Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on human health of the use of lead ammunition for shooting.
Answered by Jane Ellison
In October 2012, the Food Standards Agency assessed the risk to human health from exposure to lead from lead bullets and shot used to shoot wild game animals.
The FSA concluded in its risk assessment that frequent consumption of game meat could increase exposure to lead. This increased exposure would be a concern in the case of toddlers, young children and pregnant women because of the neurotoxicity of lead to the developing brain.
This risk assessment is available on the FSA’s website:
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps he has taken to improve the performance of the East Midlands Ambulance Service.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The NHS Trust Development Authority (TDA), Care Quality Commission, clinical commissioning groups and the trust continue to work together to improve performance.
The TDA will continue to meet regularly with the trust’s leadership team to review and monitor progress, to ensure response times continue to improve.
As part of overall operational resilience planning for winter, we have provided an additional £50 million nationally to support ambulance trusts in managing extra demand.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in (a) each surgery in Corby constituency and (b) each clinical commissioning group area in England were unable to obtain a GP appointment within 48 hours in each month since 2010.
Answered by Dan Poulter
Data on waiting times to see a general practitioner (GP) is not collected.
The 48 hour waiting time target was removed because it was seen as too inflexible in meeting the needs of patients. The GP patient survey showed that the proportion of people who wanted to get an appointment within two days (and were able to) actually fell between 2008-09 and 2009-10 i.e. when the target was in place.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the advertising of e-cigarettes on television.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Advertising of e-cigarettes is subject to controls overseen by the Advertising Standards Authority, who are the United Kingdom's regulator of advertising across all media, including marketing on websites. The Committee of Advertising Practice and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, who are the bodies responsible for writing and maintaining the advertising codes, recently issued guidance to the advertisers of e-cigarettes to help them fully comply with the current rules.
The Revised Tobacco Products Directive will come into force in May 2016. From that time it will be illegal to advertise e-cigarettes, other than those licenced by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, on television in the UK.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that obese and overweight patients receive expert advice on weight loss and weight management as early as possible.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government remains committed to providing overweight and obese individuals with expert advice, through supporting local public health teams and health professionals with the evidence based tools they need to deliver early support and advice in adopting healthier behaviours and reducing excess weight. We are giving local authorities £8.2 billion ring fenced public health funding over 3 years.
Local authorities, NHS England and clinical commissioning groups are responsible for the commissioning of the obesity care pathway, providing services based on expert guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
Public Health England (PHE) provides tools and support to local authorities to provide evidence based and effective pathways and interventions for overweight and obese individuals to lose weight.
The National Child Measurement Programme and NHS Health Check are national mandatory public health functions which are the responsibility of local authorities. These services enable identification of the overweight and obese; in school aged children at reception and year 6 and for adults aged 40-74 years; and provide access to services.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will take steps to ensure that healthcare practitioners routinely check obese patients for signs of osteoarthritis.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence clinical guideline ‘Obesity: Guidance on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children’ published in 2006, makes recommendations on the treatment of obese patients. The guideline outlines that patients who are overweight or obese should be assessed for a number of conditions, including osteoarthritis.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Guideline Development Group working on the draft partial update to Clinical Guidance 43 on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity is taking fully into account all published studies in relation to the use of very low calorie diets for weight loss to ensure that in the interests of patient care and NHS expenditure all practical alternatives to bariatric surgery are considered prior to such surgery being offered.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Ministers have had no such discussions.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and as such it would be inappropriate for Ministers to intervene. NICE is responsible for the methods used to develop and update its guidance and reviews its published clinical guidelines in order to take account of the latest available evidence.
NICE consulted on its draft updated clinical guideline on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obese adults and children in July and August. NICE will take the stakeholder comments from the consultation into account in developing the final guideline, which is currently planned for publication in November.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with representatives of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the Guideline Development Group working on the draft partial update to Clinical Guidance 43 on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Ministers have had no such discussions.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and as such it would be inappropriate for Ministers to intervene. NICE is responsible for the methods used to develop and update its guidance and reviews its published clinical guidelines in order to take account of the latest available evidence.
NICE consulted on its draft updated clinical guideline on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obese adults and children in July and August. NICE will take the stakeholder comments from the consultation into account in developing the final guideline, which is currently planned for publication in November.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on people with physical impairments and learning disabilities of the proposals by third sector providers to close residential care homes available to them.
Answered by Norman Lamb
The Department has not made an assessment of the effect on people with physical impairments and learning disabilities of the proposals by third sector providers to close residential care homes available to them.
The Department is aware that some providers of residential care for disabled people are reviewing their services and consulting with people who use services and their families.
The Department appreciates that some people who use services and their families may be concerned and encourages them to engage fully with the consultation process to ensure their views are taken into account.
The Government believes that people who wish, and who are able to live in their communities should be given the support they need to do so. People who use services whose care is provided or arranged by their local council should be supported to exercise choice regarding where they receive services.
The Care Act 2014, which will come into force in 2015, will give local authorities a core duty to promote their local market in care provision, with a particular focus on ensuring diversity, quality and sustainability which, importantly, will mean there should be sufficient high quality services available to meet the needs of individuals in their local area.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the availability of a range of housing and care options for people with physical disabilities and learning difficulties.
Answered by Norman Lamb
The Department has not made any assessments of the availability of a range of housing and care options for people with physical disabilities and learning difficulties.
The new Care Act, which will come into force in 2015, will give local authorities a core duty to promote their local market, with a particular focus on ensuring diversity, quality and sustainability which, importantly, will mean there should be sufficient high quality services available to meet the needs of individuals in their local area.
The Department has worked with stakeholders, including provider organisations, to develop draft statutory guidance to support the implementation of the Care Act. The guidance will describe how local authorities must meet these new duties, including encouraging sustainability through appropriate fee levels. The draft guidance was published as part of a 10-week public consultation on the full package of regulations and guidance under part 1 of the Care Act on 6 June.
The Government believes that people who wish and who are able to live in their communities, rather than in an institutional care setting, should be given the support they need to do so.