Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Liver Transformation Programme on reducing the impact of liver disease on health inequalities, mortality rates and variations in care.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Further to the answer provided on 20 July in response to Question 17757, NHS England’s Liver Disease Programme has moved into the next phase of delivery, focused on a targeted set of priorities designed to build on the strongest areas of impact and provide strategic national support, strengthen alignment with wider transformation agendas, and enable systems to prepare for new clinical and operational opportunities, from early identification and prevention of liver cancer to treatment of severe disease.

We are conscious of the current disparities in the impact of liver disease, particularly in deprived communities, but the improvements we are developing through the Liver Disease Programme are too wide-ranging and complex to estimate potential impacts on health inequalities, mortality rates, and variations in care at this stage. We will continue to monitor these issues, and seek to provide further analysis in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding her Department plans to allocate to the Liver Transformation Programme.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Further to the answer provided on 20 July in response to Question 17757, NHS England’s Liver Disease Programme has moved into the next phase of delivery, focused on a targeted set of priorities designed to build on the strongest areas of impact and provide strategic national support, strengthen alignment with wider transformation agendas, and enable systems to prepare for new clinical and operational opportunities, from early identification and prevention of liver cancer to treatment of severe disease.

We are conscious of the current disparities in the impact of liver disease, particularly in deprived communities, but the improvements we are developing through the Liver Disease Programme are too wide-ranging and complex to estimate potential impacts on health inequalities, mortality rates, and variations in care at this stage. We will continue to monitor these issues, and seek to provide further analysis in due course.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will commit to introducing an interim redress scheme for victims of the Sodium Valproate scandal, as recommended in the Hughes Report.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care are in regular contact on a range of issues, including health and social care policy.

As previously set out, the Government extends its sincere and heartfelt sympathies to all those affected by sodium valproate. We recognise the suffering that many individuals and families have experienced and the lasting impact these harms have had on their health, wellbeing and quality of life.

Policy on the issue of redress for families affected by sodium valproate during pregnancy is the responsibility of the Department of Health and Social Care. The Department has been in contact with the Patient Safety Commissioner (PSC), Professor Henrietta Hughes, with regard to the ongoing health initiatives it is taking forward in conjunction with NHS England, relating to sodium valproate. Details of the Government’s work to date are set out in recent letters to Professor Hughes, which are published on the PSC website.

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