Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of NICE's commercial negotiations with Vertex on NHS contracts.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government wants National Health Service patients to benefit from effective treatments, in a way that represents value, and is fair to all parties. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NICE develops its recommendations independently based on an assessment of the available evidence, and through engagement with interested parties.
The NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS on whether the disease modifying treatments Symkevi, Orkambi, and Kaftrio, which contains elexacaftor, tezacaftor and ivacaftor, should be routinely funded by the NHS. Following a recent consultation on its draft recommendations, the NICE has now reached a point in the process where it can pause guidance development to allow further commercial negotiations between NHS England and the company. An update on the anticipated date for the publication of final guidance will be provided by the NICE once timelines are confirmed.
NHS England has been able to reach commercial agreements with many companies for medicines being evaluated by the NICE, that have enabled the NICE to recommend them for NHS use.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her expected timeline is for publishing new NICE guidance on cystic fibrosis treatment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government wants National Health Service patients to benefit from effective treatments, in a way that represents value, and is fair to all parties. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NICE develops its recommendations independently based on an assessment of the available evidence, and through engagement with interested parties.
The NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS on whether the disease modifying treatments Symkevi, Orkambi, and Kaftrio, which contains elexacaftor, tezacaftor and ivacaftor, should be routinely funded by the NHS. Following a recent consultation on its draft recommendations, the NICE has now reached a point in the process where it can pause guidance development to allow further commercial negotiations between NHS England and the company. An update on the anticipated date for the publication of final guidance will be provided by the NICE once timelines are confirmed.
NHS England has been able to reach commercial agreements with many companies for medicines being evaluated by the NICE, that have enabled the NICE to recommend them for NHS use.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of NICE beginning a new phase of commercial negotiations in its multiple technology appraisal for treating cystic fibrosis.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government wants National Health Service patients to benefit from effective treatments, in a way that represents value, and is fair to all parties. The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations on whether medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NICE develops its recommendations independently based on an assessment of the available evidence, and through engagement with interested parties.
The NICE is currently developing guidance for the NHS on whether the disease modifying treatments Symkevi, Orkambi, and Kaftrio, which contains elexacaftor, tezacaftor and ivacaftor, should be routinely funded by the NHS. Following a recent consultation on its draft recommendations, the NICE has now reached a point in the process where it can pause guidance development to allow further commercial negotiations between NHS England and the company. An update on the anticipated date for the publication of final guidance will be provided by the NICE once timelines are confirmed.
NHS England has been able to reach commercial agreements with many companies for medicines being evaluated by the NICE, that have enabled the NICE to recommend them for NHS use.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the minutes of her meetings with Vertex since November 2023.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
No meetings have taken place between Vertex and Department ministers within this timeframe.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London received school improvement grants in (i) 2010-2017 and (ii) 2017-2023; how many grants were received in each period; and what the total amount for each school was in each period.
Answered by Damian Hinds
Departmental records show that:
(a) In the Enfield North constituency, no schools received or benefited from specific school improvement grants between 2010 and 2017. Between 2017 and the end of December 2023, 11 schools (c.21%) received or benefited from those specific school improvement grants.
(b) In the London Borough of Enfield, four schools (c.3%) received or benefited from specific school improvement grants between 2010 and 2017. Between 2017 and the end of December 2023, 23 schools (c.19%) received or benefited from specific school improvement grants.
(c) In London, 157 schools (c.4%) and nine academy trusts received or benefited from specific school improvement grants between 2010 and 2017. Between 2017 and the end of December 2023, 290 schools (c.10%) and 35 academy trusts received or benefited from specific school improvement grants.
The following specific grants have been included in this analysis:
The department has limited this analysis to state-funded schools or establishments. The department has also included grants allocated for sponsored academy conversions as a result of government intervention between 2010 to date, as well as grants for transferring academies between academy trusts between 2012 to date, because these grants may include elements for school improvement activities.
This analysis has been limited to these grants as they can be quantified for some of the time periods requested. The department's policy of retaining financial records for seven years limits access to data before the 2016/17 financial year. Older data included in this analysis may be incomplete. Other grants by the department may contribute less directly to wider school improvement. In addition, many of these and other grants are allocated via academy trusts or other organisations and so schools may benefit indirectly without being the designated recipient from the department. Finally, not all grant programs have been operational throughout the entire 2010 to 2023 period.
For a summary of the grants awarded, please refer to Tables 1a-1c attached. For detailed grant awards to schools, where available, please see attached Tables 2a-2c.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
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 improve treatment for individuals aged over 65 with low blood pressure in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield, and (c) London.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Integrated care boards in London are responsible for arranging healthcare services that meet the needs of their local populations, including for patients over the age of 65 years old in the Enfield North Constituency, the London Borough of Enfield, and London.
The NHS Health Check, offered every five years to eligible people aged 40 to 74 years old, aims to prevent heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, and some cases of dementia. People can also now have their blood pressure tested in many community pharmacies and over 7,500 pharmacies have delivered nearly two million blood pressure checks in just over two years, and we are working with NHS England to expand this service by investing up to £50 million over this and next year. In both services people will be referred to their general practice for further assessment and clinical treatment if required, including those with low blood pressure. Further information on the management of hypotension, low blood pressure, is available at the following website:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/low-blood-pressure-hypotension/
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much his Department spent on press and public relations in each financial year since 2019-20.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
Communications spend is set out in the annual report HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). It is not possible to isolate spend on press and public relations.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance his Department issues to police forces on responding to correspondence from Members of Parliament.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office does not provide guidance to police forces in relation to responding to correspondence.
Chief Constables and democratically elected Police and Crime Commissioners are responsible for ensuring that correspondence is handled in line with their internal policies and guidelines.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he has taken to support his Department's staff who act as whistleblowers.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office has clear, well established Whistleblowing policy and process arrangements. Responsibility is shared between HR, which owns the policy, and HO Security & Investigations, who run the Nominated Officer network.
As the link between the individual raising the concern and the organisation, the Nominated Officers oversee the management of Whistleblowing cases and help the employees with raising their concern by providing advice independent from individual’s management chain.
In addition to Nominated Officers and the whistleblowing team, other internal channels of support available to individuals throughout the process include:
The department operates several routes for employees to raise concerns, including a hotline, an inbox for emails and online form which ensures that individuals can remain anonymous if required. To ensure anonymity, all concerns are recorded centrally with the identity of the individual raising the concern not recorded alongside their concern.
The Home Office Raising a Concern including Whistleblowing policy is regularly promoted and referenced on the staff intranet and internal communication channels reminding staff of the routes available to raise concerns and signposting the support available to those individuals who raise a concern.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle hate crime in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.
Answered by Laura Farris
Whilst the Government is pleased to see the overall reduction in police-recorded hate crime across forces in England and Wales in the year ending March 2023, we are clear that any instance is one too many and we remain committed to tackling these appalling offences. We are also committed to tackling the abhorrent crimes linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Government continues to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal, designed so that victims of all forms of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We also fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to provide expert advice to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime.
We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. Part of this necessitates police recruitment and training – there are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, higher than the previous peak before the Police Uplift Programme, in March 2010. As of 30 September 2023, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has over 35,000 officers (35,006). This is higher than the pre-PUP peak in the MPS of 33,820 in March 2010. The MPS is working hard to attract and recruit new officers and replace officers that leave, for example through retirement or voluntary resignation. Ultimately, responsibility for recruiting and maintaining officers lies with the Mayor of London and the Commissioner who are accountable to the people of London. The MPS’s funding will be up to £3538.1million in 2024/25, an increase of up to £118.9million when compared to 2023/24.