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Written Question
Care Workers: Visas
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the removal of (a) overseas and (b) senior care workers’ rights to bring dependants on main applicant flows for the health and social care visa.

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

We expect social care visa volumes will remain resilient to removing the eligibility for new care and senior care workers to bring dependants. This is in the context of a strong global labour supply, possible changes in migrant behaviour in response, and that a proportion of recruits are estimated to already come without dependants. The Home Office has published estimates of the impact these changes might have on the number of people applying to work in the sector from outside the United Kingdom, which are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts


Written Question
Mental Capacity
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timetable is for the introduction of Liberty Protection Safeguards.

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

The situation remains as set out in April 2023. The implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) has been delayed beyond the life of this Parliament. We will therefore not be publishing a timetable for the introduction of the LPS at this time.


Written Question
Vaccination: Procurement
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England’s vaccination strategy, published on 13 December 2023, what assessment her Department has made of Integrated Care Boards’ readiness to take on responsibility for commissioning vaccination services by April 2025.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

NHS England and its regional commissioning teams are working with integrated care boards (ICBs) to prepare for any future delegation of commissioning responsibility for vaccination services. This is likely to include a period of formal joint working between NHS England teams and ICBs to support collaborative decision-making. As with any delegation process, an assessment of ICB readiness will be required prior to any changes being made and the Department will be involved in this assessment. Following delegation, ICBs will need to provide assurance to NHS England that they are exercising the delegated functions safely and effectively, in line with the NHS Oversight Framework.

NHS England will remain accountable to the Secretary of State for the delivery and performance of national vaccination programmes as set out in the NHS public health functions.


Written Question
Vaccination
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference the NHS England's vaccination strategy, published on 13 December 2023, what steps she (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to help ensure that NHS England is able to monitor (i) vaccine uptake and (ii) vaccine performance across England after vaccination commissioning and performance monitoring is delegated to Integrated Care Boards.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Following any delegation, integrated care boards (ICBs) would still be expected to meet and report on national performance standards for uptake and coverage, and national data for uptake and coverage of vaccinations will continue to be published. The national vaccination strategy also suggests that this is enhanced by introducing additional requirements for understanding performance in communities that are currently underserved by vaccination services, and NHS England will be working with the UK Health Security Agency, ICBs and other partners to develop this further.


Written Question
Vaccination: Integrated Care Boards
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's vaccination strategy, published on 13 December 2023, what guidance Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and NHS regional bodies will receive to ensure that vaccine monitoring is (a) comparable with other ICBs and (b) collated at a national level to monitor England’s vaccine performance, after they become responsible for monitoring vaccine performance.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Guidance for integrated care boards (ICBs) on this issue is yet to be developed. NHS England will develop guidance on this issue at the time of any delegation and in consultation with the Department. ICBs would still be expected to meet and consistently report on national performance standards for uptake and coverage, and national data for uptake and coverage of vaccinations will continue to be published following any delegation.


Written Question
Vaccination: Immunosuppression
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's vaccination strategy, published on 13 December 2023, what guidance her Department plans to provide to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to ensure that vaccinators are trained to consider people with blood cancer who have received stem cell transplants when determining who has access to re-vaccination programmes, once ICBs become responsible for training vaccinators.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Eligibility for vaccination programmes is determined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) rather than the National Health Service or individual vaccinators. NHS England or JCVI may issue guidance on administering vaccines to certain groups and individuals including those who are immunocompromised. Training standards in vaccine administration will continue to be set by the UK Health Security Agency, and employers will be responsible for training their staff in accordance with these standards. In line with the vaccination strategy, NHS England will consider which national training and workforce management tools would support integrated care boards and employers to drive innovation in vaccination delivery including ways of supporting different eligible groups.


Written Question
Vaccination: Immunosuppression
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's publication entitled NHS vaccination strategy, published on 13 December 2023, whether she plans to issue guidance to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) on the best practice for administering vaccinations for individuals with weakened immune systems.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Eligibility for vaccination programmes is determined by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) rather than the National Health Service or individual vaccinators. NHS England or JCVI may issue guidance on administering vaccines to certain groups and individuals including those who are immunocompromised. Training standards in vaccine administration will continue to be set by the UK Health Security Agency, and employers will be responsible for training their staff in accordance with these standards. In line with the vaccination strategy, NHS England will consider which national training and workforce management tools would support integrated care boards and employers to drive innovation in vaccination delivery including ways of supporting different eligible groups.


Written Question
Carers
Monday 18th December 2023

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with NHS England on using its (a) structures and (b) delivery mechanisms to identify unpaid carers.

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

This summer, I met with NHS England and ministerial counterparts as part of the cross-government roundtable on unpaid carers. We discussed the identification of unpaid carers, including young carers, which continues to be an important area of work. NHS England set out how it plans to continue important work to identify, involve and support unpaid carers by, for example, enhancing the NHS App.

The Adult Social Care reform white paper, ‘People at the Heart of Care’, which was published December 2021, addressed identifying unpaid carers through increasing the use of markers in National Health Service electronic health records, by simplifying current approaches to data collection and registration.

On 17 October 2022, NHS England wrote to all general practitioner practices about the importance of identifying carers and advising how caring status should be recorded on patient records.


Written Question
Duty of Candour Review
Monday 18th December 2023

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Justice on her Department's duty of candour review for health and social care providers.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Ahead of publishing the Terms of Reference for the review on 6 December 2023, we consulted all members of the Home Affairs Committee, including my rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Justice, on the Department’s planned approach to review the statutory duty of candour.


Written Question
Viral Diseases: Medical Treatments
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)

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 ensure the availability to patients of NICE-approved anti-viral treatments.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been developing recommendations for the National Health Service on whether licensed antivirals for COVID-19 should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. NICE published guidance in March 2023 that recommends the antiviral Paxlovid for those at highest risk of serious illness from COVID-19 and the NHS is now legally required to fund treatment in line with NICE’s recommendations. The Department procured stock of Paxlovid during the pandemic and has set up a distribution network to both primary and secondary care in England, as the devolved administrations have their own arrangements, so that all eligible patients can access the treatment.

NICE is developing recommendations for the NHS on the use of the antivirals molnupiravir and remdesivir, and is also developing guidance for the NHS on the potential expanded use of Paxlovid. NICE published final draft guidance that recommends expanded use of Paxlovid in August 2023. Following discussions between the Department, NHS England and NICE, NICE has recently consulted on an NHS England proposal to vary the funding requirement that normally applies three months after the publication of NICE guidance to allow a phased rollout to all eligible patients. NICE will carefully consider the comments received in response to the consultation in making its final recommendations.