Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that producers of baby food do not routinely breach official guidelines on sugar levels.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
European Commission Directive 2006/125/EC on processed cereal-based foods and baby foods sets maximum limits on the sugar content of processed cereal-based foods for infants and young children.
It is the responsibility of food businesses to ensure they comply with the relevant legislation. Enforcement of food law is the responsibility of local authorities.
Public Health England’s (PHE) review ‘Foods and drinks aimed at infants and young children: evidence and opportunities for action’ was published in June 2019. The Department is considering PHE’s advice and the opportunities for action to improve the nutritional quality of foods aimed at infants and young children.
PHE’s review is available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of residential care homes that have closed in each year since 2010.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department does not hold data on the number of care home and home care provider closures since 2010.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of home care providers that have closed since 2010.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Department does not hold data on the number of care home and home care provider closures since 2010.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of undocumented immigrants who have died after they were denied care because they were unable to pay the costs upfront.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Department does not hold this information.
National guidance is clear that immediately necessary or urgent care should never be withheld or delayed for reasons to do with eligibility or payment. Whether care is urgent is a decision only a clinician can make and on a case-by-case basis, informed by national guidance.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to encourage women to attend mammography screening.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Prevention is key in the fight against breast cancer and increasing the proportion of women that accept their invitation and attend their breast screening appointments saves lives. NHS England is continuing to invest in initiatives to help ensure equality of access to screening, including through locally targeted interventions to understand and address a range of issues.
In supporting NHS England, Public Health England (PHE) has undertaken a review of effective interventions to encourage uptake and included those in the Breast Screening Service Specifications. These specifications set out the service and quality indicators and expectations to ensure that a high standard of service is provided. Examples include ensuring breast screening services offer second timed appointments; and the importance of commissioners and providers working with local authority colleagues to understand local cultural/ethnic and travelling issues.
PHE has worked on the information provided to women when breast screening is offered. The new ‘Breast Screening: Easy Guide’, along with local initiatives such as text and general practitioner reminders, are some of the ways the programme is getting the information to women so they can decide whether screening is right for them.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of complaints of sexual (a) harassment and (b) abuse made by NHS staff against (i) patients and (ii) NHS staff.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Department is committed to supporting trusts in their responsibility for tackling all forms of harassment and abuse including sexual via the Social Partnership Forum’s ‘Creating positive workplace cultures and tackling bullying in the NHS - a collective call to action’, the Alliance of Healthcare Organisations committed to civility and respect throughout the National Health Service and the new offer for staff being developed as part of the People Plan.
Statutory guidance will be issued later this year to clarify for employers what reasonable steps they should be taking, as required under the Equality Act 2010, to protect staff as well as the consultation on potential new legislation aimed at further deterring sexual harassment.
The Department does not collect data on the number of complaints of sexual harassment and abuse against patients or NHS staff, as many are dealt with locally in line with the NHS Complaints procedure. Further information is available at the following link:
The NHS Staff Survey records staff reporting whether they have been bullied, abused or physically assaulted but these figures are not broken down to separately identify sexual harassment or abuse.
NHS Digital publishes reasons for leaving data as part of the Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. This can be found at the following link:
However, the data does not go into the level of granularity of staff leaving as a result of sexual harassment or abuse at work.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of NHS staff members that have left the NHS as a result of an incident of sexual harassment or abuse at work.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Department is committed to supporting trusts in their responsibility for tackling all forms of harassment and abuse including sexual via the Social Partnership Forum’s ‘Creating positive workplace cultures and tackling bullying in the NHS - a collective call to action’, the Alliance of Healthcare Organisations committed to civility and respect throughout the National Health Service and the new offer for staff being developed as part of the People Plan.
Statutory guidance will be issued later this year to clarify for employers what reasonable steps they should be taking, as required under the Equality Act 2010, to protect staff as well as the consultation on potential new legislation aimed at further deterring sexual harassment.
The Department does not collect data on the number of complaints of sexual harassment and abuse against patients or NHS staff, as many are dealt with locally in line with the NHS Complaints procedure. Further information is available at the following link:
The NHS Staff Survey records staff reporting whether they have been bullied, abused or physically assaulted but these figures are not broken down to separately identify sexual harassment or abuse.
NHS Digital publishes reasons for leaving data as part of the Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics for England. This can be found at the following link:
However, the data does not go into the level of granularity of staff leaving as a result of sexual harassment or abuse at work.
Asked by: Jim Cunningham (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the NHS of treating gambling addictions in 2017-18.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The Department does not hold information on the cost to the National Health Service of treating gambling addictions.
The NHS Long Term Plan has made a commitment to investing in expanding NHS specialist clinics to help more people with serious gambling problems. The first NHS gambling clinic for children will open this year as part of a new network of services for addicts being rolled out as part of the NHS Long Term Plan. Up to 14 new NHS clinics are being opened - starting with the NHS Northern Gambling Service in Leeds this summer, followed by Manchester and Sunderland. The National Problem Gambling Clinic in London will also offer specialist help for children and young people aged 13 to 25 as part of an expansion.