Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care intends to respond to the letter from Lord Rogan dated 13 October 2023 enclosing correspondence on behalf of the board of trustees of EGFR Positive UK, and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has received the noble lord’s letter of 13 October 2023 and will reply as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, or are intending to have, with (1) Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and (2) EGFR Positive UK, following the withdrawal of the drug Mobocertinib from the UK market.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is engaging with Takeda Pharmaceuticals. This is to ensure that where appropriate, patients can have continued access to Mobocertinib following its withdrawal from the United Kingdom market.
The MHRA has not had discussions with EGFR Positive UK, but if approached would answer any questions they may have regarding the withdrawal of Mobocertinib from the UK market.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Markham on 19 July (HL9282, HL9283 and HL9284), what steps they are taking to protect community pharmacies in Northern Ireland from closure in the continuing absence of a Northern Ireland Executive.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community pharmacy is a devolved matter. A fully functioning devolved government is essential to the delivery of necessary healthcare reforms, including effective policies to protect community pharmacies. As an interim support, the Secretary of State has introduced appropriate measures to protect the delivery of all public services and has set a budget that protects spending to address the critical health pressures in Northern Ireland. This budget allocation gives the Northern Ireland Department of Health a total allocation of £7.3 billion, an increase of £20 million above 2022-23.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many prescriptions were issued and filled by the NHS in each of the past five years; and what estimate they have made of the average gross profit margin for the pharmacist on each prescription.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table below shows the total number of items dispensed in the community in England in each of the last five financial years broken down by English dispenser account type.
Dispenser Account Type | 2017/2018 | 2018/2019 | 2019/2020 | 2020/2021 | 2021/2022 |
English Appliance Contractor | 8,627,910 | 9,043,637 | 9,787,035 | 10,020,141 | 10,908,020 |
English Dispensing Doctor | 69,672,685 | 70,368,215 | 72,024,656 | 70,530,057 | 72,082,457 |
English Personal Administration | 14,829,104 | 14,606,249 | 14,468,189 | 13,180,273 | 13,231,305 |
English Pharmacy Contractor | 1,013,292,403 | 1,015,065,205 | 1,035,763,855 | 1,016,856,763 | 1,043,054,789 |
Total | 1,106,422,102 | 1,109,083,306 | 1,132,043,735 | 1,110,587,234 | 1,139,276,571 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
The table below shows the average medicine margin retained per item for English pharmacy contractors for the five financial years (2017/18 – 2021/22). Medicine margin being the difference between what the pharmacy pays for a medicine and what they are reimbursed by the National Health Service. These figures do not include any fees for service provision by the pharmacy paid by the NHS. Where it was measured that pharmacy contractors retained margin above or below the contractually agreed level, an adjustment would have been made through changes to Category M (part VIII of the Drug Tariff) reimbursement prices.
England only |
|
|
| Average margin per item (£) | Prescription items (m) |
2017/18 | £0.79 | 1013 |
2018/19 | £0.62 | 1015 |
2019/20 | £0.72 | 1036 |
2020/21 | £0.96 | 1017 |
2021/22 | £0.89 | 1043 |
Source: Department of Health and Social Care
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made towards releasing the £50 million they pledged in November 2021 to fund Motor Neurone Disease; and what are the reasons for the delay.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for Motor Neurone Disease research has always been available via open competition. In 2021/22, NIHR spent £3.8 million on MND research, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the Medical Research Council (MRC), spent around £10.8 million. On 12 December 2022 the Government announced how at least £50 million of committed funds for Motor Neurone Disease (MND) research would be allocated over the next five years:
£8 million to early phase clinical research for MND via the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centres.
£2 million to the MND Collaborative Partnership, for the research community to coordinate efforts, adding £1 million already contributed by government.
£12.5 million to MND research in the UK Dementia Research Institute (UKDRI), where seven of its fifty research programmes are focused on MND.
£6 million connect the UK DRI to the Francis Crick Institute Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the MND collaborative partnership, and the UK Dementias Platform.
The remainder (at least £21.5 million) is available via an NIHR and the Medical Research Council (MRC) rolling call for MND research supported by a joint Highlight Notice.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with (1) the devolved administrations, and (2) travel companies, to ensure that the costs of COVID-19 test kits are not a prohibitive factor to families on limited incomes having a summer holiday.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Government officials attend regular meetings with their counterparts from the devolved administrations to share updates and coordinate and align on testing efforts where possible. The Government also recognises that the devolved administrations have their own testing systems and individual discussions with the travel industry on international travel.
Since requirements were introduced for international travel testing, the costs of testing have fallen significantly. The Government is committed to working with the travel industry and private testing providers to reduce the cost of travel testing whilst also ensuring travel is as safe as possible.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (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 (1) officials, and (2) ministers, in the Northern Ireland Executive Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs about the recent award of a three-year contract to supply Meat Hygiene Inspectors to assist Official Veterinarians in Northern Ireland; and what contingency plans they have put in place in the event of a default on this contract.
Answered by Lord Bethell
As part of a Service Level Agreement with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in relation to official controls, the Food Standards Agency has ongoing discussions with DAERA about resourcing at official level.
DAERA have taken forward a recruit-to-train project, recruiting staff as trainee meat inspectors. The agency contract is to secure agency workers to maintain continued delivery of official controls until such time as these trainees become fully qualified.
DAERA have established a group of vets and ex-meat inspectors in the Department who can be called upon to carry out meat inspection duties as a contingency in the event that the current contract is unable to deliver.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many CARE badges have been distributed to social care workers following the announcement by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 15 April that these would give recipients the same "recognitions and benefits" as NHS staff.
Answered by Lord Bethell
Since the Secretary of State’s announcement around 15,000 badges have been distributed at no cost to social care providers or members of the workforce.
Additional badges of recognition have been procured and we expect to be able to start distribution of these badges shortly. Details of how they will be distributed to people working in social care who want to wear this badge will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in ensuring that there will be sufficient numbers of fully-qualified (1) official veterinarians, and (2) meat hygiene inspectors, employed (a) in abattoirs, and (b) on farms, in the UK after Brexit.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is continuing to monitor the situation by surveying staff and is in regular discussion with the delivery partner who provides the majority of official veterinarians and meat hygiene inspectors who undertake official controls in abattoirs. Whilst the recruitment landscape remains challenging, the FSA has contingency plans to ensure the effective delivery of official controls in abattoirs continues once the United Kingdom has left the European Union so that food businesses’ operations in abattoirs are supported and that food is safe.
The FSA is responsible for delivery of official controls in relation to primary production of milk and will continue to discharge its responsibilities by increasing capacity and capability in this area. The FSA is not responsible for the delivery of other official controls at farm level, this is being carried out by staff from the Animal and Plant Health Agency and local authorities.
Asked by: Lord Rogan (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord O'Shaughnessy on 21 March (HL Deb, col 345), what plans they have to ensure that NHS staff in Northern Ireland are properly rewarded.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Government has long recognised the vital role that all public sectors workers play in our society including those in the National Health Service. That is why we have agreed to NHS Employers and the NHS Trade Unions going out to consultation on a three year pay agreement for NHS staff employed under the Agenda for Change Pay Agreement.
This agreement covers over a million staff employed in the NHS in England and is a good example of where public sector employers and Unions can work together to agree a pay rise in return for wider reform. The three year deal targets recruitment, retention and capacity issues and will help to improve productivity within the NHS to support staff and help them meet demand.
However, public sector pay in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter. The Northern Ireland Administration will receive Barnett Consequentials on the additional funding provided to the Department if, following union ballots the deal now under consultation is implemented. Then that will mean over £25 million in 2018/19 and over £130 million in total over the next years from 18/19 to 2020/21.
The Government is continuing to work towards the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland and in the absence of Executive it will be for the Northern Ireland Administration to allocate this funding in the absence of a functioning Executive.