Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what precautions they have taken against the spread of infectious diseases resulting from future climate emergencies.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) established a Centre for Climate and Health Security to address the challenges posed by climate change to public health. UKHSA was commissioned by the National Adaptation Programme to update the evidence on the health impacts of climate change through a United Kingdom-focused report entitled Health Effects of Climate Change in the UK. This report is due to be published in mid-December.
UKHSA conducts horizon scanning for infectious disease signals to detect, assess and communicate potential infectious threats to UK public health. Working across Government, UKHSA has developed guidance and contingency response plans to support the prevention, management, and control of infectious diseases. Surveillance systems and diagnostic pathways are in place to detect, monitor trends of, report and rapidly diagnose infectious diseases. UKHSA specialist laboratories also work with research and One Health partners to ensure readiness of testing capacity for zoonotic and vector borne diseases, and to develop testing approaches which can detect novel and emerging pathogens.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children and young people were being treated by the NHS for addiction to video games or gaming disorder annually from 2015 to 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Centre for Gaming Disorders, providing treatment for people aged between 13 and 25 experiencing problem gaming in England, opened in October 2019. The following table shows the total number of annual referrals since the service became operational. The specific data requested is collected by the service provider to inform service delivery. This data is not subject to National Health Service quality assurance protocol and is therefore unsuitable for publication.
Year | Number of referrals of people aged 13 – 25 experiencing problems with gaming |
2019 (October to Dec only) | 12 |
2020 (Full year) | 62 |
2021 (Full year) | 99 |
2022 (Full year) | 148 |
2023 (January to August only) | 121 |
Total | 442 |
Source: NHSE - National Centre for Gaming Disorders
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following a survey by the School and Public Health Nurses Association and the British Dental Association in June which showed that 65 per cent of health practitioners reported that children’s health had got worse over the last year as a result of hunger, what plans they have to address hunger and poor nutrition in children.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government understands concerns regarding food inflation and its impact on the current cost of living, and as such is providing support of over £94 billion over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals.
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 13.6% in the year to August 2023. This was down from 14.9% in July and a recent high of 19.2% in March 2023, which was the highest rate seen for over 45 years. This means that food prices are still increasing but at a slower rate than before.
Through the Healthy Food Schemes, the Government provides a nutritional safety net to those who need it the most. The three Healthy Food Schemes, namely Healthy Start, Nursery Milk and the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme, together help more than three million children. They support wider Government priorities on obesity and levelling up. The schemes help to support children and babies when they are at home, in childcare and in early years at school, and pregnant women. From April 2021, the value of the Healthy Start increased from £3.10 to £4.25, providing additional support to pregnant women and families on lower incomes to make healthy food choices.
The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme provides approximately 2.2 million children in Key Stage 1 with a portion of fresh fruit or vegetables each day at school. Around 419 million pieces of fruit and vegetables were distributed to children in 2022/2023. In addition, the Nursery Milk Scheme provides a reimbursement to childcare providers for a daily 1/3 pint portion of milk to children and babies.
Free school meals are provided to over one third of school children. This includes two million pupils who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals, making up 23.8% of all pupils, which is an increase from January 2021 when 1.7 million or 20.8% pupils were eligible. In addition, almost 1.3 million more infants enjoy a free and nutritious meal at lunchtime following the introduction of universal infant free school meals in 2014. A further 90,000 disadvantaged pupils in further education also receive a free meal at lunch time. Overall, we spend over £1 billion per annum delivering free lunches to a large proportion of school children.
The Government’s wider programme of work to create a healthier environment to help people achieve and maintain a healthy weight includes:
- regulations which restrict the placement of products high in saturated fat, salt or sugar in store and online;
- efforts to reformulate products high in calories, sugar and salt;
- the Soft Drinks Industry Levy; and
- calorie labelling regulations for food sold in large out of home businesses.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with Servier to expand access to vorasidenib for patients that might benefit by including it in the early access to medicines scheme, or by any other means.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has had no specific discussions with Servier regarding vorasidenib, and neither has the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA has not issued a scientific opinion for Vorasidenib under the early access to medicines scheme but should an application for this be received, the MHRA will consider this accordingly.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the digitisation of adult social care.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are funding a programme of digitisation for adult social care that is delivered through integrated care systems having spent £50 million so far and investing a further £100 million over the next two years.
This investment is targeted at driving up adoption of digital social care records and other proven care technologies, while improving the foundations for digital working across the sector, including digital skills, cyber security, and connectivity.
We have made good progress so far, increasing adoption of digital social care records by Care Quality Commission-registered providers from 40% in December 2021 to over 55% today; and over 60% of people now have a digital social care record, enabling care teams to have the right information at their fingertips to deliver safe, outstanding care.
We are also supporting local systems to identify and invest in care technologies that address local population needs and priorities, while developing a robust evidence base on effective care technologies to inform future investment decisions.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of Naltrexone in the treatment of problem gambling.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence is developing a clinical guideline for the treatment of harmful gambling. This will cover psychological and psychosocial interventions as well as pharmacological treatments. The attached document outlines the full scope of the guideline. Publication is expected in spring 2024.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures exist to support effective suicide (1) surveillance, and (2) prevention.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National near Real Time Suspected Suicide Surveillance system will be live by the end of 2023. Its reports will act as an early warning system for indications of change in suicides through analysis of data on suspected suicides.
Everyone has a role to play in suicide prevention and the Government published its new five-year, cross-Government and cross-sector suicide prevention strategy for England on 11 September 2023. The content of the strategy was informed by data, evidence, and engagement with stakeholders, including people with lived experience, and by the mental health and wellbeing plan call for evidence conducted in 2022.
The Strategy is a call for action for national and local government, the health service, and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, employers, and individuals to tackle suicide. It sets out over 100 actions from across a wide range of organisations to support our ambitions for suicide prevention.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the UK Rare Diseases Framework on international collaboration since January 2021.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst no assessment has been made, international collaboration is an underpinning theme of the UK Rare Diseases Framework. The Department continues to engage with the Horizon Europe Partnership on Rare Diseases, due to begin in autumn 2024. To support United Kingdom input into the proposal for the partnership, we have worked with Newcastle University to establish an International Mirror and Action Group, bringing together UK researchers working on rare diseases. We also engage with the World Health Organisation and Rare Diseases International on development of the important Global Network for Rare Diseases initiative, which will pool resources and connect centres of excellence around the world, to improve diagnosis and care for people living with a rare disease.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 7 September (HL9841), whether they have any plans to discuss Vorasidenib with Servier Laboratories.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has not granted a marketing authorisation for Vorasidenib, however should an application be received from Servier Laboratories, the MHRA has licensing pathways available, with the aim of ensuring the products can be made available for patients in the United Kingdom in the shortest time possible and to support and protect public health. While the MHRA will assess any submitted applications and is willing to facilitate the appropriate regulatory processes, the agency cannot actively seek these applications and as such there are currently no plans to discuss Vorasidenib with Servier Laboratories.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what service the NHS provides for people with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While there is no specific prescribed service for fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), children with the condition are cared for by National Health Service paediatric rheumatologists and/or geneticists with input from other clinicians as required. For patients with rare diseases such as FOP, expert centres provide clinical guidance, support and advice to patients, their families, and carers.