Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 4 June (HL8130), what is the reason for the delay in publishing the next annual LeDeR report seven months later relative to the previous annual report.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We expect the report will be published shortly, and the delay has been due to practical data issues.
NHS England commissions Kings College London and its partners to analyse data from Learning from Lives and Deaths, reviews about people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR). The LeDeR report is published by Kings College London, who are currently working on the next report, and will publish it soon. The last report was published in November 2023, a copy of which has been placed in the Library due to the size of the document.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 20 May (HL7198), whether they have carried out an impact assessment of reducing staff costs by 50 per cent for NHS England, including on the regional impacts; and if not, when an impact assessment will be carried out and published.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Work is progressing at pace to develop the design and operating model for the new integrated organisation, and to plan for the smooth transfer of people, functions, and responsibilities
It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, as is due process. These ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.
The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure that the public and parliamentarians are informed of the outcomes.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the annual health check for people with a learning disability at their GP practice will continue to be a priority healthcare assessment for the rest of this Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that general practitioners (GPs) should offer an annual health check to all adults, children and young people with a learning disability. The Government expects integrated care boards (ICBs) and health professionals to have due regard to NICE guidelines when making commissioning decisions. NHS Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 requires ICBs to report on the number of people on the quality outcome framework learning disability register aged 14 years old and over who receive an annual health check during the quarter.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the Learning from lives and deaths – people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) annual report that has been handed over to NHS England.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England commissions Kings College London and its partners to analyse data from the Learning from Lives and Deaths - people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) reports. The annual LeDeR report is published by Kings College London, who are currently working on the next annual report, and NHS England has advised that they will publish this shortly. The last report was published in November 2023 and is available on the King’s College London website.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria they will use in reducing staff costs by 50 per cent for NHS England; and how this methodology was established with regard to local and regional outcomes.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and senior Department officials are working with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to jointly lead the formation of a new joint centre.
At this stage, while we are scoping the transformation programme, it is too early to share details of any programmes to reduce staff costs, but we are looking closely at areas of duplication between NHS England and the Department. The reductions will be achieved through a mix of efficiencies, removing duplication between the Department and NHS England and stopping functions at the centre that will support our aim of empowering the frontline.
The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure the public and parliamentarians are informed.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of people born on or after 1 January 2009 who will continue to smoke if the provisions of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill are enacted.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tobacco is the single most important entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability, and death in this country, and is responsible for 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom each year. The majority of smokers start in their youth and are then addicted for life. More than four in five smokers start before the age of 20 years old.
As a result of Government action, smoking rates have declined in all ages since the 1970s, but there is still much further to go. Legislation has been an important driver of this decline, including raising the age of sale for smoking from 16 to 18 years old, which reduced prevalence in this age group by 30%.
The available data does not allow us to estimate the number of people under 18 years old that smoke and vape in England, and the data that is available is not comparable as it covers different age groups and countries. However, using the NHS Smoking Drink and Drugs survey data, we estimate that the number of 11 to 15 year olds regularly smoking in England is 42,000 in 2023. We do not have similar data for years 2022 and 2024. Using the Action on Smoking and Health GB survey data, we estimate that the number of children aged 11 to 17 years old that regularly use a vape in Great Britain, which can also be called an e-cigarette, is 169,000 in 2022, 206,000 in 2023, and 234,000 in 2024.
Our modelling of the estimated impact of the Smokefree Generation (SFG) policy on smoking rates is presented in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Impact Assessment. In the central scenario we modelled, smoking prevalence among those aged 18 years old and over is estimated to fall from 11.6% in 2023 to 1.6% in 2056. In terms of the number of smokers, we estimate this is equivalent to approximately 700,000 smokers aged 18 years old and over in 2056 when SFG is implemented, compared to approximately 2.4 million smokers aged 18 years old and over if not implemented.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of people in England under the age of 18 who regularly used (1) a vape, (2) an e-cigarette, or (3) smoked tobacco, in each of the years 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tobacco is the single most important entirely preventable cause of ill health, disability, and death in this country, and is responsible for 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom each year. The majority of smokers start in their youth and are then addicted for life. More than four in five smokers start before the age of 20 years old.
As a result of Government action, smoking rates have declined in all ages since the 1970s, but there is still much further to go. Legislation has been an important driver of this decline, including raising the age of sale for smoking from 16 to 18 years old, which reduced prevalence in this age group by 30%.
The available data does not allow us to estimate the number of people under 18 years old that smoke and vape in England, and the data that is available is not comparable as it covers different age groups and countries. However, using the NHS Smoking Drink and Drugs survey data, we estimate that the number of 11 to 15 year olds regularly smoking in England is 42,000 in 2023. We do not have similar data for years 2022 and 2024. Using the Action on Smoking and Health GB survey data, we estimate that the number of children aged 11 to 17 years old that regularly use a vape in Great Britain, which can also be called an e-cigarette, is 169,000 in 2022, 206,000 in 2023, and 234,000 in 2024.
Our modelling of the estimated impact of the Smokefree Generation (SFG) policy on smoking rates is presented in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Impact Assessment. In the central scenario we modelled, smoking prevalence among those aged 18 years old and over is estimated to fall from 11.6% in 2023 to 1.6% in 2056. In terms of the number of smokers, we estimate this is equivalent to approximately 700,000 smokers aged 18 years old and over in 2056 when SFG is implemented, compared to approximately 2.4 million smokers aged 18 years old and over if not implemented.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of extra enforcement officers required in each local authority to ensure that people born on after 1 January 2009 do not purchase tobacco products if the provisions of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill are enacted.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
History shows that when we have introduced targeted tobacco control measures, the size of the illicit market has not increased and in fact continued to fall. When the age of sale was increased from 16 to 18 in 2007, prevalence in this age group reduced by 30% and the number of illicit cigarettes consumed overall fell by 25% from 10 billion in 2005/06 to 7.5 billion in 2007/08.
The Department will conduct a New Burdens Assessment to assess the impact of policies in the Bill on local authorities prior to the Bill receiving Royal Assent. At this stage, we have not made a specific assessment of the number of additional enforcement officers needed in each local authority. However, we have engaged with National Trading Standards, the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers' Board and Trading Standards regions to identify where to additional support and funding is needed to enforce the provisions in the Bill. As a result, an additional £10 million funding for Trading Standards was announced on 23 March 2025 which will bolster operations in local communities for the next year. This will fund an expected 80 more apprentice enforcement officers to tackle underage sales and prevent harmful tobacco and vape products finding their way into neighbourhood shops. We have allocated the apprenticeship funding regionally, based on smoking and vaping prevalence in the area, to target the areas where enforcement will most likely be needed.
In total, we will invest £30 million of new funding in 2025/26 for enforcement agencies including Trading Standards, Border Force and HM Revenue and Customs to tackle the illicit and underage sale of tobacco and vapes, supporting the implementation of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Merron on 30 April (HL6268), how many children were hospitalised as a result of non-therapeutic male circumcision between 2015 and 2025.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The data is not available in the format requested. Data is collected on admissions with a primary diagnosis code of routine and ritual circumcision. This data is available for 2023/24, by age group, on the NHS.UK website, in an online only format.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have conducted an impact assessment of the planned 50 per cent staff cost reductions for NHS England this financial year; and if so, what are the implications for services and delivery at local and regional levels.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and senior Department officials are working with the new executive team at the top of NHS England, led by Sir Jim Mackey, to jointly lead the formation of a new joint centre. It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts, as is due process. Evidence from these ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.
The new centre will operate in a leaner, more agile, and more efficient way and will empower staff at all levels of the health system, including local and regional, to deliver better care for patients, drive productivity up, and get waiting times down. This change will set local National Health Service providers free to innovate, develop new productive ways of working, and focus on what matters most.
The Government is committed to transparency and will consider how best to ensure the public and parliamentarians are informed of the outcomes.