Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the scale of the bottleneck between medical foundation training and medical specialty training (1) in anaesthesia, and (2) across all other medical specialties; and what steps they are taking to address it.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to training the staff we need, including anaesthetists and all other medical specialities, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.
As of July 2024, there were 14,085 full time equivalent (FTE) anaesthetists working in the National Health Service and other core organisations in England. This is 407, or 3.0%, more than a year ago and 1,950, or 16.1%, more than five years ago. This includes 7,492 FTE consultants, which is 278, or 3.9%, more than a year ago and 886, or 13.4%, more than five years ago.
We have launched the 10-Year Health Plan which will set out a bold agenda to reform and repair the NHS. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where the need is greatest.
Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to address the workforce shortages identified in the Royal College of Anaesthetists' The Anaesthetic Workforce: UK State of the Nation Report published on 20 November.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to training the staff we need, including anaesthetists and all other medical specialities, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.
As of July 2024, there were 14,085 full time equivalent (FTE) anaesthetists working in the National Health Service and other core organisations in England. This is 407, or 3.0%, more than a year ago and 1,950, or 16.1%, more than five years ago. This includes 7,492 FTE consultants, which is 278, or 3.9%, more than a year ago and 886, or 13.4%, more than five years ago.
We have launched the 10-Year Health Plan which will set out a bold agenda to reform and repair the NHS. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the NHS in the future. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure that any growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where the need is greatest.
Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish draft National Development Management Policies for consultation.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
National Development Management Policies will set out clear principles for deciding planning applications in England and help to streamline local plans. The Government intends to consult fully on both the scope and content of National Development Management policies in due course.
Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, and if so when, they will initiate negotiations towards a free trade agreement with the Maldives.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Business and Trade held a public Call for Input into a trade deal with Maldives and is evaluating those responses and other factors to ensure that the opinions and interests of businesses, civil society groups, trade unions, public bodies and individuals are considered.
The start of negotiations would be preceded by the publication of our strategic approach.
Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide pre-exposure prophylaxis against COVID-19 to the most vulnerable groups who are severely immunocompromised.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The Department is exploring prophylactic use of antivirals for the immunocompromised and evidence continues to be reviewed for potential use in the National Health Service.
The RAPID C-19 collaboration considers national and international trial evidence as it emerges for COVID-19 therapies, for potential treatment and prophylactic indications.
Later this spring, a post-exposure prophylaxis sub-study is expected as part of the PANORAMIC national study to investigate the effect of prescribing oral antivirals to those who are a household contact of a COVID-19 positive individual. In addition, the PROTECT-V study is trialling sotrovimab and niclosamide as prophylactic drugs administered over a six-month period in vulnerable renal and immunosuppressed patients.
Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the emergency use authorisation listed on 8 December 2021 of AstraZeneca's Evusheld for pre-exposure prophylaxis in (1) certain adults, and (2) children.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
We are aware that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) listed an emergency use authorisation for Evusheld in December 2021, which was revised on 24 February 2022. The FDA has modified their dosing regimen according to its available data and consider that a higher dose of Evusheld may be more likely to prevent infection by the Omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.1.1 than the originally authorised Evusheld dose.
We continue to monitor emerging data for Evusheld and other treatments for applicability in the United Kingdom for prevalent variants and which patient groups could potentially benefit. Evusheld is not currently authorised in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial support they plan to provide, if any, to the Albanian prison system; and under what circumstances such funding will be provided.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
HMG is not providing any funding to the Albanian prison system at present. We have no specific plans to provide financial support to the Albanian prison system, although we continue to scope out possibilities for collaboration in areas of shared interest and benefit, including assisting reform of the Albanian justice system.
Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Albanian prisoners (1) have been returned to Albania from the UK to date, and (2) are expected to return in the rest of 2022.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar - Shadow Attorney General
The Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service continue to remove foreign national offenders (FNOs) where routes are available. Between January 2019 and June 2021, 9,286 FNOs were removed from the UK.
We are absolutely committed to removing FNOs from the UK and we continue to work closely with international governments to maximise the removal of serious and persistent offenders.
We are regularly reviewing progress to ensure that all options are being pursued and that our early removal mechanisms are working as effectively as possible.
A revised Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) between the UK and Albania was signed in July 2021, replacing an earlier Agreement to allow for a wider adaptation of sentences to align the custodial periods on transfer. Both parties agreed at the time of signature not to specify exact numbers of returns, since a new Albanian government due to be formed in September 2021. We have not had any formal requests to enter into discussions with the new administration.
To date, 24 Albanian prisoners have been transferred to serve their prison sentences in their home country.
Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the cut-off date for the completion of Help to Buy properties by six months in view of the delay to construction activity.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government recognises the disruption Covid-19 has caused to housebuilding, which is why we have taken decisive steps to re-open the housing market and ensure housebuilding can now safely recommence, with immediate effect. The Government published a “Plan to Rebuild” on Monday 11 May, setting out the UK Government’s Covid-19 recovery strategy. This makes clear that construction work can be undertaken across England providing sites are able to operate safely in line with Covid-19 guidelines. A number of developers have already announced plans to restart work on sites.
To support customers, Help to Buy Equity Loan Agents are already offering more time for purchasers to complete their transactions. Homes England released this guidance on 1 May.
Asked by: Lord Lansley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow local authorities to extend the validity of all planning permissions for an additional six months or more as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government is aware from both local planning authorities and the development industry that, with delays caused by COVID-19, there is a risk of unimplemented planning permissions lapsing, undermining the delivery of projects. We recognise these concerns and we are considering whether permissions should be extended.