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Written Question
Respiratory Syncytial Virus
Friday 6th December 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government why there is an upper age limit of 79 years for the respiratory syncytial virus vaccination.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The policy for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) programme is based on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which is an independent expert advisory committee on vaccination and immunisation. This advice is provided to the Government to inform, develop, and make policy.

In the JCVI’s statement summarising the advice for the RSV programme, the committee stated that an extension to the initial programme would be considered when there is more certainty about the protection provided by the vaccination in the very elderly and evidence of the real-world impact of the programme in the 75 to 80-year-old cohort.

Following an assessment of specific individual clinical situations, a doctor such as a general practitioner or hospital consultant may choose to prescribe vaccines outside of the national programme, under clinical discretion.


Written Question
Drinking Water: Fluoride
Wednesday 4th December 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to expand the fluoridation of drinking water supplies to improve children's dental health.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

A public consultation on the proposal to expand community water fluoridation in the North East of England finished on 31 July 2024. We are currently considering the responses to this consultation, and a decision on whether to expand the scheme will be announced in due course.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Waiting Lists
Tuesday 3rd December 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what efforts they are making to reduce waiting list times for cognitive behavioural therapy services for people with anxiety and depression by recruiting more clinical psychologists.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Health Service is expanding access to NHS Talking Therapies for adults with common mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, with a commitment to increase the number of people completing courses of treatment by 384,000 and increase the number of sessions, between 2024/25 and 2028/29.

Decisions about recruitment are matters for individual NHS trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

However, we know that the NHS has been facing workforce shortages for a number of years and, while there has been growth in the mental health workforce over recent years, more is needed. That is why, as part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future and is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce waiting times and provide faster treatment. We recognise that bringing in the staff needed will take time. We are working with NHS England on options to deliver this expansion of the mental health workforce.


Written Question
Clinical Psychologists: Vacancies
Tuesday 3rd December 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what efforts they are making to address the shortage of clinical psychologists in mental health trusts.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Health Service is expanding access to NHS Talking Therapies for adults with common mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, with a commitment to increase the number of people completing courses of treatment by 384,000 and increase the number of sessions, between 2024/25 and 2028/29.

Decisions about recruitment are matters for individual NHS trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.

However, we know that the NHS has been facing workforce shortages for a number of years and, while there has been growth in the mental health workforce over recent years, more is needed. That is why, as part of our mission to build an NHS that is fit for the future and is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce waiting times and provide faster treatment. We recognise that bringing in the staff needed will take time. We are working with NHS England on options to deliver this expansion of the mental health workforce.


Written Question
Arms Trade: Export Controls
Friday 20th September 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following their decision to restrict arms export licences to Israel, whether they have reviewed the arms licences in respect of (1) Saudi Arabia, given its conflict with the Houthis in Yemen, (2) Qatar, given its support of Hamas, or (3) Turkey, given its conflict with the Kurds.

Answered by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

HM Government takes its export control responsibilities very seriously and we operate one of the most robust and transparent export control regimes in the world. We rigorously assess every application on a case-by-case basis against strict assessment criteria, the UK’s Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. We will not issue or maintain an export licence to any destination where to do so would be inconsistent with the Criteria. All licences are kept under careful and continual review as standard. We are able to amend, suspend or revoke extant licences as circumstances require.


Written Question
Israel: Arms Trade
Friday 20th September 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what additional factors led to the Foreign Secretary's decision to limit arms supplies to Israel when his predecessor in that office did not take such action.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

Previous assessments against the export criteria are a matter for the government in office at the time. As soon as the Foreign Secretary took office, he tasked officials with a comprehensive review of Israel's compliance with international humanitarian law. On 2 September the Foreign Secretary delivered an Oral Statement in the House of Commons updating Members on his assessment regarding international humanitarian law (IHL) and the Government's related decision on arms exports.

He has published a summary of the IHL process, decision, and the factors taken into account [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summary-of-the-international-humanitarian-law-ihl-process-decision-and-the-factors-taken-into-account#:~:text=The%20government%20has%20conducted%20a%20thorough%20review%20of%20Israel%E2%80%99s%20compliance].


Written Question
General Practitioners
Thursday 12th September 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what support they offer to general practitioners in meeting the demands placed on them.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We hugely value the critical role that general practitioners (GPs) play, and we are determined to address the issues they face by shifting the focus of the National Health Service beyond hospitals and into the community.

We have committed to training thousands more GPs across the country, as well as taking pressure off those currently working in the system. The inclusion of newly qualified GPs into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) will also support the recruitment of GPs.

The ARRS provides funding for a number of additional roles to help create bespoke, multi-disciplinary teams. All these roles are in place to assist GPs in reducing their workload and assisting patients directly with their needs, allowing doctors to focus on more complex patients and other priorities, including continuity of care.


Written Question
General Practitioners: Vacancies
Thursday 12th September 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many vacancies are currently available for general practitioners in primary care, and how many newly qualified general practitioners are seeking appointment.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The data requested is not held centrally.


Written Question
UNRWA: Textbooks
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any evidence that UNRWA is inciting hatred of Jews in the textbooks it provides in its schools in Gaza.

Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

We regularly discuss issues related to the school curriculum and textbooks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and UNRWA. The UK-supported 2021 review of the PA curriculum found improvements in content, with previously flagged materials removed. But it also indicated that problematic content remains in Palestinian textbooks: we therefore need to see further curriculum reform from the PA, and we continue to raise this with them regularly. UNRWA and the PA are engaging seriously on this issue.

Antisemitism is abhorrent and has absolutely no place in any society, and we are committed to tackling it in all its forms.


Written Question
Health Professions: Mental Health
Monday 22nd April 2024

Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the mental health of medical practitioners of withdrawing NHS Practitioner Health services for new applicants.

Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)

We recognise that the NHS Practitioner Health service is valued by many doctors. NHS England is reviewing the service as part of a wider review of its mental health and wellbeing offer to National Health Service staff. It was confirmed on 15 April 2024 that the service will continue to accept new patients from primary and secondary care whilst this review is undertaken over the next 12 months. NHS England will confirm future arrangements once the review has been completed.