Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Leader of the House, further to her answer on 22 July (HL Deb cols 2227–8), what plans she has to initiate a discussion in the House of Lords Commission on the establishment of a select committee with backbench representation to (1) consider, and (2) report to the House on, the allowance system.
Answered by Baroness Evans of Bowes Park
I have no plans to initiate a discussion on this matter.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment (1) they, and (2) NHS England, have made of the availability of non-COVID-19 related urgent care services; what steps they are taking to ensure that such services are resumed; and when can patients expect face-to-face appointments to resume. [T]
Answered by Lord Bethell
We have continued to deliver the most urgent treatments, such as emergency and urgent cancer care, throughout the COVID-19 outbreak.
With evidence suggesting that we are passing the peak of this wave of COVID-19, and with the National Health Service well-placed to provide world-leading care for those who do still have the virus, we are bringing back non-urgent services that had been temporarily suspended. We will work on the principle that the most urgent treatments, including mental health support, should be brought back first and this will be driven by local demands on the system. The approach will be flexed at local level according to capacity and demand in different parts of the country, and will be gradual, over weeks.
In the absence of face-to-face appointments, primary and secondary care clinicians have been asked to stratify and proactively contact their high-risk patients to educate on specific symptoms and circumstances needing urgent hospital care and ensure appropriate ongoing care plans are delivered.
Doctors will always have the safety of patients at the centre of any decisions they make.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the conduct and findings of the consultation undertaken by the Health and Care Professions Council into its registration fees, and the action taken by the Health and Care Professions Council as a result of its findings.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government has made no assessment of the conduct and findings of the consultation undertaken by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) into its registration fees, and the action taken by the HCPC as a result of its findings. The HCPC is independent of Government, funded by registrants’ fees on a costs recovery basis.
Following public consultation, the HCPC is planning to raise its annual fees by £16. If adopted, the HCPC’s annual registration fee will rise from £90 to £106 a year from October 2019. The HCPC registration fees will remain the lowest of any of the United Kingdom-wide health and care regulators. Registration fees are tax-deductible and this fee rise will amount to just over £1 a month extra for most of the HCPC’s registrants.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the decisions by the Health and Care Professions Council taken on 14 February to increase their subscription fees for Allied Health Professionals, including dieticians, paramedics and physiotherapists amongst many others, by 18 per cent from October.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Government has made no assessment of the conduct and findings of the consultation undertaken by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) into its registration fees, and the action taken by the HCPC as a result of its findings. The HCPC is independent of Government, funded by registrants’ fees on a costs recovery basis.
Following public consultation, the HCPC is planning to raise its annual fees by £16. If adopted, the HCPC’s annual registration fee will rise from £90 to £106 a year from October 2019. The HCPC registration fees will remain the lowest of any of the United Kingdom-wide health and care regulators. Registration fees are tax-deductible and this fee rise will amount to just over £1 a month extra for most of the HCPC’s registrants.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government following the joint letter from the Scottish Government’s Minister for Public Health and Sport and the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services to the Secretary of State for Health on 1 December, whether they have any plans to introduce mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid on a UK-wide basis to help reduce neural tube defects in unborn babies.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recently updated the evidence on folic acid in response to a request from Food Standards Scotland and reiterated its support for mandatory folic acid fortification of United Kingdom flour, provided that this is introduced alongside restrictions on voluntary fortification of foods with folic acid. Ministers are currently considering SACN’s recommendations on mandatory fortification.
Neural tube defects (NTDs) are a serious issue. To help those who may have inadequate folate levels through their diet, the Department provides general advice and health education messages in a range of settings targeted at women of childbearing age to encourage the use of folic acid supplements both pre- and post-conception. Information is also available online via NHS Choices including advice on seeing a healthcare professional as early in pregnancy as possible and that women should take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day prior to conception, and in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, to help prevent NTDs.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that the fortification of flour with folic acid could have prevented approximately 2,000 cases of serious neural tube birth defects in the UK since 1998.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recently updated the evidence on folic acid in response to a request from Food Standards Scotland and reiterated its support for mandatory folic acid fortification of United Kingdom flour, provided that this is introduced alongside restrictions on voluntary fortification of foods with folic acid. Ministers are currently considering SACN’s recommendations on mandatory fortification.
Neural tube defects (NTDs) are a serious issue. To help those who may have inadequate folate levels through their diet, the Department provides general advice and health education messages in a range of settings targeted at women of childbearing age to encourage the use of folic acid supplements both pre- and post-conception. Information is also available online via NHS Choices including advice on seeing a healthcare professional as early in pregnancy as possible and that women should take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day prior to conception, and in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, to help prevent NTDs.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the feasibility of introducing mandatory fortification of flour with folic acid, following recommendations from the Food Standards Agency and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition to do so.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recently updated the evidence on folic acid in response to a request from Food Standards Scotland and reiterated its support for mandatory folic acid fortification of United Kingdom flour, provided that this is introduced alongside restrictions on voluntary fortification of foods with folic acid. Ministers are currently considering SACN’s recommendations on mandatory fortification.
Neural tube defects (NTDs) are a serious issue. To help those who may have inadequate folate levels through their diet, the Department provides general advice and health education messages in a range of settings targeted at women of childbearing age to encourage the use of folic acid supplements both pre- and post-conception. Information is also available online via NHS Choices including advice on seeing a healthcare professional as early in pregnancy as possible and that women should take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day prior to conception, and in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, to help prevent NTDs.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they gave to proposals to ban the advertising of unhealthy foods aimed specifically at children, and before the nine o'clock watershed, as part of their <i>Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action</i> and, if such proposals were not considered appropriate, why not.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
In developing Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action we have been clear that we considered a number of different policies and have focused on the ones that are likely to have the biggest impact on childhood obesity.
The policies in the plan are informed by the latest research and evidence, including from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition report Carbohydrates and Health, Public Health England’s evidence package Sugar reduction: the evidence for action, other Government departments, debates in the House of Commons and various reports from key stakeholders including the House of Commons Health Select Committee.
Current restrictions on the advertising of less healthy food and drink in the United Kingdom are amongst the toughest in the world. Alongside this, we welcome the action taken by forward thinking retailers on promotions. These voluntary actions mean that business can move more quickly and go beyond what regulation would permit.
We are confident that the measures we have announced will make a real difference and estimate that childhood obesity rates could be reduced by around a fifth (330,000) over the next ten years. Though we are clear in our goals and firm in the action we will take, this plan represents the start of a conversation, rather than the final word.
Copies of Carbohydrates and Health and Sugar reduction: the evidence for action are attached.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they gave to proposals to regulate retail price promotions on unhealthy foods as part of their <i>Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action</i> and, if they were not considered appropriate, why not.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
In developing Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action we have been clear that we considered a number of different policies and have focused on the ones that are likely to have the biggest impact on childhood obesity.
The policies in the plan are informed by the latest research and evidence, including from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition report Carbohydrates and Health, Public Health England’s evidence package Sugar reduction: the evidence for action, other Government departments, debates in the House of Commons and various reports from key stakeholders including the House of Commons Health Select Committee.
Current restrictions on the advertising of less healthy food and drink in the United Kingdom are amongst the toughest in the world. Alongside this, we welcome the action taken by forward thinking retailers on promotions. These voluntary actions mean that business can move more quickly and go beyond what regulation would permit.
We are confident that the measures we have announced will make a real difference and estimate that childhood obesity rates could be reduced by around a fifth (330,000) over the next ten years. Though we are clear in our goals and firm in the action we will take, this plan represents the start of a conversation, rather than the final word.
Copies of Carbohydrates and Health and Sugar reduction: the evidence for action are attached.
Asked by: Lord Balfe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the decision to abolish the Nursing Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals policy unit within the Department of Health on the roles of Professional Adviser for Allied Health Professions and Professional Adviser for Mental Health, Learning Disability and Dementia Care.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the effect of the decision to abolish the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals policy unit on the roles of Professional Adviser for Allied Health Professions and Professional Adviser for Mental Health, Learning Disability and Dementia Care.
As part of the DH 2020 plan, the Department is changing the way it works to deliver its essential work for the Government while achieving efficiency savings. The Department’s approach is to flexibly access professional advice from a wide range of sources, including arms-length bodies, regulators, stakeholders and professional bodies, rather than from a fixed standing team of internal advisers.