Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact that food consumption campaigns, such as “Drinka Pinta Milka Day”, have had on introducing children to healthy eating habits.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We cannot comment on campaigns undertaken by other commercial companies or organisations. The Government’s nutrition campaigns, such as Better Health Families previously named Change4Life, have focused on sugar, specifically encouraging parents to decrease the amount of sugar their children consume.
These campaigns have seen high claimed behavioural change as a result, as well as a measurable reduction in sugar consumption. For example: in 2019, 59% of all mothers of five to 11 year olds, or 89% of advert recognisers, said they took direct sugar-related action as a results of the campaign; in 2017, 64% of mothers reported making changes around sugar, saturated fats or salt as a result of our Be Food Smart campaign; a 2016 study of the Sugar Smart campaign showed that supermarket stores which featured Change4Life advertising saw a 3% to 4% difference in sales of sugary cereals, sugary drinks and diet drinks compared to the control stores, a trend which continued for 16 weeks after the campaign ended; and the 2014 Smart Swaps campaign led to a decrease of more than 8% in the purchase of sugary fizzy drinks during the campaign period, when compared with the previous year.
For the assessment of our campaigns, we use an evaluation framework to holistically evaluate, measure success, and optimise. This framework examines the conditions in which campaigns operate, the cost of the campaigns, the activity undertaken and the resultant reach, the reaction to the campaign, the behaviour change achieved, whether claimed and actual, and the impact of the campaign on individuals.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage more GPs to practice in rural areas.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that there are issues with recruitment and retention in certain areas of the country, including some rural locations. We launched the Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme in 2016, which has attracted hundreds of doctors to train in hard to recruit locations, including many rural areas, by providing a one-off financial incentive of £20,000. As of 2023/24, there are 782 places available on the scheme.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to restore the balance in funding between primary and secondary care to ensure primary care has the resources to train, recruit and retain GPs.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for General Practice and Primary Care Networks has increased to £11.5 billion in 2023/24.
The Government remains committed to growing the general practitioner (GP) workforce and number of doctors in general practice and is determined to deliver this as soon as possible. We are working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.
NHS England has made available several retention schemes available to boost the general practice workforce. This includes the GP Retention Scheme, the GP Retention Fund, the National GP Induction and Refresher, the Locum Support Scheme, and the Supporting Mentors Scheme.
To boost recruitment, we have increased the number of GP training places. Last year, we saw 4,032 doctors accepting a place on GP training, up from 2,671 in 2014. The number of training places will rise to 6,000 by 2031/32, with the first 500 new places available from September 2025.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of imported meats were denied entry into the UK for having failed documentary or physical checks in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Documentary, identity and physical checks on imported meat and meat products from non- European Union countries are undertaken at the first point of entry into Great Britain at designated Border Controls Posts.
The frequency of checks applied to imported meat and meat products are prescribed in Commission Retained Regulation (EU) 2019/2124. Imported meat, meat preparations and meat products are subject to 100% documentary and identity checks, with the frequency of physical checks varying from 1% to 30% depending upon the type of meat product that is imported.
As our systems record all failures arising from documentary, identity, or physical checks, it may be the case that a single consignment may have failed one or all the checks. The total number of documentary, identity and physical checks failures as a percentage of all checks carried out in 2020 was 0.36%, in 2021, 0.34% and in 2022, 0.31%.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government at which point checks are carried out on meat imported into the UK; how many checks are purely on the basis of documentary evidence; and what proportion are physical checks.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Documentary, identity and physical checks on imported meat and meat products from non- European Union countries are undertaken at the first point of entry into Great Britain at designated Border Controls Posts.
The frequency of checks applied to imported meat and meat products are prescribed in Commission Retained Regulation (EU) 2019/2124. Imported meat, meat preparations and meat products are subject to 100% documentary and identity checks, with the frequency of physical checks varying from 1% to 30% depending upon the type of meat product that is imported.
As our systems record all failures arising from documentary, identity, or physical checks, it may be the case that a single consignment may have failed one or all the checks. The total number of documentary, identity and physical checks failures as a percentage of all checks carried out in 2020 was 0.36%, in 2021, 0.34% and in 2022, 0.31%.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether General Practitioners are no longer able to perform routine procedures such as syringing of ears and treatment of minor injuries; and if not, who took the decisions to remove these procedures from general practice; and when these decisions were taken.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued guidance in 2018 no longer advising manual ear syringing due to risks associated, such as trauma to the ear drum or infection. NICE guidance suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as considering ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or manual removal using a probe. General practitioners follow this guidance and are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government why ear syringing is now only provided by a private sector provider in some areas, and not by the NHS.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning services on the National Health Service in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance. This includes provision of recommended ear wax removal services for patients with a clinical need for ear wax removal.
In June 2018, NICE updated its guidance Hearing loss in adults: assessment and management so that it no longer recommends manual ear wax syringing. This update of the guidance was due to risks associated with the treatment such as trauma to the ear drum or infection. Instead, the guidance suggests alternative arrangements, such as ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or another method of earwax removal such as manual removal using a probe.
A copy of the guidance is attached.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which routine procedures previously provided by the NHS are now only delivered through private companies.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not collected in the format requested. Local commissioning decisions are made by integrated care boards based on their local need. Information on the procedures commissioned locally is not held by the Department. National Health Service commissioners are expected to take National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance fully into account alongside local priorities in designing services that meet the needs of their populations.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the delays to discharge from hospitals owing to the lack of availability of social care; and what steps they intend to take to address this.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
We are working with NHS England and local government to monitor and address discharge delays. NHS England’s data shows that on 31 August there were 13,195 patients in hospital in England who no longer meet the criteria to reside. However, this data does not record whether those patients are awaiting a care home placement or care at home.
In December 2021, the Department established the National Hospital Discharge Taskforce with membership from local and central government, the National Health Service to identify long-term, sustainable measures to reduce delayed discharges. The Taskforce launched a ‘100-day discharge challenge’ in July 2022, focusing on 10 best practices for use in hospitals. Integrated care systems and local areas have been invited to submit expressions of interest to become ‘discharge frontrunners’ to facilitate the sharing of good practice and ideas to ease discharge pressures. In addition, we are simplifying the recruitment of eligible workers from overseas to allow social care employers to fill vacancies.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to retain General Practitioners working up until the age of retirement to stem the flow of GPs leaving the profession.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new retention schemes alongside continued support for existing schemes for the general practice workforce. The GP Retention Scheme provides financial and educational support to assist general practitioners (GPs) to remain in clinical practice where they are unable to undertake a regular part-time role and may otherwise leave the profession.
The International Induction Programme provides a supported pathway for overseas qualified GPs who have not worked in general practice in the United Kingdom to be inducted safely into the National Health Service. The Return to Practice Programme provides a pathway for qualified GPs who have previously been on the General Medical Council’s GP Register and NHS England’s Medical Performers List to return to general practice after an absence of more than two years.
The Primary Care Fellowship Programme guarantees the opportunity for every newly qualified GP and nurse entering general practice to receive funded mentorship, funded continuing professional development opportunities of one session per week and rotational placements within or across Primary Care Networks to develop experience and support the transition into the local workforce. The Supporting Mentors Scheme is a new national scheme which will offer an opportunity for highly experienced GPs to mentor newly qualified GPs entering the workforce through the Fellowship Programme.
The New to Partnership Payment is available to those GPs without partnership experience who are offered partnerships, in addition to other professional groups such as nurses and pharmacists. New partners will benefit from a £3,000 business training allowance and a guaranteed one-off payment of £20,000 to support their establishment as a new partner.