Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to including educational attainment and outcomes within the scope of the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The scope of the Children and Young People Taskforce will be determined once the work of the taskforce begins, in spring 2024. Supporting children with cancer is an absolute priority for the Government and we will continue to work across organisations to ensure children with cancer get the care and support they need, to deal with the challenges cancer brings.
The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education share the ambition that children with cancer get the support they need to remain in school if they are well enough, both to maintain their education and for the benefits of being with their friends. We understand this may not always be possible, either on a short or long-term basis. That is why there are existing statutory duties to ensure children with cancer should be able to get the support they need, without an education, health, and care plan.
In addition to support from schools and local authorities, it is important to recognise the support built into National Health Service specifications for children’s cancer. 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, including educational support which includes teachers, health play specialists, speech and language, and rehabilitative support. These services are vital in ensuring that children and families have the support to face the difficult challenges cancer brings.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the closure of over 1,000 pharmacies since 2015; and what assessment they have made of the impact of pharmacy closures in deprived areas.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There were 10,613 pharmacies on 31 January 2024 providing National Health Services in England. The Department monitors changes to the market closely to understand patient access to NHS pharmaceutical services. Access remains good, with 80% of the population living within 20 minutes walking distance of a pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas of the country. We have seen more closures in the more deprived areas, but that is largely what we would expect as there are more pharmacies in those areas.
The law requires that every three years, local authority Health and Wellbeing Boards undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments to understand if provision is sufficient to meet local population needs. Contractors can apply to open a pharmacy where there is a gap or a need for improved access to services, or if they can make a case for providing other benefits to the local communities.
When their usual local pharmacy closes, patients can choose to access any of the remaining pharmacies nearby. Patients can also choose to access NHS pharmaceutical services remotely through any of the approximately 400 internet pharmacies in England, which are contractually required to deliver medicines to patients’ homes free of charge.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to banning the sale of flavoured vapes which may be attractive to children and young people.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government assessment is that youth vaping has increased. Over the past decade, the use of vapes by children has been consistently low. However, data collected in NHS Digital’s Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey showed that in 2021 9% of 11 to 15 year old children currently used e-cigarettes, up from 6% in 2018.
It is illegal to sell nicotine vapes to children and we are concerned about the recent rises in youth vaping, particularly because of the unknown long-term harms. To address this the government announced in April a call for evidence on youth vaping and £3 million of additional funding through the creation of an illicit vapes enforcement squad to tackle underage sales.
At the end of May the Prime Minister made a further announcement to close a loophole that allows industry from giving out free samples, increase education and to support the dedicated school police liaison officers to keep illegal vapes out of schools, and review both on the spot fines and underage sales for non-nicotine vapes.
Our youth vaping call for evidence closed on the 6 June. This call explored a range of issues and asked questions related to the appeal of vapes to children. We are analysing responses and the evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vape products. This will include an assessment of the appeal of flavours. We will publish the response early this autumn to outline our next steps.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the increasing number of children and young people vaping.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government assessment is that youth vaping has increased. Over the past decade, the use of vapes by children has been consistently low. However, data collected in NHS Digital’s Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England survey showed that in 2021 9% of 11 to 15 year old children currently used e-cigarettes, up from 6% in 2018.
It is illegal to sell nicotine vapes to children and we are concerned about the recent rises in youth vaping, particularly because of the unknown long-term harms. To address this the government announced in April a call for evidence on youth vaping and £3 million of additional funding through the creation of an illicit vapes enforcement squad to tackle underage sales.
At the end of May the Prime Minister made a further announcement to close a loophole that allows industry from giving out free samples, increase education and to support the dedicated school police liaison officers to keep illegal vapes out of schools, and review both on the spot fines and underage sales for non-nicotine vapes.
Our youth vaping call for evidence closed on the 6 June. This call explored a range of issues and asked questions related to the appeal of vapes to children. We are analysing responses and the evidence to identify opportunities to reduce the number of children accessing and using vape products. This will include an assessment of the appeal of flavours. We will publish the response early this autumn to outline our next steps.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the reasons for the delay in the publication of the Public Health Grant Allocation for 2023/24; and what assessment they have made of the impact of this delay on councils and their ability to plan effectively for the new financial year.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local Authority Public Health Grant allocations are not required to be published by a specific date. The Public Health Grant allocations for 2023/24 were published on 14 March 2023. Publication dates for allocations in the three previous years were 17 March 2020, 16 March 2021, and 7 February 2022.
In recognition of the need to offer local authorities as much certainty as possible, we have also published the indicative allocations for 2024/25 and aim to confirm these by the end of the calendar year.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the United States’ National Toxicology Program’s report State of the Science Concerning Fluoride Exposure, dated September 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department notes that this paper is still in draft and that according to the United States National Toxicology Programme (NTP) website, which was updated on 15 March 2023, the NTP is going through an internal process to decide on final publication.
We also note that earlier drafts of the paper were reviewed by the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (US NASEM). At the time, the US NASEM stated that the review cannot be used to draw conclusions on effects at lower levels of fluoride, i.e., below the United Kingdom regulatory limit for fluoride of 1.5 milligram per litre. This means that the findings of the US NTP draft review could not be used to draw conclusions relevant to existing water fluoridation schemes in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of the companies that produce and sell e-cigarettes (1) have, and (2) have not, signed up to a voluntary code to seek a licence so that the products meet standards of safety and quality.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect this information. Producers wishing to supply vapes and e-cigarettes on the United Kingdom market must comply with the product standards and safety requirements set out in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. This includes notifying their products to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before they are placed on the UK market.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of children smoking e-cigarettes; and what plans they have to put an age limit on sales.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There has been an increase in vaping and e-cigarette use amongst children aged 11 to 15 years old, as shown in the latest National Health Service Smoking Drinking and Drug Use survey data, which is available in an online-only format. This found that in 2021, 9% of pupils aged 11 to 15 years old were current vapers, compared to 6% in 2018, and 4% were regular users, compared to 2% in 2018. We already have an age limit on sales of vapes, with the Nicotine Inhaling Products (Age of Sale and Proxy Purchasing) Regulations 2015 making it an offence to sell vapes to persons aged under 18 and for an adult to purchase them on behalf of a person aged under 18.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to discourage children and young people from vaping.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the Government supports adult smokers switching to vaping in order to quit smoking, we continue to discourage use in children and non-smokers. We have introduced a regulatory framework to deter the appeal of vaping to children through restricting product advertising, limits on nicotine strength, labelling and safety requirements and it is illegal to sell vapes to those aged under 18 years old. The Department continues to work with the relevant agencies to ensure these regulations are enforced in England.
We have updated online information and advice on the Better Health and Talk to Frank platform. The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work with the Department of Education to communicate with schools policies to prevent children from vaping.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer from Baroness Barran on 25 April (HL7840), what advice the UK Health Security Agency has given to education providers on managing the disposal of surplus COVID-19 test kits.
Answered by Lord Kamall
In April 2022, advice was issued to education providers that test kits which have expired should be disposed of in line with the requirements of the waste duty of care regulations. If more than one carton of lateral flow device test kits requires disposal, a waste contractor must be informed.
Kits within three months’ expiry and less than four cartons in pristine condition should be retained. We are currently undertaking a pilot exercise with 51 schools to collect excess stock, with the hope of deploying a wider returns exercise.