Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether Ofwat’s recent enforcement package on Northumbrian Water was in respect of overflows from sewage works in South Shields constituency.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Ofwat recently concluded its investigation into Northumbrian Water securing an enforcement package of £15.7 million, including £2 million allocated to further reduce spills at specific overflows.
Ofwat does not hold post code specific data on sewage overflows, however South Shields was included in their investigation and factored into subsequent enforcement: OFF-SEN-25-06-04-Northumbrian-Water-final-decision-document.pdf.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of eligible families are receiving Healthy Start in South Shields constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures for the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The NHSBSA does not hold data on the number of families receiving Healthy Start and does not currently hold data on the number of people eligible for Healthy Start.
An issue was identified with the source data that is used to calculate uptake of the NHS Healthy Start scheme. The NHSBSA has therefore removed data for the number of people eligible for the scheme and the uptake percentage from January 2023 onwards.
The issue has only affected the data on the number of people eligible for the scheme. It has not prevented anyone from joining the scheme or continuing to access the scheme if they were eligible.
The number of people on the digital scheme for South Tyneside in March 2025 was 1,162. The NHSBSA does not hold data on local constituencies. The following table shows the number of people on the digital scheme for all ward areas in South Tyneside, of which South Shields is a part:
Local authority | Ward | People on digital scheme |
South Tyneside | Beacon and Bents | 44 |
South Tyneside | Bede | 93 |
South Tyneside | Biddick and All Saints | 160 |
South Tyneside | Boldon Colliery | 65 |
South Tyneside | Cleadon and East Boldon | 2 |
South Tyneside | Cleadon Park | 50 |
South Tyneside | Fellgate and Hedworth | 54 |
South Tyneside | Harton | 59 |
South Tyneside | Hebburn North | 79 |
South Tyneside | Hebburn South | 65 |
South Tyneside | Horsley Hill | 82 |
South Tyneside | Monkton | 42 |
South Tyneside | Primrose | 71 |
South Tyneside | Simonside and Rekendyke | 121 |
South Tyneside | West Park | 49 |
South Tyneside | Westoe | 26 |
South Tyneside | Whitburn and Marsden | 24 |
South Tyneside | Whiteleas | 76 |
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many families receive Healthy Start in South Shields.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. Monthly figures on the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme are published on the NHS Healthy Start website, which is available at the following link:
https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/healthcare-professionals/
The NHSBSA does not hold data on the number of families receiving Healthy Start. The number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme for South Tyneside in March 2025 was 1,162. The following table shows the number of people on the digital Healthy Start scheme, broken down by all ward areas in South Tyneside, of which South Shields is a part, as the NHSBSA does not hold data on local constituencies:
Local authority | Ward | People on the digital scheme |
South Tyneside | Beacon and Bents | 44 |
South Tyneside | Bede | 93 |
South Tyneside | Biddick and All Saints | 160 |
South Tyneside | Boldon Colliery | 65 |
South Tyneside | Cleadon and East Boldon | 2 |
South Tyneside | Cleadon Park | 50 |
South Tyneside | Fellgate and Hedworth | 54 |
South Tyneside | Harton | 59 |
South Tyneside | Hebburn North | 79 |
South Tyneside | Hebburn South | 65 |
South Tyneside | Horsley Hill | 82 |
South Tyneside | Monkton | 42 |
South Tyneside | Primrose | 71 |
South Tyneside | Simonside and Rekendyke | 121 |
South Tyneside | West Park | 49 |
South Tyneside | Westoe | 26 |
South Tyneside | Whitburn and Marsden | 24 |
South Tyneside | Whiteleas | 76 |
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Tumour-infiltrating Lymphocytes therapy has been licenced in the UK.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has not licenced any medicines that can be described as tumour infiltrating lymphocyte therapy.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the Children and Young People’s Cancer Taskforce to report.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will be engaging with experts from across the sector, from clinicians, researchers, advocates, and those with lived experience, and its membership will also be reflective of diverse patient needs. The taskforce is committed to considering patient experience alongside clinical care to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with cancer and their families.
Department officials are working with chairs of the taskforce to develop the Terms of Reference ahead of the first meeting, currently planned for March 2025. The taskforce will consider the most appropriate dissemination routes or publication channels for taskforce materials in due course.
We expect the taskforce to run for six months with the possibility of extension. The taskforce will feed into, and report in line with the publication of the National Cancer Plan.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
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 4 February 2025 to Question 26821 on Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce, whether the taskforce plans to engage with (a) families with lived experience of childhood cancer, (b) children’s cancer charities and (c) other representative groups.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will be engaging with experts from across the sector, from clinicians, researchers, advocates, and those with lived experience, and its membership will also be reflective of diverse patient needs. The taskforce is committed to considering patient experience alongside clinical care to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with cancer and their families.
Department officials are working with chairs of the taskforce to develop the Terms of Reference ahead of the first meeting, currently planned for March 2025. The taskforce will consider the most appropriate dissemination routes or publication channels for taskforce materials in due course.
We expect the taskforce to run for six months with the possibility of extension. The taskforce will feed into, and report in line with the publication of the National Cancer Plan.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the terms of reference will be for the Children and Young People’s Cancer Taskforce.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will be engaging with experts from across the sector, from clinicians, researchers, advocates, and those with lived experience, and its membership will also be reflective of diverse patient needs. The taskforce is committed to considering patient experience alongside clinical care to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with cancer and their families.
Department officials are working with chairs of the taskforce to develop the Terms of Reference ahead of the first meeting, currently planned for March 2025. The taskforce will consider the most appropriate dissemination routes or publication channels for taskforce materials in due course.
We expect the taskforce to run for six months with the possibility of extension. The taskforce will feed into, and report in line with the publication of the National Cancer Plan.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the Children and Young People's Cancer Taskforce has made.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Department will be relaunching the Children and Young People’s Cancer Taskforce in the coming weeks. Dame Caroline Dinenage and Professor Darren Hargrave have been appointed as its co-chairs, alongside Dr Sharna Shanmugavadivel as vice-chair.
The taskforce will examine clinical and non-clinical ways to improve outcomes and patient experience for children and young people with cancer. This will feed into the Department’s wider work on the national cancer plan.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average time period is for issuing payments via the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Between November 2021 and January 2025, the average time period for issuing payments following confirmation of a successful claim was 46 calendar days.
A payment can only be made once bank details and identification verification has been received from the claimant. Once received, the NHS Business Services Authority operates a 10-working day service level agreement for the payment to be processed.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of applications to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (a) are pending, (b) have been paid and (c) have been refused.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Between 1 November 2021 and 17 January 2025, the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme has received 19,115 claims. Of these, 7,159, or 37% of claims, are awaiting resolution, 208, or 1% of claims, have been awarded, and 11,748, or 61% of claims, have not been awarded a payment.