Health: Folic Acid

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Excerpts

Monday 24th February 2014 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend always raises some extremely valid points and, of course, I take them. However, I would just gently point out that SACN is concerned about overdosing, which is why it urged that action should be taken to reduce levels of voluntary fortification. Mandatory fortification of a staple food is, I would suggest, a serious matter for the nation, and these decisions have to be reached in a robust and responsible way.

[Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister tell us who is actually doing the assessment on the data that are available so far? The noble Earl finds himself in a difficult position as we revisit this question almost on a monthly basis. A number of us are at a total loss to know why he cannot tell us when a decision will be taken. Will the assessment be made in his department and, if not, where is the assessment going to be made so that Ministers are given the knowledge and data to make a decision on this question, which is long overdue?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition is the body charged by government to advise Ministers, and the decision will be taken by Ministers. But we have thought it prudent and sensible to take into account the latest data on the folate status of the population. The information that SACN drew from is more than a decade old, and we do not think that that is a sensible basis on which to take a decision one way or the other. So we must wait for that evaluation.

Cigarette Packaging

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Excerpts

Thursday 25th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, I cannot tell my noble friend about the dates on which the department spoke to Cancer Research UK; I can tell her that we have very regular dealings with Cancer Research UK. CRUK made a submission to the consultation on the plain packaging of tobacco. I can feed back to my noble friend with specific details.

[Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean]

My Lords, given that the Government clearly wanted to make the distinction between strategy and policy, would the Minister have another shot at answering the question raised by my noble friend Lord Foulkes? If he is unable to do so, perhaps he could consult with his colleagues who made such a distinction and write to my noble friend to explain why that distinction was made and what it meant.

[Earl Howe]

I answered as I did because it is important for us not to get too bogged down in semantics. Did Mr Crosby speak to the Prime Minister about tobacco issues or did he not? The answer is that he did not.

Health: Cancer

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Excerpts

Monday 20th May 2013 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My noble friend has raised a very live issue because consultation will begin shortly on the Government’s plans to reform the governance relating to death certification. The proposed reforms will simplify and strengthen the process for death certification by appointing local medical examiners to provide independent medical scrutiny of the cause of death for all deaths not subject to coronial investigation. The medical examiner will improve the accuracy of information recorded on medical certificates of cause of death because the process will include a review of medical records and consideration of the circumstances leading to death.

[Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that some forms of cancer, particularly the leukaemias and, within those, acute myeloid leukaemia, need a very aggressive form of chemotherapy in order to maintain life and that that necessarily includes the very high risk of infection through blood poisoning or diseases affecting lung capacity? Where the only alternative to very aggressive forms of chemotherapy is the certainty of death, does not the noble Earl agree that these forms of chemotherapy remain enormously important in the treatment of cancer?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, for many patients, that is so, but of course the decision whether to administer aggressive forms of treatment must be one for the individual patient in consultation with his or her clinician.

Abortion

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Excerpts

Thursday 11th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, in 2011 in England and Wales there were 189,931 abortions. On the question of repeat abortions, I can tell my noble friend that there is a mildly encouraging statistic in that the number in the very young is going down. I am happy to write to my noble friend with further particulars.

[Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean]

My Lords, is not the issue here the concern about late abortions at 24 weeks when children are possibly coming to a point of independent viability? Can the Minister tell us the most recent statistics for abortions that take place between 23 and 24 weeks, as it is the issue of late abortions that is causing so much concern?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, 91% of abortions in England and Wales were carried out at under 13 weeks’ gestation and 78% were at under 10 weeks’ gestation. The under-10 weeks’ percentage has risen since 2002, when the figure was 57%. Returning to the question asked by my noble friend Lord Elton, the proportion of repeat abortions for all women having abortions in 2011 was 36%, which is slightly higher than the previous year; 26% of women aged under 25 undergoing abortion had had one or more previous abortions, which was slightly higher than the proportion in 2010.

Health: Diabetes

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Excerpts

Tuesday 1st November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I shall certainly do so. In relation to insulin pumps, we know that more has to be done to increase the uptake, in line with NICE recommendations. The current operating framework highlights the need to do more to make these devices available. Bariatric surgery should be seen as a last resort, but in some cases it is the right option. It is not an easy option because surgery comes with risks, and anyone undergoing it needs to make significant lifestyle changes. But I am sure that my noble friend’s messages are well taken in the medical community.

[Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean]

My Lords, can the Minister tell us, given that there has been an extraordinary increase in the number of people suffering from diabetes in the past few years, how much of the increase is due to improved diagnosis of people who had diabetes and simply did not know that they had it?

[Earl Howe]

Certainly, we are picking up more cases of diabetes than we might have done in the past, but my advice is that approximately half the increase that we have seen is due to the changing age and ethnic group structure of the population and half due to higher levels of obesity.