Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what contractual arrangements, if any, exist between the House of Lords room booking service and Trimble Manhattan Space Scheduling.
Answered by Lord Laming
The Senior Deputy Speaker has asked me, as Chair of the Services Committee, to respond on his behalf. Trimble Space Scheduling (TSS), formally Trimble Manhattan Space Scheduling, provide the room bookings software which is used by the House of Lords Attendants’ Office to co-ordinate the bookings of committee rooms and meeting rooms. The software is provided under a contract between the Corporate Officer of the House of Lords and the Corporate Officer of the House of Commons, and Trimble Space Scheduling. The Parliamentary Digital Service has day-to-day responsibility for oversight of arrangements under the contract.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the claims by Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies of the potential for treating a wide range of cancers with a multi-target toxin treatment.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
On its website, Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies Ltd presents a technology platform to identify promising peptides that can target cancer cells. All other information on multi-target toxin, (MuTaTo), which is a product combining several cancer-targeting peptides with a strong peptide toxin, which would be personalised to each patient and kill cancer cells specifically - is derived from interviews to newspapers. As no publication of the company’s preliminary works (in vitro and in animals) is available from scientific journals, neither scientific experts nor the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is able to make any assessment of this therapy. The company claims that it is about to start clinical trials, but currently, no clinical trial with such a compound is registered in the European Union public register. If, in the future, the company wishes to apply for a Marketing Authorisation when results in patients become available, the MHRA will be able to assess the quality, safety and efficacy of this therapy and its risk and benefit for its use.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the (1) costs or (2) savings to the NHS of restricting the availability of gluten-free foods on prescription.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The cost to the National Health Service of prescribing gluten-free foods in 2017 was £15.7 million. This was the net ingredient cost (NIC) of the products and did not include associated costs such as pharmacist dispensing fees and primary care consultation costs. Following a public consultation on the ‘Availability of Gluten Free Foods on NHS Prescription in Primary Care’ launched on 31 March 2017, the Government has decided to restrict the prescribing of gluten-free foods to bread and mixes only. This will save £2.6 million of the NIC plus associated savings.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the reduction in the prescribing of gluten-free foods on low income families where a member of the family suffers from coeliac disease.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Department carried out an analysis of this issue as part of its Equalities Impact Assessment which was published as part of the consultation on the ‘Availability of Gluten Free Foods on Prescription in Primary Care’ launched in March 2017. A copy of the Equality Impact Assessment: Following the consultation ‘Availability of Gluten Free Food on Prescription in Primary Care’ is attached. We looked at the equality impact assessment and the consultation responses and as a result made the decision to retain gluten free bread and mixes on National Health Service prescription. This will help mitigate the risk that those on lower incomes are not able to purchase their own gluten free foods from retail outlets where evidence shows price is often higher and availability more limited.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they are giving to Clinical Commissioning Groups on the funding of gluten-free prescribing.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
It is not the role of the Department to advise National Health Service clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) on the funding of gluten-free prescribing. CCGs are expected to have regard to national guidance and to take into account the needs of their local population in developing their own, local approaches to implementation.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will fund an independent evaluation of the efficacy of laser equipment in the treatment of fungal infections by the podiatry profession, in order to assess the claims of some equipment manufacturers.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Laser equipment, if presented by a manufacturer for the treatment of nail fungal infections, is a Class IIa medical device. As such, the manufacturer of the laser equipment is required to meet the requirements of the Medical Devices Regulations 2002. For a Class IIa device the manufacturer must have a quality management system in place and they must obtain the services of a Notified Body, who will assess the safety and performance of the device before issuing a CE certificate to the manufacturer for the products. The Notified Body assessment will include all aspects of the device, including verification of the manufacturer’s testing for the performance and safety of the device, the manufacturing processes and components of the device and review these in the light of the claims made by the manufacturer for the device concerned. As such, there are no plans to fund an independent evaluation, however concerns about the safety or performance of a medical device should be reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency who will investigate accordingly.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
Her Majesty's Government what support they are providing for persons whose condition has been described as foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
It is recognised that Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) can have a significant impact on the early development of children, their behaviours and their life chances. Early intervention services can help reduce some of the effects of FASD and prevent some of the secondary disabilities that result. Responsibility for commissioning these services lies with clinical commissioning groups.
The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines provide the public with the most up to date scientific information to help people make informed decisions about their own drinking. The guideline for women who are pregnant or think they could become pregnant, is that the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all, to reduce risks to the baby to a minimum.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what statistical data is kept centrally by the Department of Health on the numbers and specialisations of agency staff employed and engaged by the NHS Trusts in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department does not collect data on the numbers or specialisations of agency staff employed and engaged by National Health Service Trusts in England. Health is a devolved matter and therefore we do not hold or collect data for Wales.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what statistical data is kept centrally by the Department of Health on NHS staff shortages amongst doctors, nurses and ancillary staff.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Statistical data regarding National Health Service staff shortages is not kept centrally by the Department.
The Department has set up Health Education England to deliver a better health and healthcare workforce for England. They are responsible for ensuring a secure workforce supply that reflects the needs of local service users, providers and commissioners of healthcare. The annual workforce plan for England sets out their view of demand and supply in a wide range of healthcare professions, including doctors and nurses.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether NHS Trusts record the reasons provided by junior doctors when they resign from NHS hospitals.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
National Health Service trusts that use the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) have the facility to record reasons for leaving for all staff. The Health and Social Care Information Centre publish quarterly reasons for leaving statistics based on ESR data but it is not broken down by staff group.