Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has modelled the potential impact of providing free vaccinations to people aged 50-64 on NHS resource utilisation in the 2023-24 winter period.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the approach to the seasonal flu vaccination programme in England. Details about the flu vaccination programme for 2023/24, including which groups will be eligible for a free vaccine and the vaccines that will be reimbursable to National Health Service providers, were published on 25 May 2023. The groups eligible for a free flu vaccine for the 2023 to 2024 season include those aged 65 years and over and those aged six months to under 65 years in clinical risk groups.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, eligibility for the influenza programme was temporarily extended to include all adults aged between 50 and 64 years of age to protect the population from the potential threat of cocirculation of COVID-19 and influenza and alleviate pressure on the NHS. In the JCVI’s advice for the 2023/24 programme published in November 2022, it stated that whilst there would be a health benefit in vaccinating low risk 50-64 year olds, it is uncertain whether this would be cost effective and that the overall priority should be to extend the childhood programme in secondary schools as this would be more cost effective and likely to have a greater impact on morbidity and mortality compared with vaccinating 50-64 year olds. An expansion to secondary school-aged children is being considered and should this be confirmed, further details will be set out in due course.
The Department has not conducted its own modelling on the potential impact of providing free vaccinations to people aged 50-64 on NHS resource utilisation in the 2023-24 winter period but is guided by JCVI advice on cost-effectiveness. Anyone who is clinically at-risk is still entitled to a flu vaccination this year – it is only healthy 50–64-year-olds who are no longer eligible. The expansion of the seasonal flu programme to include low-risk 50–64-year-olds was a temporary measure to ensure more people were protected from a potential threat of co-circulation of COVID-19 and the flu virus and the department also sought to reduce pressure on the NHS. As we have now transitioned to living with COVID-19 with a firmly established vaccination programme in place to protect the most vulnerable, temporary expansions to the flu programme are no longer required.
The Department does not expect to reconsider this decision but will continue to be guided by JCVI advice on this matter.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason his Department has chosen not to include all 50-64 year-olds in the eligible cohort for the 2023 to 2024 flu vaccination programme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the approach to the seasonal flu vaccination programme in England. Details about the flu vaccination programme for 2023/24, including which groups will be eligible for a free vaccine and the vaccines that will be reimbursable to National Health Service providers, were published on 25 May 2023. The groups eligible for a free flu vaccine for the 2023 to 2024 season include those aged 65 years and over and those aged six months to under 65 years in clinical risk groups.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, eligibility for the influenza programme was temporarily extended to include all adults aged between 50 and 64 years of age to protect the population from the potential threat of cocirculation of COVID-19 and influenza and alleviate pressure on the NHS. In the JCVI’s advice for the 2023/24 programme published in November 2022, it stated that whilst there would be a health benefit in vaccinating low risk 50-64 year olds, it is uncertain whether this would be cost effective and that the overall priority should be to extend the childhood programme in secondary schools as this would be more cost effective and likely to have a greater impact on morbidity and mortality compared with vaccinating 50-64 year olds. An expansion to secondary school-aged children is being considered and should this be confirmed, further details will be set out in due course.
The Department has not conducted its own modelling on the potential impact of providing free vaccinations to people aged 50-64 on NHS resource utilisation in the 2023-24 winter period but is guided by JCVI advice on cost-effectiveness. Anyone who is clinically at-risk is still entitled to a flu vaccination this year – it is only healthy 50–64-year-olds who are no longer eligible. The expansion of the seasonal flu programme to include low-risk 50–64-year-olds was a temporary measure to ensure more people were protected from a potential threat of co-circulation of COVID-19 and the flu virus and the department also sought to reduce pressure on the NHS. As we have now transitioned to living with COVID-19 with a firmly established vaccination programme in place to protect the most vulnerable, temporary expansions to the flu programme are no longer required.
The Department does not expect to reconsider this decision but will continue to be guided by JCVI advice on this matter.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will reconsider its decision to change flu vaccine eligibility for people aged 50 to 64.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department is guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the approach to the seasonal flu vaccination programme in England. Details about the flu vaccination programme for 2023/24, including which groups will be eligible for a free vaccine and the vaccines that will be reimbursable to National Health Service providers, were published on 25 May 2023. The groups eligible for a free flu vaccine for the 2023 to 2024 season include those aged 65 years and over and those aged six months to under 65 years in clinical risk groups.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, eligibility for the influenza programme was temporarily extended to include all adults aged between 50 and 64 years of age to protect the population from the potential threat of cocirculation of COVID-19 and influenza and alleviate pressure on the NHS. In the JCVI’s advice for the 2023/24 programme published in November 2022, it stated that whilst there would be a health benefit in vaccinating low risk 50-64 year olds, it is uncertain whether this would be cost effective and that the overall priority should be to extend the childhood programme in secondary schools as this would be more cost effective and likely to have a greater impact on morbidity and mortality compared with vaccinating 50-64 year olds. An expansion to secondary school-aged children is being considered and should this be confirmed, further details will be set out in due course.
The Department has not conducted its own modelling on the potential impact of providing free vaccinations to people aged 50-64 on NHS resource utilisation in the 2023-24 winter period but is guided by JCVI advice on cost-effectiveness. Anyone who is clinically at-risk is still entitled to a flu vaccination this year – it is only healthy 50–64-year-olds who are no longer eligible. The expansion of the seasonal flu programme to include low-risk 50–64-year-olds was a temporary measure to ensure more people were protected from a potential threat of co-circulation of COVID-19 and the flu virus and the department also sought to reduce pressure on the NHS. As we have now transitioned to living with COVID-19 with a firmly established vaccination programme in place to protect the most vulnerable, temporary expansions to the flu programme are no longer required.
The Department does not expect to reconsider this decision but will continue to be guided by JCVI advice on this matter.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Defence Strategic Operating Concept has been published.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Integrated Operating Concept (IOpC). It was originally published in Sep 20 and updated in Sep 21. A copy of the IOpC can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-integrated-operating-concept-2025
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what were the average paediatric accident and emergency waiting times on 31 March (a) 2015, (b) 2019 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average bed occupancy was for the Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
From 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, average general and acute bed occupancy was 97.4% at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals, and 93.0% at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average bed occupancy was for the St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
From 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, average general and acute bed occupancy was 97.4% at St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals, and 93.0% at Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
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 19 April 2023 to Question 179994 on Cancer: Halton, how many and what proportion of cancer patients of St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust who received an urgent referral received their first treatment within 62 days of that referral in February 2023.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In February 2023 74 cancer patients of St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust received their first treatment within 62 days of an urgent referral. This represents 77.8% of patients whose general practitioner made an urgent referral.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the number of organised crime gangs operating in (a) Merseyside and Cheshire, (b) North West England and (c) England.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold any publicly available data or information on the number of organised crime gangs.
Asked by: Derek Twigg (Labour - Halton)
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 31 March to Question 174223 on Cancer: Halton, how many and what proportion of cancer patients in the Halton Local Authority area who received an urgent referral received their first treatment within 62 days of that referral in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not collected in the format requested. Data on cancer patients who received an urgent referral and the time in which they received their first treatment is not collected at local authority level.
NHS England publish cancer waiting times data at trust level. Provisional data from NHS England for February 2023 shows Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provided first treatment to 27 patients who received an urgent general practitioner referral for suspected cancer within 62 days of that referral. This equates to 57% of all cancer patients who received an urgent referral to Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.