Oral Answers to Questions

Alistair Carmichael Excerpts

Tuesday 19th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dunne]

My hon. Friend will be aware that last week we published the workforce strategy. One major focus was on meeting the Secretary of State’s commitment to increase the number of registered nurses by 25% and to broaden the routes into nursing. There is a commitment to expand the nursing associate role, which is helping to provide opportunities, through an alternative route, for healthcare support workers to become registered nurses.

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

T10. Possibly as many as 20,000 babies have been born with birth defects as a consequence of their mothers having used sodium valproate during pregnancy. When will mandatory warnings be given to pregnant women about the risks associated with valproate, and when will we see independent analysis of how we got to this dreadful situation?

[Steve Brine]

There is huge interest in this subject in the House. Over the past three years, there has been extensive work to communicate advice on the risks of valproate in pregnancy, through a huge number of channels, to help professionals and patients. It is evident from monitoring activities that providing health professionals with information, even when repeated constantly through multiple sources, is not changing prescribing behaviour sufficiently to minimise harm to children exposed to valproate in pregnancy. The expert working group of the Commission on Human Medicines is informing the UK position in European negotiations and advising on the national action required within the UK health system. [Interruption.] Sorry, Mr Speaker.