Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much personal protective clothing and other medical items stored in China by the NHS remains in storage; what has been the accumulated cost of storage; how much has been destroyed; and what will happen to that which remains.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Since July 2023 all of the Department’s personal protective equipment stock has been stored at sites within the United Kingdom. The total cost of storing items in the freeport in China was £60.6 million for the years 2020 until 2023, when we exited the site.
3,058 million items stored in China, or around 80% of the total volume, were sent to the UK for use in health and social care settings. 57 million items, or around 1.5% of the total volume, have been donated. 699 million items, or around 8% of the total volume, were recycled into energy from waste, which was by far the most cost-effective means of disposal readily available.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 23 July 2015 (HL1632), how many prescriptions for antidepressants have been issued in each year since 2014; what was the annual cost to the National Health Service of those prescriptions; and what guidance is given to doctors and patients about the use of antidepressants, their subsequent withdrawal and potential long-term effects.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The following table shows the latest data available on the number of prescriptions for antidepressants issued between 2014 and 2023, and the associated net ingredient cost:
Time Period | Total Number of Items | Total Net Ingredient Cost (£) |
2014 | 57,149,109 | 265,008,699 |
2015 | 61,021,662 | 284,746,655 |
2016 | 64,703,639 | 266,562,024 |
2017 | 67,530,457 | 235,076,090 |
2018 | 70,873,979 | 202,526,720 |
2019 | 74,814,621 | 201,729,659 |
2020 | 78,866,866 | 352,682,886 |
2021 | 82,620,542 | 288,099,250 |
2022 | 85,404,864 | 224,648,497 |
2023 (11 months) | 80,970,256 | 211,852,277 |
The requirement to provide a patient information leaflet with licensed medicines in the United Kingdom is set out in Regulation 267 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012. As set out in Schedule 27 of these regulations, the information that must be presented in the leaflet includes special warnings relevant to the safe use of the medicine, and instructions for proper use, including the risk of withdrawal effects and description of all side effects, both long and short term. The leaflet must reflect in lay language, the agreed Summary of Product Characteristics for a medicine, which would include information on risk of addiction, withdrawal and the long-term consequences of taking a medicine. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also set outs guidelines for the management and treatment of depression in adults.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many legal abortions have taken place (1) cumulatively, and (2) annually, in Great Britain in each year since 1993.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Information on the number of legal abortions which have taken place cumulatively, and annually, in Great Britain between 1993 and 2021, inclusive, is set out in the following table:
Year | England and Wales | Scotland | Great Britain | Cumulative Great Britain |
1993 | 168,714 | 11,069 | 179,783 | 179,783 |
1994 | 166,876 | 11,389 | 178,265 | 358,048 |
1995 | 163,638 | 11,143 | 174,781 | 532,829 |
1996 | 177,495 | 11,978 | 189,473 | 722,302 |
1997 | 179,746 | 12,109 | 191,855 | 914,157 |
1998 | 187,402 | 12,485 | 199,887 | 1,114,044 |
1999 | 183,250 | 12,168 | 195,418 | 1,309,462 |
2000 | 185,375 | 11,997 | 197,372 | 1,506,834 |
2001 | 186,274 | 12,128 | 198,402 | 1,705,236 |
2002 | 185,385 | 11,870 | 197,255 | 1,902,491 |
2003 | 190,660 | 12,308 | 202,968 | 2,105,459 |
2004 | 194,498 | 12,462 | 206,960 | 2,312,419 |
2005 | 194,353 | 12,665 | 207,018 | 2,519,437 |
2006 | 201,173 | 13,167 | 214,340 | 2,733,777 |
2007 | 205,598 | 13,778 | 219,376 | 2,953,153 |
2008 | 202,158 | 13,908 | 216,066 | 3,169,219 |
2009 | 195,743 | 13,112 | 208,855 | 3,378,074 |
2010 | 196,109 | 12,949 | 209,058 | 3,587,132 |
2011 | 196,082 | 12,558 | 208,640 | 3,795,772 |
2012 | 190,972 | 12,578 | 203,550 | 3,999,322 |
2013 | 190,800 | 11,954 | 202,754 | 4,202,076 |
2014 | 190,092 | 11,787 | 201,879 | 4,403,955 |
2015 | 191,014 | 12,153 | 203,167 | 4,607,122 |
2016 | 190,406 | 12,133 | 202,539 | 4,809,661 |
2017 | 197,533 | 12,546 | 210,079 | 5,019,740 |
2018 | 205,295 | 13,358 | 218,653 | 5,238,393 |
2019 | 209,519 | 13,610 | 223,129 | 5,461,522 |
2020 | 210,860 | 13,896 | 224,756 | 5,686,278 |
2021 | 214,869 | 13,758 | 228,627 | 5,914,905 |
Notes:
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current annual cost to the National Health Service of carrying out abortions; and what is its estimate of the total cost to the National Health Service of carrying out abortions in the last 30 years
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
This information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of attempts to traffic organ donors into the UK; and what estimate they have made of the number of people who have returned to the UK after having illegally paid for organ transplants abroad.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
No assessment has been made.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government from which countries people have returned to the UK after having illegally paid for transplants abroad.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government does not hold information on which countries people have returned to the United Kingdom from after having illegally paid for transplants abroad.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 15 July 2013 (HL1303) and by Lord Markham on 6 June 2023 (HL7725) and 27 June 2023 (HL8708), whether the implantation failure rate to date for pronuclear transfer is therefore entirely explicable on the basis of maternal age; or if not, what is the most plausible explanation for deviation from prior expectations.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that it has not made an assessment to date of the implantation failure rate for pronuclear transfer on the basis of maternal age, as the number to date is too low.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 11 May 2016 (HL7950), and the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 6 June (HL7725), whether any research applications submitted to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) since March 2011 have been rejected by the HFEA Licence Committee; whether any requests have been received by the HFEA to perform spindle-chromosomal complex transfer; and how many centres in the UK have been granted permission to perform pronuclear transfer in order to facilitate independent scientific validation.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that no research applications have been rejected by the HFEA Licence Committee since March 2011. No requests have been received by the HFEA to perform spindle-chromosomal complex transfer. One centre in the UK has been granted permission to perform pronuclear transfer which is the Newcastle Centre For Life.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 1 April 2014 (HL6103 and HL6104) and by Lord Markham on 13 June (HL8181) and 14 June (HL8241), whether the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has made any assessment of the revised estimate that 10–20 families per year might be assisted by mitochondrial donation techniques; what assessment they have made of the HFEA decision to continue to license the use of such techniques; and whether the number of embryos used in treatments to date in the UK might reasonably be described as low in comparison with other licensed treatments.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it has made no assessment of the revised estimate previously made by the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University, on the number of embryos used in treatment to date in the United Kingdom in comparison with other licensed treatments, as the number of treatments to date in the UK is low.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 13 June (HL8182), how patient confidentiality might be compromised if no adverse outcomes were reported.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that, due to the limited number of mitochondrial donation treatment outcomes to date in the United Kingdom, there is a significant possibility that when combined with other information, which may be reasonably accessed, it could lead to the identification of a person to whom the HFEA owes a duty of confidentiality.