Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish guidance on the sugar and salt content of baby foods.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A 2019 evidence review showed that babies and young children are exceeding their energy intake requirement and are eating too much sugar and salt. Some commercial baby foods, particularly finger foods, had added sugar or salt, or contained ingredients that are high in sugar or salt.
More recently, the independent Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) highlighted in their report on Feeding Young Children aged 1-5 years, published in 2023, that free sugar intakes are above recommendations for children at all ages where recommendations have been set; and that commercial baby food and drinks contributed to around 20% of free sugar intake in children aged between 12 and 18 months old. SACN also recommended that in diets of children aged between one and five years old, foods, including snacks that are high in salt, free sugars, saturated fat, or are energy dense should be limited and that commercially manufactured foods and drinks marketed specifically for infants and young children are not needed to meet nutrition requirements.
We face a childhood obesity crisis, and the Government is committed to raising the healthiest next generation. We can therefore confirm that we will publish voluntary industry guidelines to limit the levels of salt and sugar in commercially available baby food and drink in the near future.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
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 potential link between poor (a) mental health and (b) access to nutritious food.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Whilst there has been no direct assessment of a potential link, the relationship between food security, nutritional intake and physical and mental health in the United Kingdom is currently unclear. However, international data suggests that in the long-term, food insecurity may be associated with poorer diets and poorer mental and physical health.
UK dietary recommendations are based on advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). SACN’s risk assessments consider a broad range of health outcomes, including mental health where evidence is available.
Working together as a mission led Government, we will move from a model of sickness to one of prevention, reducing health inequality and closing the gap in healthy life expectancy, as well as delivering on our commitment to raise the healthiest next generation. As part of this we are working with civil society, industry and the public to address some of the biggest drivers of ill-health and health inequalities, including tackling poor diet.
To help break down barriers to opportunity and confront child poverty we are rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school, with an early adopter scheme launching in April 2025. All children in Reception, year 1 and year 2 in England's state-funded schools are already entitled to universal infant free school meals and disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools, as well as students aged between 16 and 18 years old in further education, receive free meals on the basis of low income.
In addition, our Healthy Food Schemes already provide support for those who need it the most. The Healthy Start scheme aims to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies and young children under four from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk and infant formula; beneficiaries also have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing auto-enrolment for Healthy Start.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Healthy Start scheme is being kept under review. The scheme was introduced in 2006 to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins for pregnant women and children aged under four years old.
Healthy Start now supports over 355,000 beneficiaries. This figure is higher than the previous paper voucher scheme. The NHS Business Services Authority operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. All applicants to the Healthy Start scheme, where they meet the eligibility criteria, must accept the terms and conditions of the prepaid card at the point of application. As the prepaid card is a financial product and cannot be issued without the applicant accepting these terms, the NHS Business Services Authority is not able to automatically provide eligible families with a prepaid card. However, we remain open to all viable routes to improve uptake.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's press release entitled One-off payments of up to £3,000 for over 27,000 health workers, published on 25 March 2024, what steps her Department is taking to ensure parity between clinical and recently insourced nonclinical staff for those payments.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The non-consolidated payments agreed as part of the Agenda for Change pay deal covered staff directly employed by National Health Service organisations, such as staff on permanent and fixed term contracts, as set out in Annex 1 of the handbook on Agenda for Change terms as of 31 March 2023. Those who joined the NHS after 31 March 2023 were ineligible for the award, regardless of profession. The recent funding agreed did not change individuals’ eligibility, and the scope of the pay award remains the same.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2024 to Question 14706 on Cancer: Young People, whether the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will study the impact of cancer treatment on young people's (a) cognitive function and (b) ability to learn effectively.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce announced on 6 February 2024 that it will explore how we can improve outcomes for children and young people with cancer. It will draw on expertise from charities, clinicians, academia, and businesses, to set the direction, and define its priorities going forward.
It is important to recognise the support built into National Health Service specifications for children’s cancer. These require children’s cancer services to take a multi-agency approach to support, and address, the wider social, educational, psychological, and emotional needs of the child and their family. This includes providing ready access to a wide range of services and professionals, including educational and rehabilitative support. These services are vital in ensuring that children and families have the support needed, to face the difficult challenges cancer brings.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
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 potential merits of commissioning and independent review into the impact of cancer treatment on a young person's (a) cognitive function and (b) ability to learn effectively.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Cancer is a priority for the Government, and the new Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce has been set up to progress our mission to deliver world-leading cancer services. This work will focus on cancers affecting children and young people, specifically recognising the long-term challenges that cancer and its treatment can have on children and young people.
Over the past five years, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has invested approximately £14 million pounds into 38 research projects on childhood cancers. The James Lind Alliance (JLA), through a Priority Setting Partnership (PSP), facilitates patients, carers, and clinicians in working collaboratively to identify research priorities in particular areas of health and care. The impact of cancer and treatment on the lives of children and families after treatment, and ways to overcome these impacts in the long term, is one of the key priorities identified by the JLA PSP. The NIHR recognises the importance of the research priorities identified by the JLA PSP, and is looking to receive applications for research studies addressing these research priorities.
Furthermore, education and the support to learn effectively are important parts of National Health Service’s specifications for cancer services for children and young people. These specifications require children’s cancer services to take a multi-agency approach to support and address the wider social, educational, psychological, and emotional needs of the child and family. This includes providing ready access to a wide range of services and professionals, encompassing educational support, which includes teachers, health play specialists, speech and language support, and rehabilitative support. These services are vital in ensuring that children and families have the support to face the challenges cancer brings.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to tackle sexual abuse of female paramedics.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
NHS England commissioned a review into the ambulance sector culture and has welcomed the recommendations of the recent independent review, which highlights the need to target bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment, and enable the freedom to speak up.
NHS England are setting up a Delivery Board alongside an implementation plan to deliver the recommendations from the Ambulance Sector Culture report. This will include actions related to stopping misogyny and improving sexual safety in the ambulance service by the Office of the Chief Allied Health Professions at NHS England and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.
Last year, NHS England launched the first-ever sexual safety charter in collaboration with healthcare systems, to provide staff with clear reporting mechanisms, training, and support, ensuring that a zero-tolerance approach to tackle sexual misconduct is taken.
The 2023 NHS Staff Survey included a new question specifically around unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature to enable National Health Service organisations to understand the prevalence of misconduct in their workplace, which will inform further action to protect and support staff across the NHS. The results of the 2023 NHS Staff Survey will be published on 7 March 2024.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Gambling-related harms evidence review: quantitative analysis, updated on 11 January 2023, what assessment she has made of the accuracy of the evidence used in that analysis.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
In September 2019, Public Health England published the Gambling-related harms Evidence Review. No further assessment has been made of the quantitative analysis since its original publication. The Health Survey for England conducted in 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2018 was used as the primary dataset for this review and analysis was carried out on this four-year combined and weighted dataset. Information on methods for data collection is available at the following link:
In January 2023, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities published a review and update of the economic and social costs of harms analysis.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact on public health of expanding UK oil and gas fields.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The UK Health Security Agency has not conducted a specific assessment concerning the potential impact on public health of expanding oil and gas fields in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason students studying Masters of Pharmacy courses do not qualify for support from the NHS Learning Support Fund.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Learning Support Fund (LSF) is available broadly to those courses which were eligible for the NHS Bursary prior to the 2017 reforms, and therefore, subjects such as pharmacy are outside of the scope of the LSF arrangements.