Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of introducing Fixed Recoverable Costs in clinical negligence on vulnerable people’s ability to access justice.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, the Government is considering the way forward on a wide range of matters, including clinical negligence costs reform, and we will announce our position in due course.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of alternatives to Fixed Recoverable Costs for lower-value clinical negligence claims.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, the Government is considering the way forward on a wide range of matters, including clinical negligence costs reform, and we will announce our position in due course.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to reform the fixed recoverable costs for lower-value clinical negligence claims.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, the Government is considering the way forward on a wide range of matters, including clinical negligence costs reform, and we will announce our position in due course.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
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 minutes from the recent Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition horizon scan meeting of 9 October 2024 on ultra-processed foods.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
United Kingdom dietary recommendations are based on independent advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). The SACN publishes minutes for all its meetings on its GOV.UK webpages.
On 9 October 2024, the SACN held a horizon scan meeting, at which the committee discussed the topic of processed foods and health. Papers for these meetings are available on the SACN webpage, at the following link:
https://app.box.com/s/yuxmdx4jfxmgxycjj08mc5hw51plu942
Draft minutes of this meeting will be published on the SACN webpage early in 2025. The SACN webpage is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/scientific-advisory-committee-on-nutrition#sacn-meetings
The SACN is planning to publish an update review on processed foods and health in 2025.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions the recent UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition meeting had on (a) ultra-processed foods and (b) future policies to reduce consumption of those foods.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Dietary recommendations for the United Kingdom are based on independent advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN).
In July 2023, the SACN published a position statement on processed foods and health, summarising a scoping review of the evidence on food processing and health. The SACN concluded that observed associations between ultra-processed foods and health are concerning, but it is unclear whether these foods are inherently unhealthy due to processing or due to their nutritional content. Given the SACN’s concerns, the committee agreed to consider the issue again at its horizon scan in October 2024. At the meeting, the SACN considered a draft update review on this topic which considers more recently published evidence. It also considered the draft update review at its meeting in November 2024. Papers for these meetings are available on the SACN’s webpages. The SACN is planning to publish the update review on processed foods in 2025.
The SACN has only a dietary risk assessment remit. The SACN is not involved in policy development, and therefore has not had discussions on policies to reduce consumption of processed foods.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of desks were occupied in each of his Department’s offices in the most recent four weeks for which figures are available; and how many staff attended each office in person in the same period.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the percentage of desks that were occupied in the most recent four weeks at our London headquarters on Victoria Street, as we do not routinely collect occupancy data in our other offices:
Week Commencing | Percentage of desks occupied |
2 September 2024 | 76% |
9 September 2024 | 81% |
16 September 2024 | 79% |
23 September 2024 | 74% |
The Department does not record staff office attendance and just measures office occupancy.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many civil servants are assigned to work in each of his Department's offices; and how many desks are available in each office.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number civil servants assigned to work in each of the Department's offices, as well as how many desks are available in each office:
Location | Staff assigned to office | Desks available to the Department in each office |
London | 2,302 | 858 |
Leeds | 840 | 500 |
Bristol | 44 | 34 |
Birmingham | 38 | 24 |
Liverpool | 37 | 23 |
Cambridge | 33 | 68 |
Burnley | 25 | 32 |
Nottingham | 21 | 24 |
Manchester | 18 | 10 |
Newcastle | 14 | 19 |
Reading | 5 | 8 |
Edinburgh | 4 | 4 |
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
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 help improve public awareness of (a) the importance of early diagnosis of chronic kidney disease and (b) recognition of early symptoms.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is working to detect people at risk of kidney disease through the NHS Health Check Programme. The programme, which is available for everyone between the ages of 40 and 74 years old, who is not already on a chronic disease register, assesses people’s health and risk of developing certain health problems. Using this information, patients are supported to make behavioural changes and access treatment which helps to prevent and detect kidney disease earlier.
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) reviewed chronic kidney disease (CKD) and glomerulonephritis in 2011, concluding that a population-wide screening programme would not be recommended. The UK NSC has not looked at the evidence for a targeted programme. The UK NSC can be alerted to any new published peer-reviewed evidence which may suggest the case for a new screening programme. More information is available at the following link:
The National Health Service provides access to tests and therapies to diagnose, code, and treat patients with early-stage CKD. NHS England, through the Renal Services Transformation Programme (RSTP) and regional renal networks, is implementing initiatives to provide better integrated care, reduce health inequalities, and focus on prevention and timely intervention for kidney disease. Regional renal clinical networks prioritise CKD diagnosis and prevention within their transformation ambitions, facilitating earlier treatment. This includes considerations to develop a unified approach to testing populations at risk of developing CKD, and includes raising awareness of diagnostic tools like urine albumin creatinine tests, enabling CKD diagnosis at stages 1 and 2. NHS England aims to improve awareness and access to these important urine and blood tests across primary and secondary care. In addition, RSTP launched a renal toolkit earlier last year, for use by systems, that outlines principles to support better management of patients identified with CKD throughout their patient journey.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, Chronic kidney disease: Assessment and management [NG203], updated in November 2021, sets out best practice for clinicians in the diagnosis and management of CKD. The guidance covers the care and treatment of patients at risk of CKD. It includes recommendations on monitoring of patients at risk of CKD and aims to prevent or delay the progression of the disease. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng203
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much was spent on (a) new furniture and fittings and (b) other refurbishment of Ministerial offices in his Department since the dissolution of the last Parliament; and on what items this was spent.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not spent any money on new furniture, fittings, or refurbishment of ministerial offices since the dissolution of the last Parliament.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to ensure that private care providers are Regularly (a) inspected and (b) rated by the Care Quality Commission.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has taken steps to ensure that all providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), including private care providers are regularly assessed and rated by the CQC.
The interim findings and recommendations made by Dr Penny Dash as part of her review include a clear need for the CQC to increase operational activity. Work is underway to increase the number of inspections the CQC carries out, this includes inspections of private care providers, so the public have an up-to-date understanding of quality and providers are able to demonstrate improvement.
The CQC is working with Professor Sir Mike Richards and Professor Vic Rayner, the Chair of the Care Provider Alliance, to review longer-term improvements to their single assessment framework and how they use it. Other changes to the single assessment framework, such as how CQC score quality statements will allow the CQC to assess and inspect more services while ensuring their ratings are robust. This will also allow the CQC to produce better reports that are clearer about their judgements and ratings.
The CQC reports to the Department regularly on their improvement work, and wider responses to the interim Dash review.