Asked by: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to then Answer of 30 January 2024 to Question 11063 on Cancer and Public Health, whether the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care participates in NHS Public Health Functions Agreement accountability meetings.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is currently held to account for the delivery of National Health Service public health functions through Director General-led accountability meetings, supplemented with an annual ministerial accountability meeting.
The annual ministerial NHS public health functions accountability meeting with NHS England is chaired by the minister with responsibility for public health. Other Department ministers with responsibility for relevant programmes are invited to attend, or to feed views into the discussion via the lead minister.
As the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, I now have responsibility for screening, and engage with the national screening programme performance outside these meetings.
Asked by: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)
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 30 January 2024, how frequently the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Start of for Life and Primary Car meet to discuss arrangements under section 7A for cancer screening; and on what date they last discussed that matter.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Arrangements under the section 7A agreement are negotiated at an official level. Health ministers are sighted in these arrangements, and have the opportunity to steer the process, usually feeding in through their private offices.
Asked by: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)
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 30 January 2024 to Question 11063 on Cancer and Public Health, what steps the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care can take in the event that key deliverables on cancer screening under section 7A are not being delivered.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As the Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, I have the ability to request improvement plans, trajectories, and regular meetings with NHS England, where key deliverables on any screening programme are not met.
Asked by: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department plans to take to increase breast screening uptake; how much funding she plans to make available for the breast screening uptake improvement plan developed by NHS England; and what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the breast screening programme.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving uptake in the NHS Breast Screening Programme (NHS BSP), and is working with NHS England on the development of the breast screening improvement plan.
At this time, NHS England has not requested any additional funding to support the delivery of the breast screening improvement plan. Assessment of the effectiveness of the NHS BSP is made through the regular accountability meetings, under the Public Health Functions Section 7A Agreement.
Asked by: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason abiraterone is not available for free through the NHS in England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service in England funds abiraterone for eligible NHS patients in line with recommendations published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). It has been recommended by the NICE for the treatment of metastatic hormone-relapsed prostate cancer before chemotherapy is indicated, and for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer previously treated with a docetaxel-containing regimen.
NHS England is in the process of considering a clinical policy proposal for the use of abiraterone as an off-label treatment option for patients newly diagnosed with high risk, non-metastatic, hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, or in whom prostate cancer has relapsed after at least 12 months without treatment. The policy proposal was sent out to stakeholder testing between the 30 November and 14 December 2023, and will now be considered by NHS England’s Clinical Priorities Advisory Group, who make recommendations on NHS England’s approach to commissioning services, treatments, and technologies, and considers which of these should be prioritised for investment.