Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the availability of essential epilepsy medicines from the EU during the transition period for the UK leaving the EU; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government has now agreed the Withdrawal Agreement with the European Commission. As a consequence, the Department does not expect market access to medicines for the United Kingdom to change under the terms of that agreement during the implementation period, which will run from March 2019 until December 2020.
The Department does not expect to see significant changes to the continuity of medicine supply in the intervening period, although we will be monitoring this closely.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with (a) Thames Water, (b) Ofwat and (c) other local stakeholders on the proposed Abingdon Reservoir in Thames Water’s draft Water Resources Management Plan 2019.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Secretary of State will consider and make decisions on the draft water resources management plan, following both Thames Water’s consultation and advice from the Environment Agency (EA). Ofwat will also scrutinise Thames Water’s published proposals to make sure they offer customers value for money through the price review process.
Defra, Ofwat and the EA discussed with Thames Water the need for further consultation on its draft plan, following the previous consultation earlier this year. Thames Water has now published a statement of response, which explains the views expressed in its original consultation and the reasons for it deciding to carry out further consultation on its draft plan.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS staff (a) took early retirement and (b) were on long-term sick leave in the last three years for which figures are available; what the average length of long-term sick leave taken by NHS staff was in that period; and whether staff on long-term sick leave receive full or part pay.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics for England. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers.
The following table shows the number people who have stated that they have taken voluntary early retirement for the last three years and latest available data for 2018/19, headcount:
| 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 12018/19 |
Voluntary early retirement | 3,229 | 3,131 | 3,000 | 705 |
Source: NHS Digital, National Health Service HCHS workforce statistics
Note:
1This only covers the first quarter of 2018/19 (1 April 2018 to 30 of June 2018).
NHS Digital publishes data on the number of days lost to sickness absence. It does not publish data on number of staff on sick leave.
NHS Digital publishes monthly data on sickness absence rates which cover sickness absence rate by region, staff group, organisation and organisation type. Information is not published on the length of sick-leave taken.
NHS staff get up to six months full pay and then six months half pay when on sick leave subject to length of service as set out in terms and conditions of service.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the February 2018 Public Health England research and analysis on deaths associated with neurological conditions, what steps he is taking to (a) tackle the 39 per cent increase in deaths among people with neurological conditions and (b) support people with those conditions.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England’s (PHE) Deaths Associated with Neurological Conditions report was targeted at those responsible for the provision of services for people with neurological conditions or end of life care. PHE disseminated the report to Directors of Public Health and Health and Wellbeing Boards, and promoted the report through the Department, NHS England, Neurological Alliance, Association of British Neurologists, Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy Action (SUDEP) Action, and Epilepsy Action.
It is not possible to report how many National Health Social commissioners have raised neurology mortality as an area requiring attention in response to this report; however there are mechanisms for local areas to identify neurology as a priority area for development. In the NHS RightCare improvement cycle 2016/17, 62 of 205 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) submitted neurology as a priority area for improvement. In 2018/19, 37 of 195 CCGs submitted delivery plans that include neurological problems as improvement projects. NHS England and PHE work with patient organisations such as the Neurological Alliance to raise awareness and support improvement in outcomes for people living with neurological conditions.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to whom the February 2018 Public Health England research and analysis on deaths associated with neurological conditions was circulated; how many NHS local commissioners have in response to the report stated that their area requires attention; and what steps he is taking to (a) support those who have responded and (b) encourage others to respond and tackle that issue.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England’s (PHE) Deaths Associated with Neurological Conditions report was targeted at those responsible for the provision of services for people with neurological conditions or end of life care. PHE disseminated the report to Directors of Public Health and Health and Wellbeing Boards, and promoted the report through the Department, NHS England, Neurological Alliance, Association of British Neurologists, Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy Action (SUDEP) Action, and Epilepsy Action.
It is not possible to report how many National Health Social commissioners have raised neurology mortality as an area requiring attention in response to this report; however there are mechanisms for local areas to identify neurology as a priority area for development. In the NHS RightCare improvement cycle 2016/17, 62 of 205 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) submitted neurology as a priority area for improvement. In 2018/19, 37 of 195 CCGs submitted delivery plans that include neurological problems as improvement projects. NHS England and PHE work with patient organisations such as the Neurological Alliance to raise awareness and support improvement in outcomes for people living with neurological conditions.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to require through annual transparency reporting social media platforms to disclose how they keep children safe.
Answered by Margot James
We will publish an Online Harms White Paper in the Winter, which will set out our proposals for future legislative and non-legislative measures, including future guidance and transparency reports. These proposals will deliver the Digital Charter's ambitions of making the UK the safest place in the world to be online, whilst also leading the world in innovation-friendly regulation that supports the growth of the tech sector.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate he has made of the additional costs to Thames Water consumers of the construction of the proposed Abingdon reservoir.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Secretary of State will consider and make decisions on the draft water resources management plan, following both Thames Water’s consultation and advice from the Environment Agency (EA). Ofwat will also scrutinise Thames Water’s published proposals to make sure they offer customers value for money through the price review process.
Defra, Ofwat and the EA discussed with Thames Water the need for further consultation on its draft plan, following the previous consultation earlier this year. Thames Water has now published a statement of response, which explains the views expressed in its original consultation and the reasons for it deciding to carry out further consultation on its draft plan.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with Ofwat on Thames Water’s cost estimate for the proposed Abingdon Reservoir.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Secretary of State will consider and make decisions on the draft water resources management plan, following both Thames Water’s consultation and advice from the Environment Agency (EA). Ofwat will also scrutinise Thames Water’s published proposals to make sure they offer customers value for money through the price review process.
Defra, Ofwat and the EA discussed with Thames Water the need for further consultation on its draft plan, following the previous consultation earlier this year. Thames Water has now published a statement of response, which explains the views expressed in its original consultation and the reasons for it deciding to carry out further consultation on its draft plan.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the accuracy of cost options for the (a) large schemes (b) alternative water transfer proposed in Thames Water’s draft Water Resources Management Plan 2019.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Secretary of State will consider and make decisions on the draft water resources management plan, following both Thames Water’s consultation and advice from the Environment Agency (EA). Ofwat will also scrutinise Thames Water’s published proposals to make sure they offer customers value for money through the price review process.
Defra, Ofwat and the EA discussed with Thames Water the need for further consultation on its draft plan, following the previous consultation earlier this year. Thames Water has now published a statement of response, which explains the views expressed in its original consultation and the reasons for it deciding to carry out further consultation on its draft plan.
Asked by: Lord Vaizey of Didcot (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will ask Ofwat to publish an assessment of Thames Water’s costs estimates for the proposed Abingdon Reservoir.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Secretary of State will consider and make decisions on the draft water resources management plan, following both Thames Water’s consultation and advice from the Environment Agency (EA). Ofwat will also scrutinise Thames Water’s published proposals to make sure they offer customers value for money through the price review process.
Defra, Ofwat and the EA discussed with Thames Water the need for further consultation on its draft plan, following the previous consultation earlier this year. Thames Water has now published a statement of response, which explains the views expressed in its original consultation and the reasons for it deciding to carry out further consultation on its draft plan.