Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that NHS Data Security and Protection Toolkit (a) guidance and (b) training is adequate to ensure that NHS staff are compliant with the UK General Data Protection Regulation when working (i) at their place of work and (ii) remotely.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The main source of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and information governance (IG) guidance and advice for health and care is the NHS England IG portal, which is available at the following link:
https://transform.england.nhs.uk/information-governance/
The Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) includes IG elements to ensure that organisations meet UK GDPR standards. Accompanying DSPT guidance created for small and large health and social care organisations signposts to the IG portal, with further information for both small and large health and social care organisations available, respectively, at the following two links:
The IG portal guidance is produced on behalf of NHS England, the Department, and key national stakeholders. It is approved by the Information Commissioner’s Office, the United Kingdom’s regulatory authority for data protection, and the National Data Guardian, the independent advisory body for ensuring people’s confidential data is safe.
The IG portal provides guidance on a range of topics, including when working remotely, as, for example, it includes guidance on video conferencing and frequently asked questions on accessing information when working from home, with further information on both video conferencing and the frequently asked questions available, respectively, at the following two links:
To comply with the DSPT training requirements, the vast majority of health organisations use the centrally provided NHS England Data Security Awareness (DSA) course. NHS England reviews the DSA training on an annual basis to ensure that it reflects current best practice for using, sharing, and protecting information.
In addition, the Joint Cyber Unit of NHS England and the Department provides online IG training modules, including simple and engaging training for front line staff on information sharing, with further information available at the following link:
https://portal.e-lfh.org.uk/Component/Details/750310
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help support hospitals to (a) recruit and (b) retain clinical staff in Oxfordshire.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about recruitment are matters for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.
That said, we are committed to training the staff the NHS needs, including clinical staff, and ensuring that the NHS remains an attractive place to work for our staff across the country. NHS England already has an extensive retention programme which is addressing matters that are important to staff, such as good occupational health support, options for working more flexibly, and better culture and leadership.
This summer we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many vacancies for (a) administrative staff, (b) clinical staff and (c) managers there are in the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; and what the average time was for a vacancy to be open in (i) Oxfordshire and (ii) the UK in the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold information on trust level vacancies by staff groups, or information on the lengths of time that vacancies have been open at a local or national level.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of certified Auditory Verbal Therapists.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Audiology services in the National Health Service, including provision of therapies for children with hearing loss, are locally commissioned.
In summer 2025, we will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade and treat patients on time again.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that ICBs are providing clear and consistent guidance on help for deaf children in developing language and communication skills.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) in England are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local populations, including services for non-hearing children. NHS England supports ICBs to make informed decisions about the provision of audiology services so that they can provide consistent, high quality, and integrated care to non-hearing children.
In 2019, NHS England, with input from the National Deaf Children’s Society, produced a guide for commissioners and providers who support children and young people with hearing loss. The guide provides practical advice on ensuring non-hearing children receive the support they need. In July 2016, NHS England published Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss: A Framework for Clinical Commissioning Groups. This framework supports ICBs to make informed decisions about what is good value for the populations they serve and to provide more consistent, high quality, integrated care, including for children with hearing loss. It also addresses inequalities in access and outcomes between hearing services.
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) prioritisation board considered childhood hearing loss as a potential guideline topic last August, but concluded that there is limited evidence available in this area and that the NHS England Action Plan on Hearing Loss addresses care for this population. Later this year, the NICE’s prioritisation board will consider if it should develop a guideline on paediatric audiology following a topic suggestion. It will also consider if the NICE should update its technology appraisal guidance on cochlear implants for children and adults.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the guidance on services for children with hearing loss.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) in England are responsible for commissioning services to meet the health needs of their local populations, including services for non-hearing children. NHS England supports ICBs to make informed decisions about the provision of audiology services so that they can provide consistent, high quality, and integrated care to non-hearing children.
In 2019, NHS England, with input from the National Deaf Children’s Society, produced a guide for commissioners and providers who support children and young people with hearing loss. The guide provides practical advice on ensuring non-hearing children receive the support they need. In July 2016, NHS England published Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss: A Framework for Clinical Commissioning Groups. This framework supports ICBs to make informed decisions about what is good value for the populations they serve and to provide more consistent, high quality, integrated care, including for children with hearing loss. It also addresses inequalities in access and outcomes between hearing services.
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) prioritisation board considered childhood hearing loss as a potential guideline topic last August, but concluded that there is limited evidence available in this area and that the NHS England Action Plan on Hearing Loss addresses care for this population. Later this year, the NICE’s prioritisation board will consider if it should develop a guideline on paediatric audiology following a topic suggestion. It will also consider if the NICE should update its technology appraisal guidance on cochlear implants for children and adults.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department consulted the Environment Agency on the flooding components of the Oxford Rail Station Phase 2 project.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail consulted the Environment Agency on its Environmental Impact Assessment as part of the planning approval process for the Oxford Rail Station Phase 2 project.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to open the Property Resilience Repair Grant Scheme in the context of the floods in Oxfordshire on 22-24 November 2024.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Property Flood Resilience (PFR) grant scheme can provide up to £5000 for eligible households and businesses to install PFR measures. The PFR grant scheme is typically activated alongside the Flood Recovery Framework (FRF) coordinated by MHCLG and only activated where there is large scale and widespread flooding. With localised flooding incidents, we expect Local Authorities to have well established contingency arrangements in place and to be able to respond and support their local communities within existing budgets. Below that local authorities provide support as needed. The flooding in November was not at the scale where we would expect to open FRF and PFR schemes.
To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, we will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience, by building, maintaining, and repairing flood defences.
Included in this programme, the Environment Agency is working proactively with local authorities to deliver Property Flood Resilience (PFR) projects, where it is cost beneficial to do so, in areas where PFR is the best solution for reducing flood risk. The EA’s PFR programme is focused on reducing risk to those households and businesses at the highest risk.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of frequent flooding on the (a) economy and (b) social cohesion of areas impacted.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Flood defences are critical to the protection of life and property and the effective functioning of the economy. Resilience and adaptation to the changing climate provide economic resilience and are key to supporting the government’s mission to kickstart economic growth.
The Environment Agency gathers data on how flooding affects the economy. The economic losses from the winter 2019 to 2020 flooding are estimated to be about £333 million. However, the economic damage avoided because of the protection provided is at least 14 times greater, at around £4.6 billion to £9.3 billion.
Around 36% of the damages caused by floods are to publicly owned infrastructure like roads, railways, schools and hospitals.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to issue Severe Shortage Protocols for (a) methylphenidate, (b) dexamfetamine, (c) atomoxetine, (d) lisdexamfetamine, (e) guanfacine, (f) oestrogel, (g) buproprion and (h) lamotrigine.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) enable community pharmacists to supply a specified medicine or device in accordance with a protocol rather than a prescription, with the patient’s consent, and without needing to seek authorisation from the prescriber. SSPs are additional tools that have been used in recent years, alongside a range of other mechanisms, to manage and mitigate medicine and medical devices shortages. SSPs are not introduced unless sufficient supplies of the alternative product to be supplied in accordance with the SSP are available to support the market.
Furthermore, SSPs are not suitable for all medicines and patients. For example, patients with complex health needs may not be considered suitable for a supply in accordance with an SSP. In these cases, patients would always be referred back to the prescriber for any decision about their treatment before any therapeutic or generic alterative is supplied. SSPs are not issued for controlled drugs in Schedule II, such as methylphenidate, except under very restricted circumstances.
The Department is aware of a supply issue affecting methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets. These supply issues are taking longer to resolve than the Department originally anticipated, and the Department is working with the respective suppliers to further improve the United Kingdom’s supply for the short and long-term as soon as possible. There are no plans to issue a SSP for methylphenidate.
The Department is currently unaware of any medicine supply issues affecting dexamfetamine, atomoxetine, lisdexamfetamine, guanfacine, oestrogel, bupropionand, lamotrigine. Therefore, there are no plans to issue SSPs for these medicines.