Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include information from their online guidance Myocarditis and pericarditis after COVID-19 vaccination: guidance for healthcare professionals, published 29 November, on consent forms for 12 to 15 year old children.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The UK Health Security Agency’s COVID-19 vaccination consent form for children and young people or parents and carers is part of a suite of materials, including an easy to read patient information leaflet, to assist an individual in making their decision about acceptance of vaccination. There are no plans to include information on the potential risks of the vaccine in the consent form, as this is available in the accompanying easy-read leaflet and importance is placed on making the consent form as accessible as possible.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to receive a report from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence on the (1) efficacy, and (2) cost effectiveness, of the daratumumab treatment for myeloma; how long that evaluation has been in progress; and when this treatment is likely to be fully funded for the treatment of patients in the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Daratumumab has been appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in several different indications related to different stages of multiple myeloma and in combination with other treatments. NICE has been able to recommend daratumumab for use in several indications and it is now routinely available to eligible patients in line with NICE’s recommendations. A number of appraisals of daratumumab for use in the treatment of multiple myeloma are in development.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish the daily figures of COVID-19 vaccinations that have been administered; and if so, where those figures will be published.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England publishes daily data on vaccination totals in the United Kingdom in an online only format. These figures are published by Public Health England (PHE) and can be accessed online via the UK Government website. NHS England and NHS Improvement also publish daily and weekly data for vaccinations in England only, which is also available in an online only format.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the practice of supplying puberty blockers to those aged under 16; and what plans they have, if any, to prevent this practice in England and Wales.
Answered by Lord Bethell
On 1 December 2020, the High Court ruled that hormone blockers were “innovative and experimental” and there would be “enormous difficulties in a child under 16 understanding and weighing up… information and deciding whether to consent to the use of puberty blocking medication”.
Following this judgment, NHS England immediately suspended referrals of new patients under 16 years old to endocrinology services.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration is given to the welfare of (1) women, and (2) children, when developing policy on surrogacy.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Law Commissions for England and Wales and Scotland have been undertaking a review of United Kingdom legislation about surrogacy with significant engagement from a range of stakeholders. The Law Commissions are currently considering responses to a public consultation about proposed changes.
The key consideration of these proposals is to balance the best interests of children born through surrogacy, treated as paramount in line with the current law, with the interests of women acting as surrogates, and the interests of intended parents.
Draft legislation is expected in 2022 and is intended to be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many advance payments have been made to pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies contractors during the COVID-19 pandemic by (1) total value, and (2) number of recipients.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Advanced payments have been used on a number of contracts awarded to suppliers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our approach has been to take some managed risk in order to secure supplies in an exceptional and globally highly competitive market. Contracts have break clauses in them, meaning if the company supplies faulty products or misses delivery dates, we can cancel the contracts and reclaim our money.
Over 1,000 purchase orders have now been raised with suppliers for the delivery of goods and services related to the COVID-19 pandemic. To provide a validated assessment of whether an advanced payment has been agreed or not for each of these orders would involve disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how long it will take to achieve mass vaccination of the population against COVID-19.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Public Health England and NHS England and NHS Improvement are the health and social care delivery organisations responsible for ensuring that a COVID-19 vaccine is deployed and administered safely and efficiently to the public. The Government is working at pace for the delivery of any potential COVID-19 vaccination programme as quickly as possible, but the scale of what is rolled out and when will depend on a safe, effective vaccine being available. All plans we are making recognise that there are numerous potential vaccine candidates, meaning that we will need to remain flexible.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to prevent the illegal supply of puberty-blocking drugs to British children and adolescents by Dr Helena Webberley, who was recently suspended from the Medical Register by the General Medical Council and who is advertising services from Spain.
Answered by Baroness Barran
It is unacceptable if patients are being put at risk by a service that deliberately places itself beyond the jurisdiction of United Kingdom regulators.
The Department is working closely with the Care Quality Commission and relevant professional regulators to explore how it can close the loopholes that allow a small number of online organisations to operate without the necessary oversight.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have (1) considered, and (2) taken, to raise awareness of the effects of the illegal use of Lupron.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The illegal sale and supply of Lupron in the United Kingdom has not been brought to the attention of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The MHRA is not aware of the misuse of Lupron in the UK and therefore has not considered any steps to raise awareness.
Asked by: Lord Moonie (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many seizures of illegal Lupron have been made in the last 12 months in England and Wales; and what measures, if any, they plan to take to prevent its purchase and import via the internet.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Lupron is not an authorised medicine in the United Kingdom. The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient in Lupron is Leuprorelin which is classed as a prescription only medicine and is present in Prostap 3 which is licensed in the UK.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has regulatory responsibility for medicines and medical devices. The MHRA has no recorded seizures of Lupron, Leuprolin or Prostap 3.
There is provision in medicines regulations for the import of unauthorised medicines for specific use by named patients. In the last five years, there have been 25 notifications of the import of leuprolide/leuprorelin.
Additionally, there are no formal restrictions on an individual importing medicines into the UK provided they are strictly for use by that person or a member of their immediate family. Legal controls on the retail sale, supply and advertising of medicines are set out in the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. These apply without distinction to medicines advertised, sold or supplied through the internet.
Websites offering to supply unauthorised medicines to UK citizens are breaching UK legal requirements. The MHRA investigates reports of illegal activity taking place on a website and, where appropriate, takes enforcement action against suppliers who operate outside the legal requirements. However, considerable illegal activity takes place outside of UK jurisdiction and illegally trading websites identified overseas are referred to the relevant country for appropriate action.