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Written Question
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the Regulatory Policy Committee's original opinion on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill submitted to her Department on 12 February 2024; if she will outline the changes she has made to that Bill since receiving that opinion; and what discussions she has had with the Regulatory Policy Committee on the expected timetable for their submission of the revised opinion.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four cancer deaths in the UK. It also costs our country £17 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. That is why we have introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to create the first smokefree generation, and enable us to further crack down on youth vaping. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is available at the following link:

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3703

On 12 February 2024 the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) gave opinion on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill impact assessment and rated it green (fit for purpose). However, on 19 March 2024, ahead of the introduction of the bill, a revised version was sent to the RPC for comment. This included changes to reflect the inclusion of Northern Ireland in the bill, following the formation of a Northern Ireland Executive, and a power in the bill to enable the current notification system for nicotine vapes to also cover non-nicotine vapes and other consumer nicotine products, for instance nicotine pouches. The RPC have publicly stated that they welcome the resubmission of the revised impact assessment, and we expect a revised opinion to be issued shortly. The statement from the RPC is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-tobacco-and-vapes-bill-statement-from-the-rpc


Written Question
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

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 that the Regulatory Policy Committee's revised opinion on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is published by 16 April 2024.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four cancer deaths in the UK. It also costs our country £17 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. That is why we have introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill to create the first smokefree generation, and enable us to further crack down on youth vaping. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill is available at the following link:

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3703

On 12 February 2024 the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC) gave opinion on the Tobacco and Vapes Bill impact assessment and rated it green (fit for purpose). However, on 19 March 2024, ahead of the introduction of the bill, a revised version was sent to the RPC for comment. This included changes to reflect the inclusion of Northern Ireland in the bill, following the formation of a Northern Ireland Executive, and a power in the bill to enable the current notification system for nicotine vapes to also cover non-nicotine vapes and other consumer nicotine products, for instance nicotine pouches. The RPC have publicly stated that they welcome the resubmission of the revised impact assessment, and we expect a revised opinion to be issued shortly. The statement from the RPC is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-tobacco-and-vapes-bill-statement-from-the-rpc


Written Question
Hospitals: Dorset
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the extra allocations of money made from the discharge fund to the (a) NHS and (b) local authorities in Dorset in the 2023-24 financial year on the (i) timeliness and (ii) effectiveness of the discharge of patients from NHS hospitals.

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

The Government is investing an additional £600 million for 2023/24 and £1 billion for 2024/25, through the Discharge Fund, to support the National Health Service and local authorities in ensuring timely and effective discharge from hospital. As part of their allocations for 2023/24, NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board received £5.7 million, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council received £1.9 million, and Dorset Council received £1.7 million. There will be an independent evaluation of the Discharge Fund for 2023/24 and 2024/25.

Nationally, this funding has supported more people to be discharged more quickly with more appropriate support. The number of people discharged from hospital with packages of health and social care support increased by 10% between the end of February 2023 and the end of February 2024. Thanks to this improved patient flow hospitals have been able to admit and treat more patients during this period.


Written Question
Euthanasia: Health Services
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on NHS services of the introduction of legislation to permit assisted dying.

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

No assessment has been made.


Written Question
Food: Labelling
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

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 help ensure retail food businesses comply with measures in the Food Information Regulations 2014 on providing written allergen information for labels.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is responsible for food safety related labelling, including allergens. Local authorities are responsible for enforcing food law in the vast majority of food businesses, including those in the retail and catering sector. As central competent authority, the FSA monitors the delivery of official controls by local authorities.

The FSA produces the statutory Food Law Code of Practice and associated Practice Guidance establishing a set of expectations for the activities local authorities are responsible for under food law, and how these are to be delivered. This is supported by a range of training, advice, and guidance to help food officers discharge their functions. Recent changes to the Food Law Code of Practice will enable a more risk-based and intelligence-driven approach to targeting premises for food standards inspections and carrying out interventions, and includes specific consideration of the risk factor for compliance with providing allergen information.

The FSA also provides support for food businesses, for example through guidance and training, on providing allergen information in line with the requirements of the 2014 Food Information to Consumer Regulations to help drive up compliance and make it easier for people with a food allergy, intolerance, and coeliac disease to make safe choices when eating out.


Written Question
Yellow Card Scheme: Medical Records
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date work on digitally linking Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority Yellow Card information to NHS clinical records (a) began and (b) is expected to be completed.

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

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has been working with the National Health Service to explore approaches to facilitate digital linkage of Yellow Card information to clinical records, and to potentially enable faster access to information, where considered necessary for an assessment. Any such approach would be subject to strict information governance controls and prior consultation with stakeholder groups.

In 2020, the MHRA began delivery of a substantially enhanced Yellow Card platform under the SafetyConnect programme, aligned to the recommendations in Baroness Cumberlege’s Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review. The new infrastructure is designed with the intent of enabling connectivity to other systems, to facilitate the exchange of information. During that time the MHRA has engaged with the NHS around the evolving technical options for robust and secure connectivity and enhanced user journeys. The first step in these enhancements is use of the common NHS login capability within Yellow Card, which is expected to go live in 2024.

Deeper connectivity between systems will be subject to internal and external stakeholder engagement and substantial information governance controls, with elements completed over a phased and multi-year work plan.


Written Question
Skin Diseases: Drugs
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of drugs available within the NHS to treat (a) epidermolysis bullosa and (b) other inflammatory skin conditions.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes independent, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits.

Currently, there is one product licensed specifically for epidermolysis bullosa, Filsuvez gel, which contains birch bark extract. The NICE recommends birch bark extract as a clinically and cost effective use of NHS resources, and the NHS is legally required to fund it in line with the NICE’s recommendations. Other healthcare products are also used in the care of epidermolysis bullosa patients. There are a number of licensed and NICE recommended treatments for other inflammatory skin conditions that are now routinely available for NHS patients.


Written Question
Health: Children
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will (a) publish average weight to height ratios for children in England and (b) provide advice on any health implications for those who have a ratio significantly larger or smaller than the average.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) collects data on the height and weight status of children aged four to five years old, who are in Reception, and 10 to 11 years old, who are in Year six. The data collected and published by NHS England is expressed as a Body Mass Index (BMI) centile, to estimate child overweight and obesity. Data on average weight to height ratios for children in England is not available. The Department does not plan to publish data on average weight to height ratios, or average waist to height ratios for children in England. Waist measurements are not collected as part of the NCMP.

The clinical guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Research recommends that a waist to height ratio measurement is considered alongside a child’s BMI centile in individual clinical assessments, to give a practical estimate of central adiposity. If a child falls into an unhealthy weight category, a waist to height ratio will give additional health information in clinical settings. This includes helping to assess and predict individual health risks such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, or cardiovascular disease, as the location of where children carry weight on their bodies has an influence on their health.


Written Question
Drugs: Safety
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Coroner’s report entitled Oli Hoque: Prevention of future deaths report, published on 13 October 2022, what steps NHS England is taking to allow the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority to compel the timely production of clinical data when conducting investigations into harms arising from regulated medicines.

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

The NHS England National Patient Safety Team and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) routinely work closely on both system development, and a number of safety issues. The NHS England National Patient Safety Team have a data sharing agreement with the MHRA, and provide regular sharing of patient safety incidents reported to NHS England, that are classified as medication incidents or medical device incidents. In addition, the MHRA are able to request focussed searches of reported incidents if they are working on a specific issue.

However, the MHRA does not have the legal powers to compel healthcare professionals to provide additional information after an initial report of a suspected adverse reaction. The MHRA has been working with the National Health Service to explore approaches to facilitate digital linkage of Yellow Card information to clinical records, and potentially to enable faster access to information, where considered necessary for an assessment. This work remains ongoing.


Written Question
Yellow Card Scheme: Coronavirus
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Yellow Cards for covid-19 vaccinations were (a) identified by the MHRA as being of special interest and (b) followed up by the MHRA in (i) 2021, (ii) 2022 and (iii) 2023.

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

Adverse events of special interest (AESI) are medical events or conditions that have been identified as possible vaccine safety concerns, based mainly on previous experience with other vaccines and immune-mediated events which theoretically may occur, as vaccines stimulate an immune response. AESIs for COVID-19 vaccines were subject to enhanced surveillance by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and many other regulators from the start of the United Kingdom’s immunisation programme.

Specifically in relation to AESIs, the MHRA has received 22880 UK spontaneous suspected adverse reaction (ADR) reports across all COVID-19 vaccines. Over 157 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been given in the UK. It is important to note that Yellow Card reports are not proof of a side effect occurring, and the incidence of a reaction occurring cannot be determined by these reports. The MHRA considers that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines continue to outweigh the risks for the majority of people.

The MHRA acknowledges receipt of every Yellow Card report received, and a team of safety experts follow up for additional information as necessary, including consideration of reports with a fatal outcome, based on the completeness, severity, and clinical details provided in the report. Responses to follow-up requests for ADR reports are recorded and stored with the original report on our ADR database. The information is then passed downstream for use in signal detection and the identification of safety concerns.

The data is available for its core purpose of assessment and signal detection, however, the systems were not designed to quantify follow-up metrics requested in this parliamentary question. As such it is not possible to automatically generate metrics on the proportion of follow-up requests sent. The MHRA has provided information on follow up rates under Freedom of Information, within the 20 day statutory timeframes based on manual review of reports, and is committed to publishing high level data on its website.