Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had regarding the provision of (1) hearing aids, (2) stop smoking services, and (3) treatment for hypertension, to (a) reduce dementia risk, and (b) promote brain health.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There have been no specific discussions. However, the Department is preparing a new dementia strategy, which will include a focus on prevention and risk reduction. As part of this work, in December 2021 the Department had discussions with the British Academy of Audiology on hearing loss as a risk factor for dementia.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures the dementia strategy will include to improve patient access to (1) FDG-PET scans, and (2) CSF tests, for an early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We will set out plans for dementia in England, which will include a focus on dementia diagnosis, later this year.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations for health and care, including on assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers. NICE’s guideline Dementia: assessment, management and support for people living with dementia and their carers states that clinicians should consider FDG-PET and CSF tests when the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is uncertain. A copy of the guideline is attached.
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) commission the appropriate resources, including such testing, in line with local population health needs. To address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses, NHS England and NHS Improvement was allocated £17 million through the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement for mental health in 2021/22. This funding was made available to CCGs in June 2021.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the (1) approval, and (2) set-up processes, for dementia trials.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery: 2021 to 2022 Implementation Plan sets out our commitments to improve study approval and set-up processes. This states that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the UK Research Ethics Services plan to implement a combined review of clinical trials to improve study approval. It aims to deliver a streamlined and efficient approval process through a single application route and a coordinated review. We also plan to introduce a National Contract Value Review to accelerate commercial research studies in the National Health Service. While the Implementation Plan is not specific to any disease area, it aims to benefit the research system, including trials for dementia. A copy of the Implementation Plan is attached.
We are reviewing ways to increase research for dementia and we will set out these ambitions in the forthcoming dementia strategy, which will be published later this year.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what key performance indicators will be used to assess the success of the dementia strategy.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We will set out our plans for dementia in England later this year. The strategy will focus on the specific health and care needs of people living with dementia and their carers, including dementia diagnosis, risk reduction and prevention and research. We will work with delivery partners to identify appropriate key performance indicators to monitor progress and assess the success of the strategy.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the dementia Moonshot commitment will be delivered as part of the dementia strategy.
Answered by Lord Kamall
We will set out our plans for dementia in England later this year. The strategy will outline ambitions to increase dementia research and the delivery of the moonshot.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what changes he will propose, if any, to the recommendation to wear face masks on the parliamentary estate in light of the spread of COVID-19 infections.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Regular communications are issued to members and staff to provide guidance in relation to Covid-19. The latest guidance, published on 5 April, states that from 25 April when the House returns from recess, the wearing of face masks is a matter of personal choice. All Covid-related measures are kept under review as appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to encourage the development of tidal power in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government announced in November that the fourth Contracts for Difference allocation round will feature a £20 million annual ringfenced budget for tidal stream energy.
The Government remains open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing the tidal range energy in the bays and estuaries around the UK’s coastlines, including barrage schemes and other alternatives. Any proposal would need to demonstrate strong evidence of value for money before the Government could take a view on its potential.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the NHS will spend on research into the (1) causes, and (2) treatment, of dementia in each of the next five years.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The Government will invest at least £375 million in neurodegenerative disease research over the next five years to fund projects into a range of diseases, including the causes of and treatments for dementia. The National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation rely on researchers submitting high-quality applications to access funding. Therefore, details of allocations and timescales are not currently available. All applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what priority is being given by the NHS to the availability of mechanical thrombectomy in the treatment of stroke.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Thrombectomy is available in 24 centres in England. There are two non-neuroscience centres currently under development to improve access to thrombectomy.
The National Health Service is committed increasing the delivery of mechanical thrombectomy to 10% of cases. The latest data shows that 2.1% of patients are receiving a thrombectomy following a stroke. In early 2022, the NHS will undertake a quality review in England to resolve local barriers to increasing the uptake of thrombectomy.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a registration scheme requiring people letting properties to notify the local authority.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government has committed to exploring proposals for introducing a landlord register in England as part of a commitment to bring forward reforms to drive improvements in privately rented accommodation and support local authorities to conduct well targeted effective enforcement that drives out criminal landlords.
We have conducted an initial phase of user research with a range of potential users of a register such as private landlords, local authority enforcement officers, letting agents and tenants. We will publish a White Paper in Spring this year that will set out our proposals for reform of the private rented sector.