Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) process and (b) timetable is for reviewing the implementation of the EU Tobacco Products Directive in light of the UK's decision to leave the EU.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department is committed to a full statutory review of the functioning of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations, which implement the European Union Tobacco Products Directive, within five years of entering into force. The statutory review must be accompanied by an Impact Assessment.
This is one of the many areas that the Government is considering carefully as part of the process of leaving the EU. Until exit negotiations are concluded, the United Kingdom remains a full member of the EU and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effects of the introduction of the EU Tobacco Products Directive; and whether he has made an assessment of the removal of small and flavoured packs that was not part of the original impact assessment for that Directive.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Impact Assessment published alongside the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 at:
sets out the Government’s view on the likely impact of the Directive, including an assessment of the removal of small and flavoured packs.
The Department is committed to a full statutory review of the functioning of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations, which implement the European Union Tobacco Products Directive, within five years of entering into force. The statutory review must be accompanied by an Impact Assessment.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on small retailers of the introduction of those bans on small and flavoured tobacco packs prescribed in the EU Tobacco Products Directive that was not part of the original impact assessment for that Directive.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Impact Assessment published alongside the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 at:
sets out the Government’s view on the likely impact of the Directive, including an assessment of the removal of small and flavoured packs.
The Department is committed to a full statutory review of the functioning of the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations, which implement the European Union Tobacco Products Directive, within five years of entering into force. The statutory review must be accompanied by an Impact Assessment.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans NHS Improvement has to identify the cost of delivering good care in a multiple pregnancy; and whether that body intends to update the maternity tariff to reflect that cost.
Answered by Philip Dunne
In the maternity pathway payment system, a multiple pregnancy would automatically lead to a higher tariff at all points of the pathway.
NHS Improvement are currently working with the sector with a view to developing the policies to be included in the statutory consultation for the 2017/18 national tariff, including the maternity pathway system. NHS Improvement plans to publish the statutory consultation in the autumn.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether there are plans for NICE guidance on multiple pregnancies to be updated and extended to include provisions on the level of care to be provided during labour and birth.
Answered by Philip Dunne
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has advised that it is currently reviewing its clinical guideline on multiple pregnancy: antenatal care for twin and triplet pregnancies (CG129) to check whether an update is warranted. As part of this review, NICE will consider whether any extension of the existing scope is required. NICE expects the review decision to be published later this year.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Monitor plans to create a new maternity tariff for multiple pregnancies which more closely meets the costs associated with delivering the best practice care pathways outlined by NICE and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Monitor and NHS England are working with providers on a bottom-up costing exercise for maternity services.Returns are due in mid-November and analysis over the following couple of months will help to ensure that the tariffs are improved to more closely reflect the costs of service delivery. This will help inform prices for 2017/18.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans for his Department's Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund to be used to support efforts to reduce still births and neonatal deaths in multiple pregnancies.
Answered by Ben Gummer
There are no specific plans for the Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development (IESD) fund to support efforts to reduce still births and neonatal deaths in multiple pregnancies. The IESD fund provides for funding for voluntary sector projects that are able to demonstrate a clear focus on supporting and driving forward new ideas, excellence or the undertaking of strategic developments in voluntary sector capacity and capability in health and care.
The fund does not have a particular focus on reducing still births and neonatal deaths in multiple pregnancies, but aims to support projects with the potential to have national significance in any area of health and care, particularly where statutory services can be complemented and high quality health and care outcomes achieved.
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Impact Assessment for the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015, which derives key valuables in its cost benefit analysis from the work of Pechey et al, what account he has taken of the statements in that article that it relies on best guess estimates and that its authors have an economic or personal stake in the issue.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Impact Assessment makes clear how this research was used on page 53. It also considers the uncertainty associated with the estimates in the “Sensitivity and Risk” analysis on page 69.
The published research paper includes a section on competing interests. The authors state that they have no connections to the tobacco industry, nor any financial or non-financial competing interests that relate to the area of this study.
A copy of the research paper is attached.
The Impact Assessment can be found at:
Asked by: Gerald Howarth (Conservative - Aldershot)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will delay implementation of standardised tobacco packaging until data on its effects on smoking prevalence in Australia is available.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The draft regulations laid in Parliament on 23 February have a coming-into-force date of May 2016.
Certain parts of the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations implement the European Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) and are therefore required to be brought into force in May 2016. For those regulations that introduce further requirements, it is clear that there are benefits for business if the requirements of the TPD and standardised packaging requirements are implemented at the same time.
Australian Government figures, from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey, show that smoking prevalence is at an all-time low since the implementation of standardised packaging. This change is likely to be attributable to cumulative effects of a range of policies, including standardised packaging.