Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Introduction to the Government Response to the Report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its visit to the United Kingdom from 27 March to 6 April 2023 (CPT/Inf (2024) 09), whether he has had recent discussion with Cabinet colleagues on the implications for their policies of the (a) conditions of detention and (b) treatment of persons held under immigration powers in the UK.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Detention plays a key role in maintaining effective immigration control and securing the UK’s borders, particularly in connection with the removal of people who have no right to remain in the UK but who refuse to leave voluntarily.
The Home Office takes the welfare and safety of people in its care very seriously and we are committed to ensuring the proper protection and treatment of people in detention.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people who require enzyme replacement therapy receive that medication in a timely manner.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the supply issues with the three enzyme replacement therapies, Creon 10,000 gastro-resistant capsules, Creon 25,000 gastro-resistant capsules, and Nutrizym 22 capsules. These are due to manufacturing and active pharmaceutical ingredient constraints. The Department will be issuing updated guidance to healthcare professionals regarding treatment of patients while there is a disruption to the supply of these pancreatic enzyme replacement therapies. We are having regular conversations with the suppliers of these products to help drive the resolution of these issues as quickly as possible, for example by expediting orders and increasing forecasts. We are also working with specialist importers to source unlicensed imports from abroad.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, we have a range of well-established tools and processes to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, so they can advise and support their patients.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with pharmaceutical companies on ensuring adequate supplies of (a) enzyme replacement therapy and (b) other related medications.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the supply issues with the three enzyme replacement therapies, Creon 10,000 gastro-resistant capsules, Creon 25,000 gastro-resistant capsules, and Nutrizym 22 capsules. These are due to manufacturing and active pharmaceutical ingredient constraints. The Department will be issuing updated guidance to healthcare professionals regarding treatment of patients while there is a disruption to the supply of these pancreatic enzyme replacement therapies. We are having regular conversations with the suppliers of these products to help drive the resolution of these issues as quickly as possible, for example by expediting orders and increasing forecasts. We are also working with specialist importers to source unlicensed imports from abroad.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, we have a range of well-established tools and processes to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, so they can advise and support their patients.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of enzyme replacement therapy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the supply issues with the three enzyme replacement therapies, Creon 10,000 gastro-resistant capsules, Creon 25,000 gastro-resistant capsules, and Nutrizym 22 capsules. These are due to manufacturing and active pharmaceutical ingredient constraints. The Department will be issuing updated guidance to healthcare professionals regarding treatment of patients while there is a disruption to the supply of these pancreatic enzyme replacement therapies. We are having regular conversations with the suppliers of these products to help drive the resolution of these issues as quickly as possible, for example by expediting orders and increasing forecasts. We are also working with specialist importers to source unlicensed imports from abroad.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues, we have a range of well-established tools and processes to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on the issue to healthcare professionals, so they can advise and support their patients.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Government Response to the recommendation in paragraph 47 of the Report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on its visit to the United Kingdom from 27 March to 6 April 2023 (CPT/Inf (2024) 09) that a healthcare professional be present during all Assessment, Care in Detention and Teamwork (ACDT) interviews in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs), if he will take steps to address resourcing constraints of healthcare staff in order to meet the needs of mentally vulnerable people in detention.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Healthcare services in immigration detention facilities in England are commissioned by NHS England. We take our responsibility towards detained individuals seriously and work closely with NHS England to ensure the health and safety of people we detain is safeguarded.
Healthcare staff attend Assessment, Care in Detention and Teamwork (ACDT) reviews where possible, and particularly if there are health concerns with the individual in question or a specific request for healthcare attendance has been made. DSO 01/2022 Assessment care in detention and teamwork provides guidance on the care and management of individuals under the ACDT process.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Rule 35(1) reports made by GPs working in Immigration Removal Centres setting out their concerns that continued detention of a person was likely to be injurious to their health were received by his Department from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023; how many such persons were released from detention as a result of such a report; and in how many cases was detention continued because his Department believed that the vulnerabilities identified by the medical practitioner were outweighed by immigration control factors.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
We regularly publish data on Rule 35(1) report from GPs in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs).
For the information from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023. Information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-enforcement-data-q4-2023.
DT_03: Reports made by a medical practitioner to the Home Office under Rule 35 on individuals in immigration detention by level (1, 2 and 3).
To maintain the highest standards of accuracy, the Home Office refers to published data, as this has been subject to rigorous quality assurance under National Statistics protocols prior to publication.
We do not routinely publish information about whether continued detention could be harmful to a person’s health along with details on number of people released or where detention was continued for immigration control reasons.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has made representations to the Qatari government on allegations of (a) mistreatment and (b) torture made by Manuel Avina Guerrero.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Supporting the welfare of British nationals detained overseas is a priority for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and we take all allegations of torture and mistreatment extremely seriously. When such concerns are raised, with the individual's consent, we will raise these with the relevant authorities. We are unable to provide comment on individual cases in line with relevant UK data protection legislation, which can be found at [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/foreign-commonwealth-development-office/about/personal-information-charter].
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his Department's contract with Serco for electronic monitoring on the (a) physical and (b) mental wellbeing of people who will be monitored; and what estimate he has made of the number of people monitored under that contract.
Answered by Gareth Bacon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The priority when it comes to electronic monitoring is public protection, hence why they can be accompanied by tough curfews and exclusion zones. However, Serco’s health and safety policy ensures that the physical and mental wellbeing of those subject to electronic monitoring is also regarded. Serco will conduct wellbeing visits, direct those with an electronic monitoring requirement to organisations offering advice and support where necessary and pay due regard to an individual’s health considerations during the installation of equipment and subsequent monitoring of requirements. Serco’s approach was assessed in their tender response and their performance of this will be assessed and reviewed as part of overall contract management.
We have made sufficient funds available to increase the number of defendants and offenders subject to electronic monitoring at any one time to 25,000 by March 2025. This includes doubling the number of GPS tags available to courts for community orders and suspended sentences to support robust community sentences and supervision.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of equalising dentistry training requirements between the private sector and NHS on (a) NHS budgets and (b) the NHS dentistry workforce.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s priority is to ensure that all dentists practising in the United Kingdom are suitably qualified. The General Dental Council (GDC) is responsible for regulating dentistry qualifications and dental professionals within the UK dental register. Only dentists and dental care professionals registered with the GDC can legally practise dentistry in the UK, which applies to both National Health Service and private dentists.
In order to deliver NHS dentistry services, dentists must also be included on the Dental Performers List (DPL) managed by NHS England. To be included on the DPL, dentists must complete post-registration dental foundation training, or undertake a structured induction process managed by NHS England.
We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will address how we continue to improve access, particularly for new patients, and how we make NHS work more attractive to ensure that NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver NHS care.
Asked by: Kate Osborne (Labour - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of offering incentives to dentists to deliver NHS dentistry.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We invest more than £3 billion each year to deliver National Health Service dentistry, and we have already introduced reforms designed to incentivise practices to deliver more dental care. These include increasing the amount of money that practices receive for high-need patients and allowing dentists to carry out more than their usual contracted NHS work. This has had the effect of more patients being seen, and a 23% increase in NHS activity in the past year.
We are working on our Dentistry Recovery Plan which will be published shortly and will address how we will continue to improve access, particularly for new patients, and how we will make NHS work more attractive to ensure NHS dentists are incentivised to deliver NHS care.