Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has received representations from (a) healthcare professionals, (b) patient advocacy groups and (c) local authorities on discontinuing Type 1 diabetes and disordered eating services.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care engages with a range of external stakeholders, including discussions on Type 1 Diabetes with Disordered Eating (T1DE) services. NHS England is working closely with regional and integrated care board (ICB) level teams to ensure that informed decisions are made about the future provision of T1DE services.
Responsibility for the commissioning of T1DE services sits with the ICBs. It is the role of local ICB decision makers to consider the implications of continuing or discontinuing T1DE services, specific to each location, and including the perspectives of healthcare professionals, patient advocacy groups, and local authorities.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 community pharmacies with increases in the cost of medications.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Drug Tariff, published monthly, sets out the amount that will be paid to contractors for National Health Services in England, including both product reimbursement and service remuneration.
Where pharmacies cannot purchase products at or below the Drug Tariff NHS reimbursement price, Community Pharmacy England can request that the Department reassesses the reimbursement price. If a new reimbursement price is issued within the month, this is known as a concessionary price.
In addition, from 1 April 2024, we introduced a new retrospective top-up payment for concessionary prices, providing an additional payment to contractors when the margin survey indicates that despite a concessionary price, there was an under payment.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental practices offered NHS services in each constituency in each year since 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Annual dental statistics, including the number of dental practices offering National Health Services since 2015, are available at the following link:
This information is held by the integrated care boards.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2021 to Question 185893 on Pregnancy: Screening, on what date the evaluative rollout of non-invasive prenatal testing is expected to be completed.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A non-invasive pre-natal test (NIPT) was introduced as an evaluative rollout in England on 1 July 2021, as part of the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is being kept informed annually on the progress of this rollout.
NHS England has extended the evaluative rollout of the NIPT to March 2026, so that pregnancy outcomes can be included in the final report. The report is expected to go to the UK NSC at the end of 2026.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential (a) risks and (b) benefits to (i) patients and (ii) caregivers of the use of a predetermined price range for categories of technologies in the new late-stage assessment process adopted by NICE.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) interim methods and processes for late-stage assessment have been subject to a public consultation between 29 February and 28 March 2024. The consultation allowed stakeholders from across the sector, including medical equipment suppliers, patients, and caregivers, to comment on these interim methods and processes. This included the proposed use of predetermined price ranges for categories of technologies. The Department and the NICE are unable to comment on the results of the consultation at this stage, as the NICE is currently considering the responses. Further information will be made available upon the completion of this process.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has received representations of concern from (a) patient safety groups and (b) medical equipment suppliers on the interim methods and processes statement for late-stage assessments published by NICE.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) interim methods and processes for late-stage assessment have been subject to a public consultation between 29 February and 28 March 2024. The consultation allowed stakeholders from across the sector, including medical equipment suppliers, patients, and caregivers, to comment on these interim methods and processes. This included the proposed use of predetermined price ranges for categories of technologies. The Department and the NICE are unable to comment on the results of the consultation at this stage, as the NICE is currently considering the responses. Further information will be made available upon the completion of this process.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has had discussions with NICE on the development of the interim methods and processes statement for late-stage assessment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) consulted the Department on the interim methods and processes statement. As stated in paragraph 4.1 of the interim methods and processes, the NICE worked in collaboration with the Department to determine the eight planned assessment topics.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the average distance that medical students allocated a placement under the UK Foundation Programme travel from their medical school to their allocated placement; and what the (a) shortest and (b) longest distance is for those students allocated a placement in 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held by the Department.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 March 2024 to Question 16027 on Suicide, how much of the £57 million allocated for suicide (a) prevention and (b) bereavement services has been allocated to local authorities; and by what date must the funds be spent.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The £57 million of funding was made available across the period from April 2019 to March 2024. Neither the Department nor NHS England holds information centrally on how much of this funding has ultimately gone to local authorities. NHS England allocates funding to integrated care boards, who in turn commission activities across local authority and health settings.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 average waiting times for autism assessments on other health and care services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no current plans to make this specific assessment. We recognise the importance of early identification of autism so that an individual’s needs can be identified sooner, and support put in place earlier in life.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines on autism highlight the importance of conducting an autism assessment as soon as possible so that appropriate health and social care interventions, and advice and support, can be offered. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with the NICE’s guidelines.
In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults. The operational guidance makes it clear that people should be able to access support and care from other services for needs that appear linked to physical and mental health, including while they are waiting for an autism assessment. This year, the Department is updating the Statutory Guidance on Autism to support the NHS and local authorities in delivering improved outcomes for autistic people.