First elected: 11th June 1987
Left House: 6th November 2019 (Standing Down)
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by David Tredinnick, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
David Tredinnick has not been granted any Urgent Questions
A Bill to make provision in relation to the procedure to be followed by local authorities when varying the charges to be paid in connection with the use of certain parking places.
This Bill received Royal Assent on 27th April 2017 and was enacted into law.
David Tredinnick has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Department does not have any evidence that shows that homeopathic vets are a risk to animal welfare by using homeopathy as an alternative treatment to conventional medicine options.
It should be noted that ‘conventional’ medicines are required to be licensed by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. Such products will have undergone clinical trials before receiving a market authorisation – this covers efficacy, safety and an assessment of risks versus benefits. Some homeopathic remedies are registered under the Veterinary Medicines Regulations. However, this is a very different process and such products do not undergo the same detailed evaluation – notably efficacy is not considered.
Clinical governance is a requirement for all veterinary surgeons, under the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons’ Code of Professional Conduct which can be found here: https://www.rcvs.org.uk/setting-standards/advice-and-guidance/code-of-professional-conduct-for-veterinary-surgeons/
Clinical governance may include critically analysing the evidence base for procedures used and making appropriate changes to practice, which falls directly under the principles of evidence based veterinary medicine. In order to be considered fit to practice, veterinary practitioners hold the responsibility to ground their decisions on sound, objective and up to date evidence, when available.
There was no representation made by the Department at this conference. The Department does not maintain a position on any particular complementary or alternative medicine treatments including homeopathy.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence independently develops evidence based guidance on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of NHS treatment and care, including for musculoskeletal conditions, and recommends treatments that have been shown to improve patient outcomes.
The Government supports the integration of health and care services and recognises the good work being done by the Hinckley and Bosworth Wellbeing Partnership by taking a multi-agency approach to increase the wellbeing of people and to support them to live independently in their own homes for longer. Officials will be in contact with the Health and Wellbeing Board to understand more about the work being done.
The Department has no plans to hold any such discussions and does not maintain a position on any particular complementary or alternative medicine treatments.
There is no plan to make an assessment of the merits of the recommendations in the report ‘Untapped Resources: Accredited Registers in the Wider Workforce’.
In 2016, Public Health England (PHE) published a report on this subject entitled ‘Fit for the Future: Public Health People’. Further information is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fit-for-the-future-public-health-people
PHE’s report identified the importance of the wider workforce in delivering the radical upgrade in prevention, alongside a core workforce with strong technical skills.
My Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has not met one to one with the Chief Executive of the Professional Standards Authority.
A general practitioner (GP) is able to prescribe any product on the National Health Service they consider necessary for the treatment of their patient unless it is listed in Schedules 1 or 2 to the NHS (General Medical Services Contracts) (Prescription of Drugs etc.) Regulations 2004. The Government is committed to the use of evidence-based therapies for NHS patients.
Schedule 1, commonly referred to as the blacklist, lists a number of drugs, medicines and other substances which GPs cannot prescribe on the NHS, for example, Ribena and some sun tan lotions. Schedule 2, commonly referred to as the greylist, lists drugs, medicines and other substances which GPs can only prescribe in certain circumstances on the NHS, for example influenza treatments for ‘at risk’ groups.
In correspondence to the Department of Health of February and April 2015, Bindmans LLP asked the Government for a blanket ban on the National Health Service prescribing of homeopathic products. Bindmans LLP argued for this on the basis of the costs of these products to the NHS and that homeopathic products were borderline substances.
In its April 2015 reply to Bindmans LLP, a Government official replied to explain that homeopathic products were, in fact, legally defined as medicines and the cost of homeopathic products in NHS primary care was small and reducing. Given this, we considered Bindmans LLP justification for their proposed ban as legally unreasonable and disproportionate.
The Government has made no such announcement and has not had discussions with external stakeholders.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently appraising the peptide receptor radionuclide therapy treatment lutetium-177-DOTA octreotate for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumours and for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours.
NHS England has advised that it will await the outcome of NICE’s appraisals before making any commissioning decisions on peptide receptor radionuclide therapy treatments.
In the meantime, if a patient’s condition is considered clinically exceptional, then an application can be considered under NHS England’s Individual Funding Request system.
The UK Government continues to work closely with the Government of India within the health sector, including working with the Indian Government to open health centres. In 2013 the Department agreed a five year Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of India. This prioritises action on antimicrobial resistance, training and development and universal health coverage. There are no plans to expand this to include complementary and traditional medicine.
We are currently considering whether or not homeopathic products should continue to be available through National Health Service prescriptions. A consultation on proposals will commence early in the new year. The consultation will be undertaken by the Department utilising on-line tools such as the governmental digital platform gov.uk. We do not anticipate any additional external costs.
The Government’s response to the report by Professor David Walker on the Regulation of Herbal Medicines and Practitioners will be published by the end of December 2015.
Practitioners of complementary and alternative medicines are not subject to statutory regulation. A working group has been established to consider a number of matters relating to the use of herbal and traditional medicines by practitioners. I know my hon. Friend is a member of this working group.
The findings of the working group will be published in due course, once it has finished its work. Until that working group has reported, no assessment can be made of the contribution of such practitioners to reducing demands on the National Health Service.