are predicted to evolve over the next century; and how they take such rates into account in awarding development funding.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government recognises the significant impact of tobacco use in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Tobacco use is the world’s single most preventable cause of disease and the number of tobacco users is increasing in LMICs. If current patterns of use persist, tobacco will kill about 1 billion people in the 21st Century. Evidence indicates that by 2030, over 80% of the world’s tobacco-related mortality will be in LMICs.
Tobacco use is also a major barrier to sustainable development. A major driver of social inequities, tobacco use imposes significant social, economic and environmental harm on individuals, families and national economies.
Given the recognised impact of tobacco on international development, the United Kingdom Government is funding a project to strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, using official development assistance funds. Through this project, we will share the UK’s experience in tobacco control to support LMICs to save lives by putting effective measures in place to stop people using tobacco.
Asked by: Baroness Northover (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of tobacco use on international development as well as on public health.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government recognises the significant impact of tobacco use on international development.
Tobacco use is the world’s single most preventable cause of disease. If current patterns of use persist, tobacco will kill about 1 billion people in the 21st century. Evidence indicates that by 2030, over 80% of the world’s tobacco-related mortality will be in low and middle income countries.
Tobacco use is also a major barrier to sustainable development. A major driver of social inequities, tobacco use imposes significant social, economic and environmental harm on individuals, families and national economies.