Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
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 secure supplies of medicines for (a) diabetes, (b) cancer and (c) mental health treatments.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has well-established tools and processes to manage supply issues whenever they arise, helping to prevent shortages and mitigate risks to patients. We work with industry, NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, devolved administrations and other stakeholders to help ensure patients continue to have access to the treatments they need.
The Department has been working with industry to help boost supplies of medicines for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, and the position is improving as a result. Some supply issues remain, but we are continuing to work hard to resolve these as quickly as possible. We have issued guidance to all healthcare professionals on how to manage patients requiring these medicines whilst supply is disrupted. Our guidance is clear that medicines licensed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes should only be used for this purpose.
Regarding cancer medicines, we are aware of an issue with the supply of letrozole tablets from one supplier. We have been working with alternative suppliers, who have confirmed that they have the stock available to meet demand. A supplier of tamoxifen tablets is also experiencing supply issues, but again we have worked with alternative suppliers to help ensure they can support the market at this time.
Regarding medicines for mental health treatments, the Department has been working with manufacturers of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medicines and a number of issues have now been resolved. Work continues to resolve the remaining supply issues by April 2024. We have issued a National Patient Safety Alert and worked with clinicians to develop helpful guidance on how to manage patients during this time.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timescale is for publishing the findings of the second phase of independent review into drug misuse by Professor Dame Carol Black, announced by his Department on 2 July 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Publication is expected in summer 2021.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the Government has spent on external consultants on the NHS Test and Trace programme to date.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For the 2020/21 financial year, the NHS Test and Trace programme has budgeted £438 million for professional services, which includes external consultants. Actual expenditure on professional services will be published when annual accounts have been audited.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Stirling sent on 19 August 2020, ref: AL2706, on the implications for his Department of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are working rapidly to provide all Members and external correspondents with accurate answers to their correspondence, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The hon. Member’s letter will be answered as soon as possible.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the tendering process is for recruiting consultants to the NHS Test and Trace programme.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Call off contracts from the Crown Commercial Framework which contain a preselected list of suppliers with standard terms and conditions have been used in the majority of awards.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Audit Office report entitled Investigation into government procurement during the covid-19 pandemic, published 18 November 2020, what the names are of the 144 companies that were introduced by the private offices of Ministers and processed via the high priority lane for the procurement of personal protective equipment.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government issued a public call to action to support the increased requirements of personal protective equipment (PPE). This resulted in over 15,000 suppliers offering their help and support.
The cross-Government PPE team considered that leads referred by Government officials, Ministerial private offices, Parliamentarians, senior National Health Service staff and other health professionals were possibly the more credible and needed to be initially reviewed with more urgency. This was commonly referred to as a ‘priority’ or ‘VIP’ channel.
At the point of being prioritised these offers went into the same due diligence, technical assurance, closing or contract negotiation and contract award process as all the other offers. About one in ten suppliers were processed through this channel - 47 out of 493 - obtained contracts. We do not intend to publish the list of these suppliers as there may be associated commercial implications.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the total value of personal protective equipment public procurement contracts in the financial year 2020-21 to date.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Contracting authorities are allowed to procure goods, services and works with extreme urgency in exceptional circumstances under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. These include a direct award under which authorities may enter into contracts without competing or advertising the requirement. The great majority of contracts placed by the Department were awarded under this route.
As of the beginning of November 2020, 937 contracts worth an estimated £17.8 billion have been awarded by the Department and its executive agencies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for a wide range of products and services including personal protective equipment (PPE), the Test and Trace initiative, ventilators, IT, logistics and medicines etc.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many contracts his Department has awarded to companies without a tendering process in the last 12 months; which companies those contracts were with; and what services those contracts were for.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Contracting authorities are allowed to procure goods, services and works with extreme urgency in exceptional circumstances under the Public Contract Regulations 2015. These include a direct award under which authorities may enter into contracts without competing or advertising the requirement. The great majority of contracts placed by the Department were awarded under this route.
As of the beginning of November 2020, 937 contracts worth an estimated £17.8 billion have been awarded by the Department and its executive agencies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for a wide range of products and services including personal protective equipment (PPE), the Test and Trace initiative, ventilators, IT, logistics and medicines etc.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) value and (b) purpose is of his Department's contracts with TAEG Energy Ltd to date.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department has two contracts with TAEG Energy Ltd for the delivery of hand sanitiser products. The first has a value of £5 million; the second £53 million.
TAEG Energy Ltd were evaluated by Departmental officials on their financial standing; compliance with minimum product and technical specifications; and ability to perform the contract. Contracts are awarded by the appropriate Departmental accounting officer in line with Departmental terms and conditions.
The Department’s procurement records show that the Department has had no contracts with TAEG Energy Ltd over the last five years prior to the award of the contracts for hand sanitiser.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what due diligence was undertaken by his Department before the award of contracts to TAEG Energy Ltd.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department has two contracts with TAEG Energy Ltd for the delivery of hand sanitiser products. The first has a value of £5 million; the second £53 million.
TAEG Energy Ltd were evaluated by Departmental officials on their financial standing; compliance with minimum product and technical specifications; and ability to perform the contract. Contracts are awarded by the appropriate Departmental accounting officer in line with Departmental terms and conditions.
The Department’s procurement records show that the Department has had no contracts with TAEG Energy Ltd over the last five years prior to the award of the contracts for hand sanitiser.