Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for reviewing the expiry dates of antibiotics, including in respect of savings for public expenditure.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Government agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe, has not made an assessment on the case for reviewing the expiry dates of antibiotics.
Medicine expiry dates, including for antibiotics, are necessary to ensure that the safety and effectiveness of a medicine is maintained over its long-term shelf life. The active ingredient in many medicines can degrade over time resulting in a loss of potency or the formation of impurities in the product. Physical changes to a medicine such as discolouration, may also occur upon prolonged storage. Medicine expiry dates are supported by stability studies completed by the pharmaceutical company, which demonstrate that a medicine remains safe and effective throughout its shelf life. Any change to the expiry date of a medicine requires an independent review of the stability data by the MHRA.
Companies can and often do extend the shelf life of their medicines once the product is on the market, and as additional stability data become available. It is not possible, however, to extend the expiry date of all medicines unilaterally in the absence of supporting stability data.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total cost to the United Kingdom of all forms of non-military support to Ukraine since December 2021.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes to restore Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to secure a just and lasting peace underpinned by the UN Charter. The FCDO's non-military support to Ukraine since the start of the invasion amounts to £4.7 billion. This includes over £4.2 billion fiscal support through World Bank loan guarantees and grants; £357 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and the region; £150 million to support Ukraine's energy security and resilience; and £2.5 million in support for Ukraine's domestic prosecution of international crimes.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many men aged (1) 70–72, (2) 73–75, (3) 76–79, and (4) 80 and above, were held in prisons nationally in each year since 2010; and of those, how many in each age category were diagnosed with progressive dementia.
Answered by Lord Bellamy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Annual data on the number of men in prison in the specified age groups are set out in the table attached. Information about prisoners diagnosed with dementia is collected by the NHS. It is not collated in the form requested and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
Health services for those in custody, including dementia support, are the responsibility of the NHS, which is required to provide services of a standard equivalent to that which is available to the general population.
HMPPS works in partnership with the NHS and Adult Social Care services to support prisoners with dementia. Examples include awareness training for staff, cognitive exercises such as reminiscence activities, and cognitive stimulation therapy. Additionally, the Ministry of Justice has published guidance on the circumstances under which applications can be made for prisoners to be considered for early release on compassionate grounds subject to specific criteria being met. This can be accessed on gov.uk or using the link provided: www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-release-on-compassionate-grounds-policy-framework.