Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the importance of furniture provision as an element of the Crisis and Resilience Fund.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will be working closely with local authorities and external stakeholders on the detailed design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund and we will issue further information on our planned approach in due course.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he will require NHS employers to provide ongoing (a) education, (b) training and (c) health surveillance for all staff who (i) handle and (ii) may be exposed to hazardous medicinal products.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) are substances hazardous to health within the meaning of The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended) (COSHH), every employer is required to provide that employee with suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training.
COSHH sets out specific requirements for where health surveillance is appropriate for the protection of the health of employees who are, or are liable to be, exposed to a substance hazardous to health. This includes where the exposure of the employee to a substance hazardous to health is such that –
(i) an identifiable disease or adverse health effect may be related to the exposure;
(ii) there is a reasonable likelihood that the disease or effect may occur under the particular conditions of his work; and
(iii) (iii) there are valid techniques for detecting indications of the disease or effect and the technique of investigation is of low risk to the employee.
It is therefore for the employer to determine if health surveillance is appropriate as part of it’s duties under COSHH.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to promote the use of (a) engineering controls, (b) biological safety cabinets and (c) closed‑system drug‑transfer devices during the (i) preparation and (ii) administration of hazardous medicinal products; and whether he plans to allocate funding to implement these controls to NHS Trusts.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) are substances hazardous to health subject to The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended) (COSHH) employers, including NHS Trusts, are required to comply with the requirements of these regulations.
The regulations require employers who prepare and administer substances hazardous to health to undertake a risk assessment, the purpose of which is to make valid decisions about the measures needed to prevent, or where this is not reasonably practicable, adequately control the exposure of their employees to substances hazardous to health.
If it is not reasonably practicable for an employer to prevent exposure, the regulations require that the exposure of employees is adequately controlled and through the risk assessment process that the employer considers and identifies the control measures that should be implemented. Priority should be given to those controls that contain or minimise the release of contaminants and the spread of hazardous substances into the workplace.
The Approved Code of Practice and guidance to the COSHH regulations provides employers with detailed information and guidance on the requirements of the regulations. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has also produced specific guidance on it’s website on the Safe handling of cytotoxic drugs in the workplace, which are one particular type of HMP.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to (a) (i) develop and (ii) adopt a list of hazardous medicinal products and (b) require safety data sheets for finished medicines; and if he will take steps with the Health and Safety Executive to make such a list publicly available to NHS employers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no current plans to develop or adopt a list of hazardous medicinal products. The GB Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemicals Regulations 2009 (GB CLP) is disapplied to medicinal products in their finished state as outlined in Article 1(5)(a) of GB CLP.
Furthermore, the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals Regulations 2006 include an exemption from the need to provide a safety data sheet (SDS) for substances and mixtures intended for medicinal products. This occurs to avoid duplication when other more specific legislation exists to regulate those uses. Medicinal products for human and veterinary use, which are within the scope of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 or the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013, are partially exempt from REACH for this reason. The responsibility for the REACH legislation lies with the Secretary of State for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 to ensure that hazardous medicinal products with reprotoxic effects are controlled to the same standard as carcinogens and mutagens.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no current plans to amend The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) (as amended). These regulations place duties on all employers to assess the risk and ensure that the exposure of their employees to substances hazardous to health is either prevented or, where this is not reasonably practicable, adequately controlled. This includes any hazardous substances within hazardous medicinal products.
COSHH requires employers to carry out their risk assessments to establish the hazards arising from work activities, including the products and processes being used, and for the employer to put measures in place to control those risks. The risk assessment must take into account the properties of the hazardous substance and how and when they can give rise to risks to health.
If exposure cannot be prevented, employers must implement an effective programme of management procedures and put in place and maintain suitable and sufficient control measures to mitigate against the risks to health posed by any such exposure.
Asked by: Luke Akehurst (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of young people out of work, education and training in North Durham constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We published new analysis alongside the Get Britain Working White Paper which shows that there are 45,000 young people out of work, education and training across the North East.
Those young people are being failed.
The data is not robust enough to be broken down further at constituency level, but our Youth Guarantee will ensure everyone aged 18-21 in England can access quality training, educational opportunities or help to find work - wherever they live.