Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applications her Department has received to the Community Automated External Defibrillator Fund; and whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of the funding available.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s £1 million Community Automated External Defibrillators (AED) fund will provide more than 1,000 new defibrillators for community spaces across England. As of 22 September 2022, community organisations can now apply for a grant to fund a life-saving defibrillator for their local area. Applications for funding will be submitted to Smarter Society and the London Hearts Charity, who will assess each application against a set criteria, ensuring that each AED is placed where they are needed most. They have designed engagement and application processes to appeal to a wide and diverse audience. Smarter Society and the London Hearts Charity have received 3507 applications from various local organisations, with 4448 AED’s applied for in total. No assessment by the Government of the adequacy of funding allocated to community defibrillator projects has been made.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to prevent patient data from being accessed by website trackers on (a) the NHS North Bristol Trust and (b) other NHS England websites.
Answered by Will Quince
Each NHS organisation is responsible for its website and for ensuring that any tracking technology used on its site meets strict legal requirements. As soon as NHS Bristol Trust became aware of this issue they engaged with the Information Commissioner’s Office and took immediate steps to protect the privacy of their website users, removing Meta Pixel from their website and strengthening the cookies consent process.
In June 2023, NHS England published guidance for all NHS organisations on website activity trackers and how to ensure they are used appropriately, including how to audit the tracking and profiling which takes place on their website. The guidance also includes links to more detailed guidance provided by the Information Commissioner’s Office. Whilst NHS England does use cookies and similar technologies on its website, those technologies are not used to share patient data held by NHS England.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has allocated to understanding the (a) causes of, (b) symptoms of and (c) potential treatment for people's (i) injuries and (ii) other symptoms following the administration of covid-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Vaccines must be tested in a wide range of studies, including clinical trials to establish their efficacy and safety, and have a product licence, known as a ‘marketing authorisation’ before they can be made available for widespread use in humans. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NIHR has allocated over £110 million in funding for COVID-19 vaccine research that has included consideration of vaccine safety and robust monitoring of adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including vaccine side effects.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what treatment options are available through the NHS to support individuals who have had (a) injuries, (b) side effects and (c) other symptoms separate to long Covid following their covid-19 vaccinations.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In the very rare event where an individual may have suffered a severe adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine, care is likely to be best managed by local National Health Service specialist services, augmented as appropriate by national specialist advice. Any continuing care would be met by local care services with expertise in the treatment of disease or disability, as appropriate.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason employees contracted by the NHS are not entitled to the Agenda for Change staff level pay increases; and whether he has made an estimate of the additional funding required to provide a pay increase on that basis to those employees.
Answered by Will Quince
Individuals employed directly by the National Health Service on Agenda for Change contract are entitled to the pay award agreed by the NHS Staff Council on 2 May. Where the NHS contracts out services to independent providers or other local public sector organisations, it is for those employers to determine pay, terms and conditions and eligibility for pay rises.
No assessment has been made of the full cost of passing on the non-consolidated awards for 2022/23 to all staff employed by NHS contractors. An assessment has been made of the cost of passing on the consolidated award for 2023/24, and additional funding for this will be provided in the normal way.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the supply of (a) nuclear medications and (b) medical radioisotopes from EU member states.
Answered by Will Quince
We are not aware of any supply issues with nuclear medications or medical radioisotopes in the United Kingdom.
The Department’s medicine supply team works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when supply issues do arise.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff his Department employs in the NHS Transformation Directorate; how many full time equivalent staff are employed to work on NHS innovation; and what proportion of these are employed centrally by NHS England.
Answered by Will Quince
There are 131 staff in the NHS Transformation Directorate in the Department for Health and Social Care. There are 4,108 staff in the NHS Transformation Directorate in NHS England. Numerous teams focus on NHS innovation as part of the ambition to digitise, connect and transform the NHS.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an impact assessment of the change to the National Clinical Impact Awards on academic medical doctors who are not employed under the NHS consultant contract.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has not undertaken a specific impact assessment of the change to the National Clinical Impact Awards (NCIA) scheme on academic medical doctors who are not employed under the National Health Service consultant contract. Clinical academics and academic general practitioners remain eligible to apply for awards, providing they meet the minimum eligibility criteria set out in the NCIA guidance and are employed on the equivalent academic contracts.
An equality impact assessment was conducted ahead of the reforms in 2022, and is available at the following link:
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of dentists not currently providing NHS services who could do so following the changes he is seeking to make to the dental contracts in (a) Bristol and (b) the South West.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
No estimate has been made.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on which dates he has met with the British Medical Association to discuss preventing strike action since his appointment on 25 October 2022.
Answered by Will Quince
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, met the British Medical Association on 12 January 2023. He and I also met the BMA on 2 March, 22 March and 27 March 2023. These meetings included discussion on preventing strike action as part of wider conversations on pay and conditions.
The Government and the BMA Junior Doctors Committee held a constructive discussion on 2 May, in preparation for talks aimed at resolving the current junior doctors dispute.
While these talks are ongoing, we will not provide a running commentary.