Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to ensure as far as possible that access to clinical trials for treatment of metastatic breast cancer is open to patients (a) from all areas of the UK (b) regardless of line of therapy restrictions and (c) who have pre-existing conditions.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government published ‘Saving and Improving Lives: The Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery’ in March 2021. The phase two implementation plan for the vision, published in June 2021, aims to make it easier for all patients, including cancer patients, to access relevant research.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) infrastructure supports clinical research, including metastatic breast cancer. The NIHR Clinical Research Network includes 15 Local Clinical Research Networks, accessible across all geographies in England, including underserved regions and communities. The NIHR also provides the online platform 'Be Part of Research' allowing users to search and register interest in research studies relevant to them across the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the NHS has flexible and effective procedures for identifying the correct treatments for patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
People with breast cancer are cared for by a team of healthcare professionals, each with their own expertise. This is known as the multidisciplinary team (MDT). Each MDT should include the full range of health professionals required to best inform and plan the most appropriate treatment options for the patient including for those patients with metastatic breast cancer. This would include appropriate surgeons, oncologists and clinicians from a wide range of other disciplines including nursing, radiology and pathology.
NHS England expects treating clinicians will consider all available treatment options, taking account of relevant clinical and professional guidelines and the individual needs of the patient. In all cases, discussions about treatment options should take place in line with the General Medical Council’s Decision Making and Consent Guidance to ensure that people can make an informed choice about their treatment.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that all patients with primary breast cancer have an end of treatment summary in order to speed up detection of secondary breast cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The NHS Long Term Plan states that, where appropriate, every person diagnosed with cancer will have access to personalised care, including a needs assessment, a care plan and health and wellbeing information and support. This includes provision of end of treatment summaries, empowering people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer.
The introduction of tailored follow up pathways for people after their initial breast cancer treatment has ensured there are clear access points for people with worrying symptoms or concerns to speak immediately to someone in the cancer team. Breast cancer-tailored follow up, which includes ‘patient initiated follow up’ or ‘open access follow up’ for suitable patients, is now in place in 95% of trusts.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence and the Scottish Medicines Consortium collaborate effectively on drug approvals for metastatic breast cancer treatment.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is committed to publishing draft recommendations on all newly licensed treatments around the time of licensing in England and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to ensure that licensing procedures and health technology assessments are as streamlined as possible.
Both NICE and the Scottish Medicines Consortium are permanent partners in the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway which supports more rapid review and approval of promising new cancer treatments.
NICE is an England-only body. Health is a devolved matter and as such decisions on access to drugs in Scotland is a matter for the devolved Government.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to provide free school meals to children who are permanently excluded.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools are legally required to provide free school meals (FSM) to eligible pupils. Pupils must be registered at the school in order to be eligible. For temporary or fixed term exclusions, schools should continue to provide FSM for registered pupils, either on the school premises or at any other place where education is being provided.
In the case of pupils who have been permanently excluded, and are no longer registered with a school, the Local Authority must arrange suitable full time education for the pupil to begin from the sixth school day after the first day the permanent exclusion took place.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he plans to take to support parents who do not live with their children to maintain contact where that contact is hindered by the resident parent or guardian.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The Government is aware of the difficulties that parents can face in continuing a relationship with their child following parental separation or divorce.
Under the current legal framework, a parent can apply for a child arrangements order for the child to live with or spend time with them. The welfare of the child is paramount in any decision regarding child arrangements, including decisions about the nature and extent of parental involvement.
We are committed to supporting families to resolve private family law matters outside of court where appropriate to ensure that matters are resolved earlier, before conflict becomes entrenched.
The Family Mediation Voucher Scheme provides families with up to £500 towards mediation with a trained, authorised professional to help resolve child arrangement issues in a less adversarial way. As of 26 March 2023, over 16,100 families have now benefitted from the scheme. Analysis of the first 7,200 users shows 69% wholly or partially resolve their issues and don’t need to go on to court, other than for a consent order to formalise their agreement. The government announced on 23 March that an additional £15m would be provided to continue the scheme for up to a further two years. This will allow it to help around a further 28,500 families over the period.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the finings of Maxine Davison, Lee Martyn, Sophie Martyn, Stephen Washington and Kate Shepherd: Prevention of future deaths report, issued by Senior Coroner Ian Arrow, what steps she has taken to help ensure accredited training for Firearms and Explosives Licensing Unit staff.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
This recommendation was made as part of the Prevention of Future Deaths report issued by the Senior Coroner in Plymouth on 8 March, following the Inquest into the tragic shootings in Keyham on 12 August 2021, to the College of Policing (CoP), the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and the Home Office.
The CoP are responsible for the development of training, and we are supportive of the work that they are currently undertaking to develop new Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and a package of accredited training for police firearms licensing staff.
I hope to make an announcement, as part of a future statement to the House, when I set out how the Government intends to proceed with the recommendations made by the Senior Coroner at the Inquest, together with the other recommendations made in recent reports by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), in relation to Keyham, and the Scottish Affairs Select Committee in respect of their inquiry following the fatal shooting that occurred on the Isle of Skye on 10 August 2022.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Defending Democracy Taskforce plans to make an assessment of trends in the level of state threats towards (a) journalists and (b) the legal profession.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Shadow Minister (Home Office) (Security)
It is our long standing policy that we do not comment on operational intelligence or security matters. We continually assess potential threats in the UK, and take protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously. The Home Office works closely with other government departments as well as relevant agencies and law enforcement to protect people identified as being at risk. Any threats made by a foreign state against individuals in the UK, including journalists and members of the legal profession, will be thoroughly investigated.
For instance, as set out in my statement to the House on 20 February, we are taking steps to address the concerning activities of the Iranian regime and its operatives in the UK, including threats towards UK-based journalists working for Iran International. We will offer Iran International every support that we can in establishing and securing their new premises, and until such a time as that location is ready I have asked officials to support Iran International in finding a new, temporary secure location for its operations in the UK.
Attempts by foreign Governments to coerce, intimidate, harass or harm their critics overseas, undermining democracy and the rule of law, are unacceptable. As demonstrated by the upcoming National Security Bill which will strengthen our legal powers to counter foreign interference, and the establishment of the Defending Democracy Taskforce to drive forward work to protect UK democratic processes, this Government is committed to tackling this challenge.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many requests the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation has received to grant licenses for legal fees to people designated under sanctions in the last 12 months; and how many and what proportion of those requests it has granted.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) publishes the number of financial sanctions licences issued in its Annual Review. Information about the total number of licences and the total number of legal fees licences that OFSI has granted for the last five financial years can be found in OFSI’s Annual Review documents, which are publicly available on OFSI’s website. OFSI will publish the latest figures in the next Annual Review in due course.Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that first responder organisations have adequate resources to support victims of trafficking; and whether her Department has a process in place for specialist organisations to apply to become first responders.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Home Office launched an e-learning package for First Responders in 2020. This consists of two modules, one on indicators of modern slavery and how to make a referral into the NRM (published summer 2020) and a second (published in June 2021) which focuses on the vulnerabilities of child victims. The training modules can be found here: Home Office First Responder Training (policingslavery.co.uk)
The Home Office continues to work with stakeholders to review the role of First Responders. This includes options for how non-statutory organisations can apply to be a First Responder Organisation.