Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report published by the National Audit Office entitled Investigation into the management of PPE contracts, published on 30 March 2022, what steps were taken to corroborate the legitimacy of (a) certification paper work and (b) factory credentials and product and process certificates when offering contracts to organisations for the supply of personal protective equipment.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report published by the National Audit Office on 30 March 2022 on their investigation into the management of PPE contracts, whether the Government (a) consulted with or (b) made use of any third-party organisations who have experience in detecting fraud or identifying fake or counterfeit products.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report published by the National Audit Office on 30 March 2022 on their investigation into the management of PPE contracts, what measures were put in place to check the background of companies and their ability to deliver PPE items.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
All offers received a rigorous financial, commercial, legal and policy assessment, led by officials in various Government departments. The final decision on whether to enter a contract was made by the appropriate Accounting Officer in the Department. Due diligence checks on offers of personal protective equipment were performed by the PPE Cell, the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence which confirmed United Kingdom supplier financial accounts information; company health checks such as profitability, financial ratios and supplier information; international supplier accounts; and serious organised crime footprints.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which stakeholder groups the NHS England National Advisor for LGBT Health has engaged with in the last six months.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Adviser for LGBT Health engages with a wide range of stakeholder groups including Government departments, National Health Service organisations, Royal Colleges, regulators and voluntary and community sector organisations. In the last six months the National Adviser for LGBT Health has engaged with the following organisations:
- The Department of Health and Social Care;
- The Government Equalities Office;
- The Care Quality Commission;
- The General Medical Council;
- The Nursing and Midwifery Council;
- The General Pharmaceutical Council;
- The Royal College of General Practitioners;
- The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology;
- The Royal College of Midwives;
- The Royal College of Nurses;
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission;
- NHS Digital;
- NHSX;
- The UK Health Security Agency;
- The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities;
- Healthwatch;
- Albert Kennedy Trust;
- Opening Doors London;
- National LGB&T Partnership;
- LGBT Consortium;
- LGBT Foundation;
- Metro Charity;
- Stonewall Housing;
- The Proud Trust;
- Stonewall;
- Alike;
- Mermaids;
- Live Through This;
- LGBT Hero;
- Yorkshire Mesmac
- cliniQ;
- Terrence Higgins Trust;
- Gendered Intelligence;
- Leicester LGBT Centre;
- Birmingham LGBT;
- Galop;
- Switchboard;
- London Friend;
- LGBTIQ Outside Project;
- Lancashire LGBT;
- Intersex Equality Rights UK;
- Spectra;
- Intercom Trust;
- LGBT Dorset;
- MindOut;
- ELOP (East London Out Project);
- Parapride;
- Intersex Equality Rights UK;
- National Maternity Voices;
- Beyond Bea;
- Aching Arms;
- LGBT Mummies Tribe;
- Local Maternity Voice Partnership Chairs;
- Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals;
- NHS Youth Forum;
- Womens’ Budget Group;
- Women’s Resource Centre;
- Fair Play for Women;
- Faith Action;
- The Race Equality Foundation; and
- The HOPE Network.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the selection process was for the NHS England National Adviser for LGBT Health; how long the post holder has been appointed for; what the terms of employment of that post holder are; and what the lines of accountability are for that post holder within (a) the NHS and (b) Government.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Adviser for LGBT Health, employed by NHS England, was appointed in 2019 following an open, competitive application and interview process. From 2019 to 2021 the role, function and responsibilities of the National Adviser for LGBT Health was set out in a Memorandum of Understanding, agreed between the Government Equalities Office, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England.
The National Adviser for LGBT Health has a contract with NHS England which defines the terms of employment. The position is based within the Patient Equalities Team at NHS England and is accountable to the Director for Experience, Participation and Equalities and the Chief Nurse for England. The National Adviser for LGBT Health advises the Government where needed but there are no additional lines of accountability beyond those which exist between NHS England and the Department.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the National Advisor for LGBT Health for NHS England's priorities are; and how those priorities contribute to the work of his Department.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Adviser is focused on reducing the heath inequalities faced by LGBT people, advising on ways to improve the care LGBT people receive when accessing the National Health Service and public health services and is a visible advocate for LGBT equality within the NHS, providing a voice for LGBT service users within the health and social care system. The National Adviser works to improve healthcare professionals’ awareness of LGBT issues, facilitating better patient care, working with relevant statutory organisations and professional associations to embed LGBT issues into physical and mental health services. The National Adviser’s four priorities are:
- Improving data collection and monitoring of sexual orientation, gender identity and rans status across the NHS;
- Improving education and training of the NHS workforce to support them to better address LGBT+ health inequalities;
- Supporting the NHS to deliver more LGBT+ inclusive services; and
- Supporting the NHS to be a more inclusive workplace and to improve the experience of the LGBT+ workforce.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the membership of the Oversight Board of NHSX, chaired by Mark Gould.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
There is no Oversight Board for NHSX, which is a joint unit of the Department with NHS England and NHS Improvement. Matthew Gould is the Chief Executive.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the governance arrangements are for the development of the NHS COVID-19 app.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We will review governance arrangements as part of the next phase of the development of the National Health Service COVID-19 app. We have previously drawn on expertise from across Government, civil society and industry to review our design and help test the app, including providing technical assurance.
Asked by: Joanna Cherry (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to improve the availability of off-patent drugs for novel uses through non-legislative measures.
Answered by George Freeman
Clinicians can already prescribe off-patent drugs off-label on clinical grounds if they judge this is the right thing to do to meet the individual clinical needs of their patients.
The Government is keen to accelerate the adoption of innovative medicines and increase the innovative use of existing medicines where the evidence reports clinical benefits and cost effectiveness to patients. To that end, we are seeking a number of initiatives to provide innovation but whilst supporting the aims of the Private Member’s Bill on this subject, we do not believe the proposed mechanism is either practicable and desirable.
We are working with NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the General Medical Council and the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency to ensure that there is better information available to support clinicians who wish to prescribe off-patent drugs for off-label indications, and to ensure that new evidence is picked up more quickly and reliably and translated into clinical practice and can be fed through into licensing applications.
A huge amount of work is also going on in the Accelerated Access Review which will support the “pull” of innovation through to clinical practice.
As part of the debate on the Access to Medical Treatments Bill, we are working with officials in the Department, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and the Health and Social Care Information Centre to see how the power in the Bill, if it were to pass, could address the lack of provision of information on new uses for existing medicines via the power to create a database of innovations in order to support evidence-based prescribing.