Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of increased fuel costs on (a) domiciliary care workers and (b) filling vacancies in that sector.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
No specific assessment has been made. The vast majority of care workers are employed by private sector providers which set the terms and conditions independently of central Government. Local authorities work with care providers to determine fee rates, which should take account of employment costs based on local market conditions. We continue to work with the local government sector to understand the impact of emerging challenges on local authorities, such as rising fuel costs.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people in prison have a diagnosed mental health condition.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
This information is not collected in the format requested. However, in 2020/21, data shows that an average of 66,442 people residing in prison had a serious mental illness recorded or 7.44% of the prison population. This does not include those who have accessed primary care mental health services and are treated through normal primary care provision for lower level presentations.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average response time was for his Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from hon. Members, either directly or on behalf of their constituents. The Department does not have an MP hotline.
The Department does not hold information on the average response time to enquiries from hon. Members, as correspondence performance is monitored by the percentage of correspondence responded to within the target response time set by the Department.
Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from Parliamentarians in 2019 and 2020 is published on GOV.UK:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers
Data for 2021 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timescale is for implementing the decision to fortify non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Following consultation, the Government announced in September 2021 that it would legislate to fortify non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid. The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have engaged with industry as part of a cross-Government review of bread and flour regulations. The four United Kingdom nations are now developing the legislation and impact assessment with the intention of consulting on the draft provisions in summer 2022.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
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 introduce statutory regulation of all medical associate professions.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Statutory regulation should be used proportionately and only where risks to public and patient protection cannot be effectively addressed through other means of professional assurance. In 2017, the Department consulted on proposals to bring four medical associate professions into regulation:
- physician associate (PA);
- anaesthesia associate (AA);
- surgical care practitioner (SCP); and
- advanced critical care practitioner (ACCP).
In October 2018, we announced that PAs and AAs would be regulated but not SCPs or ACCPs. This is because training for SCPs and ACCPs is open to regulated healthcare professionals and therefore there is no direct entry route into these roles. Once trained, SCPs and ACCPs need to retain their base professional registration with their regulatory bodies in order to practise.
On 6 January 2022, we published a consultation on the criteria for determining when statutory regulation of a healthcare profession is appropriate.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks until 31 March 2022.
Whilst there is no legal requirement, all healthcare professions with prescribing responsibilities in the United Kingdom are regulated due to the high-risk nature of prescribing activities. Work to bring PAs into regulation is underway and the Department plans to consult on draft legislation later this year.
We are also working with the professions, NHS England and NHS Improvement, the devolved administrations and professional bodies to develop the case for extending appropriate prescribing responsibilities to PAs after regulation. Should the decision be made by the Commission on Human Medicines to extend prescribing responsibilities to the role, a separate legislative process would be required to implement this. This would be subject to a further public consultation.
The Department is not aware of any legislative reason why PAs cannot access advanced trauma training courses. Eligibility criteria for training courses is set by course providers. The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 require a profession to be regulated before it can request X-rays and ionising radiation. Registered healthcare professionals can then request these procedures as ‘non-medical referrers’ (NMRs) provided they have been entitled as an NMR by their employer and have undergone the appropriate training.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
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 enable physician associates to authorise x-rays and related scans.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Statutory regulation should be used proportionately and only where risks to public and patient protection cannot be effectively addressed through other means of professional assurance. In 2017, the Department consulted on proposals to bring four medical associate professions into regulation:
- physician associate (PA);
- anaesthesia associate (AA);
- surgical care practitioner (SCP); and
- advanced critical care practitioner (ACCP).
In October 2018, we announced that PAs and AAs would be regulated but not SCPs or ACCPs. This is because training for SCPs and ACCPs is open to regulated healthcare professionals and therefore there is no direct entry route into these roles. Once trained, SCPs and ACCPs need to retain their base professional registration with their regulatory bodies in order to practise.
On 6 January 2022, we published a consultation on the criteria for determining when statutory regulation of a healthcare profession is appropriate.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks until 31 March 2022.
Whilst there is no legal requirement, all healthcare professions with prescribing responsibilities in the United Kingdom are regulated due to the high-risk nature of prescribing activities. Work to bring PAs into regulation is underway and the Department plans to consult on draft legislation later this year.
We are also working with the professions, NHS England and NHS Improvement, the devolved administrations and professional bodies to develop the case for extending appropriate prescribing responsibilities to PAs after regulation. Should the decision be made by the Commission on Human Medicines to extend prescribing responsibilities to the role, a separate legislative process would be required to implement this. This would be subject to a further public consultation.
The Department is not aware of any legislative reason why PAs cannot access advanced trauma training courses. Eligibility criteria for training courses is set by course providers. The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 require a profession to be regulated before it can request X-rays and ionising radiation. Registered healthcare professionals can then request these procedures as ‘non-medical referrers’ (NMRs) provided they have been entitled as an NMR by their employer and have undergone the appropriate training.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
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 enable physician associates to attend advanced trauma training.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Statutory regulation should be used proportionately and only where risks to public and patient protection cannot be effectively addressed through other means of professional assurance. In 2017, the Department consulted on proposals to bring four medical associate professions into regulation:
- physician associate (PA);
- anaesthesia associate (AA);
- surgical care practitioner (SCP); and
- advanced critical care practitioner (ACCP).
In October 2018, we announced that PAs and AAs would be regulated but not SCPs or ACCPs. This is because training for SCPs and ACCPs is open to regulated healthcare professionals and therefore there is no direct entry route into these roles. Once trained, SCPs and ACCPs need to retain their base professional registration with their regulatory bodies in order to practise.
On 6 January 2022, we published a consultation on the criteria for determining when statutory regulation of a healthcare profession is appropriate.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks until 31 March 2022.
Whilst there is no legal requirement, all healthcare professions with prescribing responsibilities in the United Kingdom are regulated due to the high-risk nature of prescribing activities. Work to bring PAs into regulation is underway and the Department plans to consult on draft legislation later this year.
We are also working with the professions, NHS England and NHS Improvement, the devolved administrations and professional bodies to develop the case for extending appropriate prescribing responsibilities to PAs after regulation. Should the decision be made by the Commission on Human Medicines to extend prescribing responsibilities to the role, a separate legislative process would be required to implement this. This would be subject to a further public consultation.
The Department is not aware of any legislative reason why PAs cannot access advanced trauma training courses. Eligibility criteria for training courses is set by course providers. The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 require a profession to be regulated before it can request X-rays and ionising radiation. Registered healthcare professionals can then request these procedures as ‘non-medical referrers’ (NMRs) provided they have been entitled as an NMR by their employer and have undergone the appropriate training.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
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 enable physician associates to prescribe mortality-reducing medication.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Statutory regulation should be used proportionately and only where risks to public and patient protection cannot be effectively addressed through other means of professional assurance. In 2017, the Department consulted on proposals to bring four medical associate professions into regulation:
- physician associate (PA);
- anaesthesia associate (AA);
- surgical care practitioner (SCP); and
- advanced critical care practitioner (ACCP).
In October 2018, we announced that PAs and AAs would be regulated but not SCPs or ACCPs. This is because training for SCPs and ACCPs is open to regulated healthcare professionals and therefore there is no direct entry route into these roles. Once trained, SCPs and ACCPs need to retain their base professional registration with their regulatory bodies in order to practise.
On 6 January 2022, we published a consultation on the criteria for determining when statutory regulation of a healthcare profession is appropriate.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks until 31 March 2022.
Whilst there is no legal requirement, all healthcare professions with prescribing responsibilities in the United Kingdom are regulated due to the high-risk nature of prescribing activities. Work to bring PAs into regulation is underway and the Department plans to consult on draft legislation later this year.
We are also working with the professions, NHS England and NHS Improvement, the devolved administrations and professional bodies to develop the case for extending appropriate prescribing responsibilities to PAs after regulation. Should the decision be made by the Commission on Human Medicines to extend prescribing responsibilities to the role, a separate legislative process would be required to implement this. This would be subject to a further public consultation.
The Department is not aware of any legislative reason why PAs cannot access advanced trauma training courses. Eligibility criteria for training courses is set by course providers. The Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations 2017 require a profession to be regulated before it can request X-rays and ionising radiation. Registered healthcare professionals can then request these procedures as ‘non-medical referrers’ (NMRs) provided they have been entitled as an NMR by their employer and have undergone the appropriate training.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government plans to respond to the consultation on the fortification of flour with folic acid.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will provide further updates on the response after the summer recess.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that physician associates are afforded the protection of formal statutory regulation.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department’s consultation ‘Regulating healthcare professionals, protecting the public’ closed on 16 June. The consultation sought views on proposals to modernise each of the healthcare professional regulators’ legal frameworks and on the proposed approach to introducing statutory regulation for physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs).
The reforms will update the General Medical Council’s (GMC) current legislation, enabling it to bring PAs and AAs into regulation under a new, modernised framework. We plan to publish the consultation response in the autumn. A further consultation on the draft legislation that will bring PAs and AAs into regulation will follow. We are working with the GMC to ensure that regulation of PAs and AAs begins as early as possible in the second half of 2022.