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Written Question
Smoking
Thursday 14th December 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of data from New Zealand on a generational ban on smoking.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Smoking is responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, causes around one in four cancer deaths and is responsible for just over 70% of all lung cancer deaths. No other consumer product kills up to two-thirds of its users. Smoking costs our country £17 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Almost every minute of every day someone is admitted to hospital because of smoking, and up to 75,000 General Practice appointments attributed to smoking each month – over 100 appointments every hour.

This is why the Government is planning to create a smokefree generation by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 14 years old this year or younger will never be legally sold tobacco products.

Modelling assumptions for the policy outline that one of our four scenarios modelled reflects the assumptions used in modelling from New Zealand. The document is available at the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/651d3fdf6a6955000d78b29e/cp-949-II-stopping-the-start-annex-1-modelling-assumptions.pdf


Written Question
Tobacco: Sales
Friday 1st December 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether adult smokers will be required to present an identification document to retailers after the introduction of the generational ban on smoking.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Smoking is responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom. Smoking causes around one in four cancer deaths in the UK and is responsible for just over 70% of all lung cancer deaths. No other consumer product kills up to two-thirds of its users. Smoking costs our country £17 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Almost every minute of every day someone is admitted to hospital because of smoking, and up to 75,000 general practitioner appointments attributed to smoking each month, constituting over 100 appointments every hour.

This is why the Government is planning to create a smokefree generation by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 14 years old or younger this year will never be legally sold tobacco products. As per existing age of sale legislation, smokers will be required to produce identification if retailers are uncertain that they are above the legal smoking age.


Written Question
Tobacco: Regulation
Friday 21st July 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to oppose restrictions on access to reduced-risk tobacco products at the Tenth Conference of the Parties of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

As at all events at the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, we will use the opportunity to speak about the United Kingdom’s progress on the implementation of tobacco control policies. This will include, where relevant, the role of nicotine replacement therapy and vapes in supporting people to quit all forms of tobacco.

All the COP papers and decisions during the COP are available at the following link:

https://fctc.who.int/who-fctc/governance/conference-of-the-parties/tenth-session-of-the-conference-of-the-parties


Written Question
Ovarian Cancer
Friday 21st July 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with ovarian cancer in England in each of the last five years.

Answered by Will Quince

NHS England’s National Disease Registration Service, as the national cancer registry, collects diagnosis and treatment data on cancer patients in England.

There were 6,111 diagnoses of ovarian cancer in 2020. This figure is taken from the published national statistics publication, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/cancer-registration-statistics/england-2020

There were 6,527 diagnoses in 2021 and 6,451 diagnoses in 2022. These figures are not yet finalised and are taken from the rapid cancer registration data set, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/ndrs/data/data-outputs/covid-19-rcrd-and-treatment-data

Data on the number of people diagnosed with ovarian cancer in England before 2020 is available publicly at the CancerData website.


Written Question
Ovarian Cancer: Medical Treatments and Screening
Thursday 20th July 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to increase funding for (a) screening and (b) treating ovarian cancer.

Answered by Will Quince

The Department invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including ovarian cancer research.

Currently, there is no national screening programme for ovarian cancer, in part due to the unsuitability of the blood test as a screening tool. No funding has been allocated for screening for ovarian cancer.

However, it is worth noting that the NIHR has funded six research projects into screening for ovarian cancer since 2018, with a combined total funding value of £3.8 million. The NIHR also supports delivery in the health and care system for screening for ovarian cancer research funded by research funding partners in the charity and public sectors.

The Department is committed to timely access to clinically and cost-effective new cancer drugs on the National Health Service. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraises all new cancer medicines, including for gynaecological cancers. The Cancer Drugs Fund supports patient access to the most promising new cancer medicines while further evidence is collected, including for ovarian cancer.

On ovarian cancer awareness, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Twickenham on 9 May 2023 to Question 183186.


Written Question
Ovarian Cancer: Publicity
Thursday 20th July 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

Answered by Will Quince

The Department invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including ovarian cancer research.

Currently, there is no national screening programme for ovarian cancer, in part due to the unsuitability of the blood test as a screening tool. No funding has been allocated for screening for ovarian cancer.

However, it is worth noting that the NIHR has funded six research projects into screening for ovarian cancer since 2018, with a combined total funding value of £3.8 million. The NIHR also supports delivery in the health and care system for screening for ovarian cancer research funded by research funding partners in the charity and public sectors.

The Department is committed to timely access to clinically and cost-effective new cancer drugs on the National Health Service. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraises all new cancer medicines, including for gynaecological cancers. The Cancer Drugs Fund supports patient access to the most promising new cancer medicines while further evidence is collected, including for ovarian cancer.

On ovarian cancer awareness, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Twickenham on 9 May 2023 to Question 183186.


Written Question
Ovarian Cancer: Screening
Thursday 20th July 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to increase the availability of the CA125 blood test for the screening of ovarian cancer.

Answered by Will Quince

We do not currently screen for ovarian cancer, in part due to the unsuitability of the CA125 blood test as a screening tool. CA125 blood testing is not deemed by the UK National Screening Committee to be accurate enough for the purpose of screening. The blood test is offered to those who have symptoms that could be ovarian cancer as a part of routine diagnostics.


Written Question
Electronic Cigarettes: Sales
Monday 22nd May 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Crackdown on illegal sale of vapes, published on 9 April 2023, whether his Department has made an assessment of the efficacy and readiness of the vaping industry to share intelligence on non-compliant products.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

No assessment has been made. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) within the Department is currently designing the detailed scope of the new illicit vaping enforcement squad. We will provide further details, including on data and intelligence gathered, in due course.


Written Question
Electronic Cigarettes
Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to increase awareness of the health effects of switching from smoking to vaping.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking. As shown in the recently published Nicotine Vaping in England Report there is clear evidence that vapes are substantially less harmful to health than smoking.

Last year, we published a vaping facts webpage that outlines the benefits of smokers switching to vaping, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/vaping-to-quit-smoking.

On 11 April, the Department announced a new national swap to stop scheme offering a million smokers across England a free vaping starter kit alongside behavioural support. More details will be available in due course.


Written Question
General Practitioners: Pharmacy
Tuesday 4th April 2023

Asked by: Gareth Johnson (Conservative - Dartford)

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 encourage GP's to refer patients to community pharmacies.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

Under the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework five-year deal 2019-2024, the Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS) was introduced in October 2019 and extended to general practices (GPs) in November 2020. Under the CPCS, NHS 111 can refer patients to community pharmacies for urgent medicines supply and advice and treatment for minor illnesses. GPs can refer patients for advice and treatment for minor illnesses. Over two million referrals have been made to the CPCS since its launch. NHS England has provided practice level support to GPs to support implementation of the referral pathway. As of March 2023, 80% of all practices are connected and able to refer with 85% of those already actively referring.

In September last year we announced the agreement with the sector for the remainder of the five-year deal, which includes a further one-off investment in the sector of £100 million. Under this agreement, urgent and emergency care settings will shortly be able to refer patients to a community pharmacist for minor illness consultation or for urgent medicine supply.