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.
Asked by: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department plans to provide financial support to people seeking to decarbonise their heating systems but who experience challenges in (a) installing a heat pump and (b) connecting to a heat network.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) provides grants to property owners in England and Wales to replace existing fossil fuel heating with a low carbon heating system. Where a heat pump may not be suitable, the BUS provides grants of £5,000 for Biomass Boilers in off gas grid properties in rural locations.
The Government has committed £485m of capital spending for heat network development (across England only) through the Green Heat Network Fund. Government does not provide financial support for domestic customers to connect to heat networks.
The Government’s ‘Find ways to save energy in your home’ (www.gov.uk/improve-energy-efficiency) website also helps users get tailored recommendations for their home that could make their property cheaper to heat and keep warm. Consumers can also call the home retrofit phoneline service on 0800 098 7950.
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 estimate she has made of the proportion of people living in Yorkshire being reached by the targeted lung health checks.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
By the end of March 2024, 48% of the eligible population of West Yorkshire will have been reached by targeted lung health checks. This figure includes the impact of the national programme overseen by NHS England and the Yorkshire Lung Screening Trial, which operates in the City of Leeds and has been funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research.
The national requirement is that a full population rollout programme should be in place by 2028/29 and a local programme of expansion has already been developed to cover the remaining population within this timescale. This will include populations who will have aged into eligibility for targeted lung health checks whilst the initial programme has been developed across West Yorkshire. The rollout strategy for targeted lung health checks has been based around managing health inequalities and improving clinical outcomes.
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, whether her Department is taking steps to encourage people to attend lung screening appointments.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
By the end of March 2024, 48% of the eligible population of West Yorkshire will have been reached by targeted lung health checks. This figure includes the impact of the national programme overseen by NHS England and the Yorkshire Lung Screening Trial, which operates in the City of Leeds and has been funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research.
The national requirement is that a full population rollout programme should be in place by 2028/29 and a local programme of expansion has already been developed to cover the remaining population within this timescale. This will include populations who will have aged into eligibility for targeted lung health checks whilst the initial programme has been developed across West Yorkshire. The rollout strategy for targeted lung health checks has been based around managing health inequalities and improving clinical outcomes.
Asked by: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on reducing levels of burglary and robbery.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government recognises the devastating impact crimes such as burglary and robbery have on our communities and businesses.
We are recruiting 20,000 police officers and continuing to invest in the Safer Streets Fund to prevent these crimes from happening, supporting deployment of evidence-based solutions such as home security and increased street lighting in high crime areas.
Asked by: Jason McCartney (Conservative - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to introduce the direction on local planning authorities to consult with him on developments that affect ancient woodlands; and when he plans launch the consultation on revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
In Planning for the Future we make clear that, under the reforms proposed, local authorities would use the plan-making process to ensure the continued protection and enhancement of areas important for biodiversity, including ancient woodland.
The consultation direction has been committed to and further details on this will follow in due course. While the necessary changes are awaited there is, in the meantime the option for requests to be made for individual applications to be called in for determination by the Secretary of State, using the broad powers under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
As part of our reforms, we have set out that the National Planning Policy Framework will be revised. Our approach to planning reform remains under very active consideration, in the context of my departments’ wider mission to level-up our country. The way forward will be announced as soon as possible.