Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what criteria are used to review NHS products by the NHS Clinical Evaluation Team.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Clinical criteria will vary dependent upon the product range to be reviewed. The Clinical Evaluation Team has published an operating manual which explains the process of developing defined clinical quality criteria for each product group and is described in stage 4 of their pathway, as set out on pages 23 - 24 of the operating manual.
Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what account the NHS Business Services Authority plans to take in its decision-making on the future procurement of NHS products of results from NHS Clinical Evaluation Teams.
Answered by David Mowat
Information from the Clinical Evaluation Team will be used by NHS Business Services Authority to support development of procurement strategy.
Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the NHS Business Services Authority has taken to provide right of appeal by patients and industry as part of the NHS Clinical Evaluation Team's process to review NHS products.
Answered by David Mowat
The Clinical Evaluation Team is not seeking to establish a set of standards for products, nor does it purport to make any recommendations for the National Health Service to use (or not use) particular products. Suppliers are to be given the opportunity to review the Clinical Evaluation Team’s reviews for their product(s) at least 72 hours in advance of publication so that any factual and material errors can be rectified. Any concerns expressed will be given appropriate consideration.
Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment the NHS Clinical Evaluation Team plans to make of manufacturers' feedback in the product review process.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Any feedback received from key stakeholders, including manufacturers, is reviewed as and when it is received by the clinical specialist lead and will be considered as part of the product review process.
Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons manufacturers have been given 72 hours to comment on the draft assessment results of their products as part of the NHS Clinical Evaluation Team's process to review NHS products; and whether this is considered best practice.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Clinical Evaluation Team considered that in order for the team to be acting reasonably it should give suppliers the opportunity to correct factual inaccuracies and errors about their products before the team published their reports. The Clinical Evaluation Team considered that a minimum period of 72 hours ahead of publication would be a reasonable period for suppliers to alert the team to any such factual and material errors or mistakes that may have been made against those reviews. This minimum period is a starting point for suppliers and the team may give suppliers more time if in the circumstances it is reasonable to do so.
Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the NHS Business Services Authority is taking to ensure that the criteria for the review of NHS products by the NHS Clinical Evaluation Team are made public to patients and industry.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Clinical Evaluation Team has published an operating manual, entitled “NHS Clinical Evaluation Team: Operating Manual” which can be found on the Clinical Evaluation Team’s section of NHS Business Services Authority website:
This manual explains the process of developing the clinical criteria for each product group.
Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what mechanisms the NHS Clinical Evaluation Team's process to review NHS products uses to engage with industry.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The Clinical Evaluation Team attends and updates industry at the NHS Supplier Board meetings. As part of the stakeholder engagement process, the team will decide if an initial introductory meeting is required with suppliers to explain the process for clinical review and how they can contribute by providing product information. This may be followed by specific supplier meetings or call for action letters, if required.
Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether manufacturers will see evaluation reports and comparative summaries of products reviewed by the NHS Clinical Evaluation Team before they are made publicly available.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Suppliers will be provided with copies of the Clinical Evaluation Team’s evaluation reports on their products at least 72 hours before the publication date in order to give them the opportunity to correct factual inaccuracies and errors about their products. After taking into consideration any such factual inaccuracies and errors notified by suppliers, the Clinical Evaluation Team will then publish the final report containing all products assessed on its website.
Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much cattle feed has been imported to the UK in the last five years; what proportion of the total amount was soya products; and from which countries those imports came.
Answered by George Eustice
According to HMRC trade data, the UK imported 28 million tonnes of animal feed[1] from 94 countries over the last five years (2011-2015). Approximately one third of these imports were soya based.
The top ten countries accounted for approximately four fifths of these imports:
Ukraine
[1] HMRC trade data does not separately identify imports of cattle feed. Therefore these figures relate to imports of all animal feed.
Asked by: Alan Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much British-grown wheat, of each grade type was (a) exported and (b) to which countries in the past five years for which figures are available.
Answered by George Eustice
According to HMRC trade data, the UK exported 7.4 million tonnes of common unmilled wheat to 54 countries over the last five years (2011-2015).
The top five countries accounted for approximately four fifths of these exports:
HMRC trade data does not separately identify wheat by grade i.e. bread, biscuits etc. It is publically available (free of charge) at: www.uktradeinfo.com.