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Written Question
GP Surgeries
Tuesday 27th February 2024

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support GP practices with the costs of recycling medical packaging.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Premises Costs Directions 2013 set out the reimbursement of certain costs, incurred by General Medical Services contractors, that can be claimed relating to their practice premises. This includes being able to claim reimbursement for clinical waste disposal. The costs of all other waste services are a general practice (GP) expense, covered by the payments GPs receive for delivery of services under their contracts. The Premises Costs Directions 2013 is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-general-medical-services-premises-costs-directions


Written Question
Dental Services: Elmet and Rothwell
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental practices in the Elmet and Rothwell constituency have (a) become wholly private and (b) reduced their NHS commitment since March 2020; and what urgent steps his Department is taking to ensure that residents living in the Elmet and Rothwell constituency have access to an NHS dentist.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

We do not hold data at the requested level or on private dental practices.

In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care. This plan will help increase access to NHS dentistry whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices, including in Elmet and Rothwell. We have taken action to implement these changes, including through regulations that came into effect on 25th November 2022.

In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, they are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance. Further reforms are planned for this year.


Written Question
Dental Services
Monday 6th February 2023

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled Our plan for patients, published on 22 September 2022, what steps his Department is taking to require dentists to update their NHS website profiles more frequently.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care.

We have taken action to implement these changes, including through amendments to the National Health Service dental contract introduced on 25 November 2022. It became a contractual responsibility for NHS dentists to keep their NHS.UK profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. Practices are required to update their NHS.UK profiles at least once every 90 days, including information on whether they are accepting new patients.

Commissioners will have access to a report showing which practices are non-compliant, with monitoring due to come into effect from end of March 2023.


Written Question
Social Services: Public Consultation
Tuesday 18th January 2022

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to consult the public as part of the Government’s social care reform process.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

We continue working with organisations in the social care sector, including members of the public with lived experience of care and support, to inform the implementation of the reforms. We will also launch a public consultation on the charging reform operational guidance in the spring.


Written Question
Dental Services: Elmet and Rothwell
Wednesday 31st March 2021

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that residents living in Elmet and Rothwell constituency are able to access a NHS dentist.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Chief Dental Officer for England and the British Dental Association to increase levels of service, as fast as is safely possible. In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through a National Health Service dental practice, they are advised to call NHS 111 who will assist in booking an appointment at one of over 100 designated urgent care centres, which continue to stay open across Yorkshire.


Written Question
Test and Trace Support Payment
Monday 8th March 2021

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether low-income parents or guardians of a child who has been instructed to self-isolate by their school will be eligible to apply for the covid-19 £500 Test and Trace Support payment.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Test and Trace Support Payment scheme is for people on low incomes who have been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace or the NHS COVID-19 app, either because they have tested positive or because they are a close contact of someone who has tested positive. We have worked closely with local authorities to monitor the effectiveness of the scheme and have listened to feedback from charities and support groups. We are now extending the scheme to summer 2021 and expanding eligibility to cover parents and guardians who have to take time off work to care for a child who is self-isolating.


Written Question
Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions
Monday 30th November 2020

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 99590 tabled by the hon. Member for Elmet and Rothwell on 6 October 2020.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We take parliamentary scrutiny incredibly seriously and it is fundamentally important that hon. Members are provided with accurate and timely information to enable them to hold Government to account. We are working rapidly to provide all Members with accurate answers to their questions, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hon. Member’s question will be answered as soon as possible.


Written Question
Clinical trials: Medical Equipment
Monday 12th October 2020

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the (a) subject and (b) outcomes for each trial of a new medical device developed for the UK market since 1 January 2006.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently bound by the European Union Regulations, the Medical Devices and the In-Vitro Diagnostic Devices Regulations, and its transparency provisions and therefore cannot currently publish information relating to approved clinical investigations from 1 January 2006.

The Medicines and Medical Devices Bill currently going through parliament will give the MHRA the power to update and amend the legislative frameworks that governs human medicines, medical devices and veterinary medicines. These powers will also enable transparency to support patient safety work. Clinical investigations work will be part of these future considerations.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Disease Control
Monday 21st September 2020

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of air sanitisation and UV-C sterilisation units on reducing the spread of covid-19 in confined public spaces.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Public Health England (PHE) has made no assessment of the effectiveness of air sanitisation and ultraviolet C (UV-C) sterilisation units on reducing the spread of COVID-19 in confined public spaces.

PHE is liaising with national and international partners on the effectiveness of UV-C for inactivating SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.

PHE will continue to review the emerging evidence.


Written Question
Clinical Trials: Medical Equipment
Tuesday 15th September 2020

Asked by: Alec Shelbrooke (Conservative - Elmet and Rothwell)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether all trials using new medical devices are logged centrally; and what steps he is taking to ensure that there is oversight of all non-drug trials.

Answered by Nadine Dorries

Medical devices are regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). All trials of new medical devices being developed for the United Kingdom market are reviewed by the MHRA before the devices are used on humans in these trials in the UK. The MHRA maintains a record of all such trials whether approved or refused. Plans are in place to make this information available to the public in future. The MHRA only has oversight of medicines and medical devices trials and therefore do not have oversight of all non-drug trials.

All non-drug trials (including device studies) are centrally reviewed for ethical approval by the Health Research Authority (HRA). If they meet a set of additional legal and policy criteria, they are granted approval to proceed in the National Health Service.

All clinical trials must be conducted in accordance with the Policy Framework for Health and Social Care, which describes the roles and responsibilities of those involved in research oversight.

There is an expectation that all trials are registered and a lay summary made available on the HRA website.