Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department plans to (a) maintain and (b) increase funding for Product Development Partnerships.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) remains committed to investing in Product Development Partnerships and other global health Research and Development organisations. We plan to launch a call for proposals for funding the development of products and technologies to combat diseases of poverty, for use in Low and Lower Middle Income Countries.
At this stage, FCDO plans to invest approximately £230 million in new funding for product development research for health over a 3 - 4 year period from 2023/24.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what funding his Department provided for vaccine research and development in each of the last five years; and what he plans to provide in each of the next five years.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Over the last 5 financial years (2018/19 to 2022/23) the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have invested the following amounts in research and development for vaccines to combat diseases of poverty for use in low and lower middle-income countries:
2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
£8,528,752 | £29,589,803 | £213,773,395 | £2,391,511 | £13,012,567 |
To date, FCDO has entered into agreements to invest the following amounts on vaccine Research and Development over the next 5 financial years (2023/24 to 2027/28)*:
2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | 2027/28 |
£17,008,587 | £18,626,489 | £17,253,808 | £17,000,000 | £0 |
* The overall investment in vaccine development could increase as a result of a planned funding competition for the research and development of health products to combat diseases of poverty.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish a workforce strategy for the community diagnostic centre programme.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
NHS England is working on a plan to ensure sufficient workforce capacity, including for community diagnostic centres, to enable workforce expansion with the right skills and roles, in the right locations and at the right time. In 2022/23, this resulted in over 4,300 new starters across the training pipeline for diagnostics and cancer.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which tests, checks, and scans were initially designated for provision by community diagnostic centres; where that information is published; and what assessment she has made of the extent of tests, checks and scans provided as of 22 November 2023 compared with initial planned provision.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
In line with the recommendations of the Richards’ Review (2021), community diagnostic centres (CDCs) must offer a minimum set of diagnostic services across the following core modalities:
- imaging, for example, computerised tomography, magnetic resonance imaging;
- physiological measurement, for example, echocardiography, spirometry; and
- pathology, for example, phlebotomy, urine testing.
Large CDCs must also offer endoscopy services, for example, gastroscopy and colonoscopy, as part of their core offer.
There are no current plans to expand the core list of services required by CDCs. CDCs are however encouraged to offer other tests beyond the minimum requirement where this may be appropriate and deemed to be a priority locally. NHS England does not currently publish a breakdown of all CDC activity.
There are 135 CDCs currently operational, and the CDC programme has delivered over five million tests since reporting in July 2021, which is currently ahead of planned programme activity. The Government has also confirmed it is now on track to meet its target to open up to 160 CDCs by March 2025, and expects to achieve this a year early in March 2024.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the activity conducted in community diagnostic centres, how her Department and NHS England define (a) tests, (b) checks and (c) scans; which specific tests, checks and scans are conducted across the community diagnostic centres programme; and whether she has plans to make provision for further tests, checks and scans to be conducted in community diagnostic centres.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
In line with the recommendations of the Richards’ Review (2021), community diagnostic centres (CDCs) must offer a minimum set of diagnostic services across the following core modalities:
- imaging, for example, computerised tomography, magnetic resonance imaging;
- physiological measurement, for example, echocardiography, spirometry; and
- pathology, for example, phlebotomy, urine testing.
Large CDCs must also offer endoscopy services, for example, gastroscopy and colonoscopy, as part of their core offer.
There are no current plans to expand the core list of services required by CDCs. CDCs are however encouraged to offer other tests beyond the minimum requirement where this may be appropriate and deemed to be a priority locally. NHS England does not currently publish a breakdown of all CDC activity.
There are 135 CDCs currently operational, and the CDC programme has delivered over five million tests since reporting in July 2021, which is currently ahead of planned programme activity. The Government has also confirmed it is now on track to meet its target to open up to 160 CDCs by March 2025, and expects to achieve this a year early in March 2024.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to provide (a) accessible and (b) affordable sexual and reproductive healthcare services that include HIV prevention and testing.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
We remain committed to improving sexual and reproductive health in England.
The Department published a HIV Action Plan in 2021 setting out our actions during 2022-2025 to move towards ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. Good progress has been made during the first year of its implementation, as set out by the annual report to Parliament published on 7 June. In 2022 we published the Women’s Health Strategy for England setting out our 10 year ambitions and actions to improve health for women and girls.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department is investing over £3.5 million to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme, a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work, including public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas of high HIV prevalence. HPE also aims to improve knowledge and understating of HIV transmission and reducing stigma within affected communities.
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, open access sexual health services to meet local demand and individual local authorities decide on spending priorities based on an assessment of local need for sexual health services, including HIV prevention and testing. We are providing more than £3.5 billion this financial year to local authorities through the Public Health Grant to fund public health services, including sexual health services, increasing to £3.575 billion in 2024/25
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) promote (i) research and (ii) interventions that focus on understanding the social and structural determinants impacting HIV transmission among women and (b) use the results of research to guide prevention efforts.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach in England to drive forward progress and achieve our goal to end new HIV transmissions, AIDS and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including women.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publish a yearly monitoring and evaluation report, which sets out key indicators to track progress towards our ambitions in the HIV Action Plan, including by gender, and this data helps system partners to understand where services can be improved and made more accessible to key populations. The next report will be published on 1 December 2023.
The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which also funds Health Protection Research Units (HPRUs) to help build an evidence base for public health policy and practice in partnership with UKHSA. The NIHR HPRU in bloodborne and sexually transmitted infections at University College London has ongoing research to determine the levels of awareness of and interest in HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among women and how this relates to equity factors and HIV risk.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with (a) women's organizations, (b) community leaders and (c) influencers to amplify messages about (i) prevention, (ii) testing and (iii) de-stigmatization of HIV among women.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
HIV Prevention England (HPE) is the national HIV prevention programme for England and is funded at £3.5 million by the Department. The programme aims to support communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, including gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men and Black African heterosexual men and women.
The Department has appointed Terrence Higgins Trust, a national charity who provide services related to sexual heath and HIV, to deliver the programme from 2021-2024. HPE delivers a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas with high HIV prevalence and for communities at risk of HIV transmission, with a particular focus on women. HPE also aims to improve knowledge and understanding of HIV transmission and reduce stigma within affected communities through the delivery of public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, and evidence-based HIV prevention interventions in partnership with local organisations and charities, including women-led organisations.
HPE work with a wide range of models and their network of influencers. As part of HPE campaigns, a range of people share their stories and experiences on HIV, STIs and sexual health this includes women and other people who are likely to be recognisable to specific demographics.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that healthcare providers are trained in gender-sensitive and culturally competent care for women seeking HIV-related services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Department has no current plans to provide healthcare providers with training in gender-sensitive and culturally competent care for women seeking HIV services. Individual employers providing HIV care are responsible for ensuring their staff are trained and competent to carry out their role.
The standard of training for health care professionals is the responsibility of respective independent statutory regulatory bodies who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level and approve courses. It is the responsibility of higher education institutions to write and teach the curricula content that enables their students to meet the regulators’ outcome standards.
Asked by: Maggie Throup (Conservative - Erewash)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to mitigate the potential impact of respiratory syncytial virus infections in winter 2023/24.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
There is currently an existing, targeted immunisation programme in place to protect infants at high risk of complications if infected by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
To support the effective management of infection levels, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will monitor weekly levels of RSV and bronchiolitis, a condition associated with RSV in young children. UKHSA also leads public health messaging on social, national, and regional media, highlighting the signs and symptoms of RSV and the steps which can be taken to reduce infections, including reducing risks to babies.