Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of not centrally funding pay rises for NHS staff employed by third parties on levels of staff retention.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. Independent providers are free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use and any non-consolidated pay awards they choose to make. It is for them to determine what is affordable within the financial model they operate, and how to recoup any additional costs they face if they choose to utilise the terms and conditions of National Health Service staff on the Agenda for Change contract.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his Department's policy that healthcare staff on the Agenda for Change contract should receive the new pay settlement regardless if additional funding is provided.
Answered by Will Quince
All eligible staff should receive the payments agreed as part of the Agenda for Change deal. The pay offer to Agenda for Change staff, approved by a majority on the NHS Staff Council on 2 May, applied to staff directly employed by a National Health Service organisation as set out in Annex 1 of the NHS Employers handbook.
Staff employed at independent providers or other organisations who utilise the Agenda for Change terms and conditions may also be entitled to both the non-consolidated pay award for 2022/23 and the consolidated pay award for 2023/24 that staff working for eligible NHS organisations will receive. These organisations should consider their contractual obligations and review their commissioning contracts to consider whether and how to recover any additional cost pressures they now face. Funding to non-centrally funded organisations will be uplifted through their usual funding routes to reflect the 2023/24 pay award.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure the Major Conditions Strategy’s cancer section will include a specific focus on the unique care and support needs of teenagers and young people with cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will take a life-course approach to tackling major conditions which will include ways to prevent ill-health from individuals' early years. We are taking an evidence-based approach to decide where and how interventions are made to achieve this and we are engaging with stakeholders representing children and young people to ensure their views are considered in the development of the strategy.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing advanced therapy medicinal products-specific experts on National Institute for Health and Care Excellence single technology appraisal committees for the evaluation of new innovative advanced therapies.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has made no assessment. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is responsible for appointing members to its technology appraisal committees. Members reflect the spread of interests and expertise required for the business of the committee and are drawn from the National Health Service, patient and carer organisations, academia, and pharmaceutical and medical devices industries.
Additional experts may be invited to attend to advise the committee on a topic by topic basis to assist in considering and interpreting the evidence.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
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 support the commitment in NHS England’s Long-Term Plan to introduce (a) new cell and gene therapies and (b) other new treatment possibilities.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government would like all National Health Service patients in England to benefit from innovative and effective new treatments in a way that represents value to taxpayers. All new medicines, including cell and gene therapies, are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which makes recommendations for the NHS on whether they should be funded by the NHS, considering clinical and cost effectiveness. NICE aims to publish guidance on new medicines around the time of licensing wherever possible and the NHS is legally required to make funding available for NICE recommended treatments.
The NHS has struck commercial deals with the manufacturers of several cell and gene therapies enabling NICE to recommend them for NHS patients, including through the Government’s £340 million Cancer Drugs Fund. NHS patients in England were among the first in the world to benefit from access to CAR-T cancer therapy and, NHS England has also negotiated deals to secure lifesaving gene therapies Zolgensma® and Libmeldy® for patients with spinal muscular atrophy and metachromatic leukodystophy, respectively.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential quality of life benefits of potentially one-time treatments for patients with life-long and chronic diseases.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government would like all National Health Service patients in England to benefit from innovative and effective new treatments in a way that represents value to taxpayers. All new medicines, including cell and gene therapies, are appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) which makes recommendations for the NHS on whether they should be funded by the NHS, considering clinical and cost effectiveness. NICE aims to publish guidance on new medicines around the time of licensing wherever possible and the NHS is legally required to make funding available for NICE recommended treatments.
The NHS has struck commercial deals with the manufacturers of several cell and gene therapies enabling NICE to recommend them for NHS patients, including through the Government’s £340 million Cancer Drugs Fund. NHS patients in England were among the first in the world to benefit from access to CAR-T cancer therapy and, NHS England has also negotiated deals to secure lifesaving gene therapies Zolgensma® and Libmeldy® for patients with spinal muscular atrophy and metachromatic leukodystophy, respectively.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the service specifications for teenage and young adult cancer services in England; and when those specifications will be published.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
New Teenage and Young Adult cancer service specifications are expected to be published within the coming months.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help stem cell transplant and CAR-T therapy recipients with the cost of travel to hospital appointments.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme assists those on a low income with travel costs to hospital.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) nurses and (b) doctors were employed in the NHS in England in (i) the fourth quarter of 2019, and (ii) the second quarter of 2022, excluding those on the temporary register set up to assist with the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This information is not held in the format requested.
Statistics on the National Health Service workforce are published by NHS Digital and measure staff in permanent positions. The data for these statistics is collected from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources and payroll system for the NHS. Staff who joined the workforce on a COVID-19 temporary register would be recorded in the same way as staff on a permanent register.
Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will meet with charities supporting immunocompromised and immunosuppressed groups to discuss what the Government will do to support them to live safely with covid-19.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We have regular meeting with charities representing and supporting patients in immunocompromised and immunosuppressed groups. The Chief Executive of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries, is the clinical lead for programmes supporting these patients and has met with charities at stakeholder engagement sessions.
On 4 April 2022, updated guidance was issued for those whose immune system means they are at higher risk of serious illness if they become infected with COVID-19, which is available at the following link: