Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the level of availability of Ozempic to NHS patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has worked intensively with industry, NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and others in the supply chain to resolve the ongoing supply issues with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, including Ozempic. We continue to monitor the situation, ensuring medicines remain available for new patients with type 2 diabetes, as well as those unable to obtain their existing treatment. Any patient who is worried about their condition, or access to these medications, should speak to their clinician in the first instance.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 capacity of health care services in the England and Wales to provide take home Naloxone kits to people at risk of opioid overdose.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government has amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to expand access to naloxone. This means that more professionals and services than ever before can give out take-home supplies of naloxone to those at-risk of overdose. This follows the Department’s public consultation, published on 24 January 2024, in which the responses were overwhelmingly supportive of our proposals. The legislation came into force on 2 December 2024.
The legislation also enables the development of a new registration service, which will further expand the number of professionals and services able to give out naloxone. This will take longer to implement, and work is ongoing across the devolved administrations to ensure alignment where appropriate.
This legislation is United Kingdom wide, and we will continue to work closely with colleagues in the devolved administrations to share learning and align our approaches where appropriate.
Health is a devolved issue, and as a result there are currently different existing arrangements for naloxone supply across the UK and each administration takes its own decisions on the provision and funding of naloxone. I have therefore not had discussions on UK wide Government-funded naloxone programmes.
These legislative changes are enabling only, meaning it will be a choice for individuals or organisations to decide whether they want to use this power and give out naloxone, which will be based on local need and capacity. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug treatment services as part of their public health responsibilities, and they provide funding for naloxone supplied through drug treatment services based on their assessment of local need.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a programme of naloxone provision in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government has amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to expand access to naloxone. This means that more professionals and services than ever before can give out take-home supplies of naloxone to those at-risk of overdose. This follows the Department’s public consultation, published on 24 January 2024, in which the responses were overwhelmingly supportive of our proposals. The legislation came into force on 2 December 2024.
The legislation also enables the development of a new registration service, which will further expand the number of professionals and services able to give out naloxone. This will take longer to implement, and work is ongoing across the devolved administrations to ensure alignment where appropriate.
This legislation is United Kingdom wide, and we will continue to work closely with colleagues in the devolved administrations to share learning and align our approaches where appropriate.
Health is a devolved issue, and as a result there are currently different existing arrangements for naloxone supply across the UK and each administration takes its own decisions on the provision and funding of naloxone. I have therefore not had discussions on UK wide Government-funded naloxone programmes.
These legislative changes are enabling only, meaning it will be a choice for individuals or organisations to decide whether they want to use this power and give out naloxone, which will be based on local need and capacity. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug treatment services as part of their public health responsibilities, and they provide funding for naloxone supplied through drug treatment services based on their assessment of local need.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the impact of government-funded Naloxone programmes.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government has amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to expand access to naloxone. This means that more professionals and services than ever before can give out take-home supplies of naloxone to those at-risk of overdose. This follows the Department’s public consultation, published on 24 January 2024, in which the responses were overwhelmingly supportive of our proposals. The legislation came into force on 2 December 2024.
The legislation also enables the development of a new registration service, which will further expand the number of professionals and services able to give out naloxone. This will take longer to implement, and work is ongoing across the devolved administrations to ensure alignment where appropriate.
This legislation is United Kingdom wide, and we will continue to work closely with colleagues in the devolved administrations to share learning and align our approaches where appropriate.
Health is a devolved issue, and as a result there are currently different existing arrangements for naloxone supply across the UK and each administration takes its own decisions on the provision and funding of naloxone. I have therefore not had discussions on UK wide Government-funded naloxone programmes.
These legislative changes are enabling only, meaning it will be a choice for individuals or organisations to decide whether they want to use this power and give out naloxone, which will be based on local need and capacity. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug treatment services as part of their public health responsibilities, and they provide funding for naloxone supplied through drug treatment services based on their assessment of local need.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the consultation outcome entitled Expanding access to naloxone, published on 24 January 2024, whether he plans to increase the number of organisations able to distribute Naloxone.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Government has amended the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 to expand access to naloxone. This means that more professionals and services than ever before can give out take-home supplies of naloxone to those at-risk of overdose. This follows the Department’s public consultation, published on 24 January 2024, in which the responses were overwhelmingly supportive of our proposals. The legislation came into force on 2 December 2024.
The legislation also enables the development of a new registration service, which will further expand the number of professionals and services able to give out naloxone. This will take longer to implement, and work is ongoing across the devolved administrations to ensure alignment where appropriate.
This legislation is United Kingdom wide, and we will continue to work closely with colleagues in the devolved administrations to share learning and align our approaches where appropriate.
Health is a devolved issue, and as a result there are currently different existing arrangements for naloxone supply across the UK and each administration takes its own decisions on the provision and funding of naloxone. I have therefore not had discussions on UK wide Government-funded naloxone programmes.
These legislative changes are enabling only, meaning it will be a choice for individuals or organisations to decide whether they want to use this power and give out naloxone, which will be based on local need and capacity. Local authorities are responsible for commissioning drug treatment services as part of their public health responsibilities, and they provide funding for naloxone supplied through drug treatment services based on their assessment of local need.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to expand Start for Life services to include Carshalton and Wallington constituency.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
In 2025/26, £57 million will be made available to 75 local authorities with high levels of deprivation to provide a range of Start for Life services.
Due to the challenging fiscal context, we have had to make difficult decisions for 2025/26, and only those areas currently in the scheme will receive Start for Life funding. We will continue to evaluate the programme and assess evidence to support wider rollout in future financial years.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 continue funding for the opt-out blood-borne virus testing programme at (a) St George's, Epsom and (b) St Helier Hospitals and Health Group beyond March 2025.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
On 28 November 2024, the Prime Minister announced a further £27 million of funding for the continuation of the HIV Emergency Department opt-out testing programme for 2025/26. As part of the extension, more than 90 sites will be offered funding to continue or begin the roll out of HIV opt out testing until March 2026, including St George's, Epsom, and St Helier hospitals.
NHS England will evaluate the costs and feasibility of further extending this programme regarding hepatitis B and C opt-out testing, once budgets for 2025/26 are confirmed, and expects to provide an update on their decision in the early new year.
There are currently no plans to extend opt-out HIV testing beyond emergency departments. However, the Department, together with the UK Health and Security Agency, and NHS England are working together in the development of a new HIV Action Plan, which will include a focus on scaling up HIV testing, and which we aim to publish in summer 2025.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of facilities staff are on Agenda For Change contracts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Facilities staff in the National Health Service may be employed both directly by NHS bodies but also by separate companies who are contracted to deliver services. The Department does not hold information on the number of staff who are employed by companies contracted from outside the NHS to provide services.
Information is held on staff directly employed by NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. From this we can see that as of August 2024, there were 66,597 full time equivalent staff providing hotel, property, and estates functions in NHS trusts and other core organisations. Of these, 4,770, or 7.2%, where not on Agenda For Change pay bands. This staff group will include people employed in roles such as housekeepers, cleaners, porters, catering staff, maintenance roles, and other estates works.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the prior consultation on the Down Syndrome Act 2022; and when he plans to publish the statutory guidance.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Down Syndrome Act 2022 started as a Private Members Bill, introduced into the House of Commons in summer 2021. As such, this specific assessment has not been made.
A national call for evidence was launched on 19 July 2022 to inform the development of the statutory guidance required under the Down Syndrome Act. The call for evidence remained open for 16 weeks and received over 1,500 responses, including responses from people with Down syndrome, their families and carers, professionals, organisations, and stakeholder groups representing people with genetic conditions.
Officials are taking forward, as a priority, development of the Down Syndrome guidance. We expect to publish the draft guidance for public consultation as soon as possible in the new year.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of shortages of building inspectors on (a) repairs and (b) maintenance projects across the NHS Estate.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Building inspectors working on National Health Service estate repairs or maintenance projects may be employed by NHS trusts, local councils, private companies, or contractors working on behalf of the NHS. Their work ensures that buildings are safe for use, accessible, and in good condition.
While the Department has not made any specific assessment of the potential impact of shortages of building inspectors, NHS England is taking forward implementation of the Estates and Facilities Workforce Action Plan, which aims to strengthen the NHS estates workforce and its governance.