Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
The Senior Deputy Speaker when the members' attendance feature will be restored to the parliamentary intranet site.
Answered by Lord McFall of Alcluith
The Parliamentary Digital Service has completed work to build a new Lords Attendance Page which will allow Members of the House to access their attendance data while connected on the Estate. The Page is currently being tested by a small group of members and if the test proves successful the Digital Service will roll out the facility to all members of the House in due course.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the variable health waiting times across the UK.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Health is a devolved matter within the United Kingdom and consequently the access standards in each country reflect the specific health requirements of the devolved administrations. Despite the differences between the nations of the UK, compared to the rest of the world, the UK has amongst the most stretching healthcare access standards and the greatest levels of public visibility of performance against these measures.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many additional staff are being recruited to attend to and treat unaccompanied children coming to the UK from refugee camps (1) in Europe, and (2) outside Europe.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The United Kingdom has been operating resettlement schemes for many years and we already have established and effective networks to accommodate and support resettled people. The increase in numbers will require an expansion of current networks and the impact on local communities and infrastructure will need to be managed carefully. That is why we are working with a wide range of partners to ensure that people are integrated sensitively into local communities and that we have the right support in place for unaccompanied refugee children who arrive in the UK from Europe whilst ensuring we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK.
The guidance, Statutory Guidance on Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children, sets out the health duties for local authorities, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and NHS England. The guidance sets out that local authorities and the National Health Service should take account any particular needs of the child, including if they are unaccompanied asylum seekers. This guidance is attached.
Whilst there are a range of health care professionals, for example youth workers and teachers, who deliver interventions and support for children and young people with mental health conditions, clinical need should be determined by a specialist initial assessment in line with guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Local areas have published Local Transformation Plans that set out how mental health services will be delivered for their population. As part of their plans, local areas were asked to set out how they planned to meet the needs of more vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied refugee and asylum seeking children (UASC).
NHS England ensures that all commissioners of health services have appropriate arrangements and resources in place to meet the physical, emotional and mental health needs of looked-after children, including UASC. They will work with local commissioners to raise awareness of the Resettlement Programme and highlight the additional numbers of children who will require their attention and support.
Decisions about the resources needed to meet the mental health and other health needs of all children and young people, including UASC, are taken at a local level by CCGs. This may include decisions to recruit additional staff where necessary.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the arrival of unaccompanied children from refugee camps (1) in Europe, and (2) outside Europe, on waiting lists for mental and other health services.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The United Kingdom has been operating resettlement schemes for many years and we already have established and effective networks to accommodate and support resettled people. The increase in numbers will require an expansion of current networks and the impact on local communities and infrastructure will need to be managed carefully. That is why we are working with a wide range of partners to ensure that people are integrated sensitively into local communities and that we have the right support in place for unaccompanied refugee children who arrive in the UK from Europe whilst ensuring we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK.
The guidance, Statutory Guidance on Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children, sets out the health duties for local authorities, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and NHS England. The guidance sets out that local authorities and the National Health Service should take account any particular needs of the child, including if they are unaccompanied asylum seekers. This guidance is attached.
Whilst there are a range of health care professionals, for example youth workers and teachers, who deliver interventions and support for children and young people with mental health conditions, clinical need should be determined by a specialist initial assessment in line with guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Local areas have published Local Transformation Plans that set out how mental health services will be delivered for their population. As part of their plans, local areas were asked to set out how they planned to meet the needs of more vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied refugee and asylum seeking children (UASC).
NHS England ensures that all commissioners of health services have appropriate arrangements and resources in place to meet the physical, emotional and mental health needs of looked-after children, including UASC. They will work with local commissioners to raise awareness of the Resettlement Programme and highlight the additional numbers of children who will require their attention and support.
Decisions about the resources needed to meet the mental health and other health needs of all children and young people, including UASC, are taken at a local level by CCGs. This may include decisions to recruit additional staff where necessary.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the mental and other health services that will be needed to assist the unaccompanied children who will be brought to the UK from refugee camps (1) in Europe, and (2) outside Europe.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The United Kingdom has been operating resettlement schemes for many years and we already have established and effective networks to accommodate and support resettled people. The increase in numbers will require an expansion of current networks and the impact on local communities and infrastructure will need to be managed carefully. That is why we are working with a wide range of partners to ensure that people are integrated sensitively into local communities and that we have the right support in place for unaccompanied refugee children who arrive in the UK from Europe whilst ensuring we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK.
The guidance, Statutory Guidance on Promoting the Health and Well-being of Looked After Children, sets out the health duties for local authorities, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and NHS England. The guidance sets out that local authorities and the National Health Service should take account any particular needs of the child, including if they are unaccompanied asylum seekers. This guidance is attached.
Whilst there are a range of health care professionals, for example youth workers and teachers, who deliver interventions and support for children and young people with mental health conditions, clinical need should be determined by a specialist initial assessment in line with guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
Local areas have published Local Transformation Plans that set out how mental health services will be delivered for their population. As part of their plans, local areas were asked to set out how they planned to meet the needs of more vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied refugee and asylum seeking children (UASC).
NHS England ensures that all commissioners of health services have appropriate arrangements and resources in place to meet the physical, emotional and mental health needs of looked-after children, including UASC. They will work with local commissioners to raise awareness of the Resettlement Programme and highlight the additional numbers of children who will require their attention and support.
Decisions about the resources needed to meet the mental health and other health needs of all children and young people, including UASC, are taken at a local level by CCGs. This may include decisions to recruit additional staff where necessary.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Department of Health in Northern Ireland has asked to be represented by them in discussions with the manufacturers of the meningitis B vaccine Bexsero.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We have had a number of meetings with the manufacturer for supply of the meningococcal B vaccine, Bexsero® at a cost-effective price, as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, and we are continuing to meet.
The Department is conducting these negotiations on behalf of the devolved administrations, as is usual and agreed practice.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in any negotiations with the manufacturers of Meningitis B vaccine Bexsero; and when those negotiations are due to conclude.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We have had a number of meetings with the manufacturer for supply of the meningococcal B vaccine, Bexsero® at a cost-effective price, as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, and we are continuing to meet.
The Department is conducting these negotiations on behalf of the devolved administrations, as is usual and agreed practice.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the manufacturers of the Meningitis B vaccine Bexsero on behalf of all health departments within the United Kingdom.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
We have had a number of meetings with the manufacturer for supply of the meningococcal B vaccine, Bexsero® at a cost-effective price, as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, and we are continuing to meet.
The Department is conducting these negotiations on behalf of the devolved administrations, as is usual and agreed practice.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the implications for the National Health Service of a successful outcome to the ongoing Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations between the European Union and the United States.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will not affect the way the United Kingdom Government runs the National Health Service. It has been made clear by negotiators from both the United States and the European Union that it is up to the UK alone to decide how the NHS is run and any assertion that TTIP will undermine the Government’s control of the NHS is a red herring.
The TTIP could offer great benefits to British business and for British jobs. Greater consistency in existing and new regulatory requirements would make it easier for companies - especially small and medium enterprises - to access markets and, for patients, potentially help to increase access to new medicines and medical devices.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the risk to public health of the antibiotic-resistant bacteria recently discovered in riverbeds downstream from sewage works.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Professor Wellington’s paper was co-authored by Professor Peter Hawkey, one of Public Health England’s (PHE) Lead Microbiologists. Investigating the presence of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and other antimicrobial resistance genes in the environment is part of PHE’s antimicrobial resistance research programme. Few studies address the presence of ESBLs in the environment and assessing the level of public health risk is not easy.
PHE is assessing the occurrence of ESBL-producing E. coli from a variety of non-human sources, including sewage (but not river waters), to identify major reservoirs of the strains that cause human disease and to inform public health risk assessment. This Policy Research Programme-funded project will produce its final report in 2016.
Professor Wellington also reports the first carbapenem-resistant E. coli from a United Kingdom river. Carbapenem resistance is considered a critical resistance threat by PHE, the Chief Medical Officer, the Department and the World Health Organization. Although carbapenem resistance rates in the UK are low, the actual number of carbapenem-resistant bacteria seen by PHE from hospitals is increasing year on year. A member of PHE recently reviewed the small but growing number of reports from around the world of carbapenem-resistant strains from non-human sources in collaboration with colleagues from the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency and the National Health Service.
The key public health message arising from the latest paper by Professor Wellington’s team is that members of the public should always inform their general practice that they've been swimming in rivers / streams if they become ill (most likely with gastro symptoms).