Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his planned timeframe is for establishing the arms-length body that will manage the compensation payments stemming from the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Government has committed to update Parliament through an oral statement on next steps within 25 sitting days following the publication of the final report on 20 May, and it is our intention to make this statement as soon as possible. Additionally, we will bring forward amendments at Report Stage of the Victims and Prisoners Bill in the Other Place with the intention of speeding up the implementation of the Government’s response to the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who has been appointed to the Infected Blood Inquiry expert group.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
Professor Sir Jonathan Montgomery has been appointed as the chair of the expert group to advise on the Government’s response to the Infected Blood Inquiry’s recommendations on compensation. The names of the other members of the expert group have not been disclosed to safeguard the privacy and ability of experts to continue their frontline clinical roles whilst advising on Government policy.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his planned timetable is for announcing full compensation payments relating to the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Government will respond in full to Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations on compensation following the publication of the Inquiry’s final report on 20th May, and we will provide an update to Parliament on next steps within 25 sitting days following this date. Additionally, we will bring forward amendments at Report Stage of the Victims and Prisoners Bill in the Other Place with the intention of speeding up the implementation of the Government’s response to the Infected Blood Inquiry.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on how the Infected Blood Inquiry calculated its estimate that 30,000 NHS patients were exposed to hepatitis B or C.
Answered by John Glen - Shadow Paymaster General
The Cabinet Office holds no information in relation to the Inquiry's methodology. The process and findings of the independent inquiry are a matter for the Chair, Sir Brian Langstaff.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the names of the organisations who disclosed links to the tobacco industry that responded to the consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom a year, and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.
The Government response to the consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping, was published on 29 January 2024. The consultation received nearly 28,000 responses. Whilst there are no plans to publish the names of all the organisations that responded, we did confirm that we received responses from 896 organisations as well as 307 responses from those who disclosed links with the tobacco industry.
As outlined in our consultation response, the UK is a party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and so had an obligation to protect public health policy from the vested interests of the tobacco industry. In the consultation response we summarise the views of respondents with disclosed links to the tobacco industry but have been clear that we have not considered these views when determining our policy response.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the names of the organisations that responded to the consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 deaths in the United Kingdom a year, and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.
The Government response to the consultation entitled Creating a smokefree generation and tackling youth vaping, was published on 29 January 2024. The consultation received nearly 28,000 responses. Whilst there are no plans to publish the names of all the organisations that responded, we did confirm that we received responses from 896 organisations as well as 307 responses from those who disclosed links with the tobacco industry.
As outlined in our consultation response, the UK is a party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and so had an obligation to protect public health policy from the vested interests of the tobacco industry. In the consultation response we summarise the views of respondents with disclosed links to the tobacco industry but have been clear that we have not considered these views when determining our policy response.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with the (a) National Federation of Retail Newsagents, (b) Association of Convenience Stores, (c) British Independent Retailers Association, (d) Scottish Grocers Federation and (e) Federation of Wholesale Distributors on the introduction of a generational ban on the purchase of tobacco.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Smoking is the number one entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death in this country. It is responsible for 80,000 yearly deaths in the United Kingdom and one in four of all UK cancer deaths. It costs our country £17 billion a year, £14 billion of which is through lost productivity alone. It puts huge pressure on the National Health Service and social care, costing over £3 billion a year.
This is why the Government is planning to create a smokefree generation by bringing forward legislation so that children turning 15 years old this year or younger, will never be legally sold tobacco products.
Since this announcement, officials have undertaken a series of discussions with retailers and most recently met with the British Independent Retailers Association, the Association of Convenience Stores, and other trade associations to discuss the smokefree generation and youth vaping policy. We will continue to engage with the retail sector and ensure they are supported to implement future legislation.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Libyan armed forces personnel trained at Bassingbourn barracks in 2014 were convicted of crimes; and what those crimes were.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of convictions for criminal offences, however to identify offenders that were ‘Libyan armed forces personnel trained at Bassingbourn barracks’ would require examination of individual court records, which would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth: summary of the heads of agreement, published on 20 November 2023, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that people with less common conditions are not disproportionately impacted by additional rebates for older medicines.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Commitments in the current voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access around patient access and uptake for innovative medicines have had a substantial positive impact on the speed of medicines access in England, ensuring that National Health Service patients benefit from cutting-edge treatments including personalised CAR-T cancer therapies, lifechanging treatments for rare conditions, and lifesaving gene therapies. The new voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth agreement will continue to build on these significant achievements, for example, through the piloting of new approaches for paying for ground-breaking advanced therapy medicinal products.
We do not expect disproportional impacts on people with less common conditions resulting from these policies. Provisions in the scheme allow for companies to apply for price increases should supply of products be otherwise uneconomical. Under specific circumstances an adjusted ‘Top-up Payment Percentage’ can also be considered for other older medicines where there would otherwise be a negative impact on patients.
Asked by: Karl McCartney (Conservative - Lincoln)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the policy paper entitled 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth: summary of the heads of agreement, published on 20 November 2023, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of these policies on life science SMEs.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Government’s Life Sciences Vision sets out our ambition to develop a globally competitive life sciences investment ecosystem in the United Kingdom. While no assessment has been made, the 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth includes several policies that will benefit innovative companies and drive innovation into the United Kingdom. This includes an exemption from payment for small companies with under £6m of sales to the National Health Service and a taper for medium sized companies with between £6 million and £30 million of sales.