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Written Question
Lisdexamfetamine and Methylphenidate: Shortages
Friday 17th November 2023

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to issue serious shortage protocols for (a) lisdexamfetamine and (b) methylphenidate.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are aware of disruptions to the supply of medicines used for the management of ADHD. While serious shortage protocols (SSPs) can be a useful tool to help manage and mitigate medicine and medical device shortages, they cannot be used for all patients and all medicines. Further, they are only issued if there is sufficient supply of suitable, alternative medicines, otherwise issuing an SSP risks causing a ‘knock on’ shortage of the alternative. For these reasons, there are currently no plans to issue SSPs for ADHD medicines, including lisdexamfetamine and methylphenidate.

We understand how frustrating and distressing medicine shortages can be and we want to assure patients that we are working intensively with the respective manufacturers to resolve the issues as soon as possible and to ensure patients have continuous access to ADHD medicines in the UK, in the short and long term.

We have issued communications to the National Health Service to advise healthcare professionals on management of patients whilst there continue to be disruptions to supplies. Patients are advised to speak to their clinician regarding any concerns they have and to discuss the suitability of treatment with alternative medicines.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Juries
Tuesday 22nd March 2022

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

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 that jurors can access supplies of free covid-19 lateral flow tests after 1 April 2022.

Answered by Maggie Throup

From 1 April 2022, free universal access to asymptomatic and symptomatic tests for the public in England will end. We will continue to make free testing available for a small number of at risk groups. Further details on eligible groups will be made available in due course. We will review the impact of COVID-19 policies on people such as jurors.


Written Question
Travel: Coronavirus
Monday 6th December 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2021 to Question 56581 on Travel: Coronavirus, when he plans to allow fully vaccinated children aged over 12 years old to acquire NHS Covid Passes to demonstrate their vaccination status for the purposes of travel.

Answered by Maggie Throup

We are looking at ways to provide fully vaccinated 12 to 15 year olds with a travel NHS COVID Pass. This will be available shortly, initially via a NHS COVID Pass travel letter. Further information will be made available in due course. While a few countries require full vaccination for under 16 year olds, others treat under 16 year olds as fully vaccinated, accept testing or recovery as equivalent to full vaccination.


Written Question
Coronavirus Act 2020 (Early Expiry) Regulations 2021 (Draft)
Wednesday 23rd June 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the draft Coronavirus Act 2020 (Early Expiry) Regulations 2021 will come into effect.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The draft Coronavirus Act 2020 (Early Expiry) Regulations 2021 were laid on 21 April 2021 and will come into force once it has received Parliamentary approval.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Tuesday 13th April 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich of 11 November 2020 on his constituents’ individual funding requests.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We replied to the hon. Member’s letter on 4 December 2020.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Vaccination
Monday 15th March 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to publish the number of people that have received a covid-19 vaccination by (a) week in which the vaccine was administered, (b) region and (c) Clinical Commissioning Group.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

NHS England publishes data on vaccines administered per week and cumulative data on the number of vaccines administered by region and clinical commissioning group, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-vaccinations/


Written Question
Coronavirus: Protective Clothing
Monday 1st February 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of containers storing personal protective equipment (PPE) held at British ports; what assessment he has made of (a) the type and (b) the expiration dates of PPE held in those containers and (c) whether it is compliant with required safety standards.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department has a storage network in place that lets us access and manage our personal protective equipment (PPE) supply to meet demand throughout the winter. We currently hold fewer than 400 shipping containers at British ports.

Clipper, our logistics partner, manages the PPE distribution centre in Daventry. They have a stock audit team who undertake a rolling audit of all the PPE in the warehouses. As part of the audit activity, expiry dates for PPE are captured in a stock management system, enabling us to ensure that the PPE we supply is in date and of the required standard.

We are closely monitoring storage capacity across the United Kingdom on a routine basis and the Department has identified several options to increase storage capacity if needed.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Disease Control
Thursday 28th January 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

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 merits of the NHS sending written evidence electronically to people on their being clinically extremely vulnerable to covid-19 rather than sending that evidence by hard copy.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

When an individual is told that they are considered clinically extremely vulnerable as a result of national additions to the Shielded Patient List a physical letter is sent to them and emails are sent to those who have registered an email address with their general practitioner (GP). When an individual is added to the Shielded Patient List by their GP practice or trust, they receive their correspondence from those organisations directly. When there is an update to the guidance for clinically extremely vulnerable people, a letter is sent out to all those affected. In addition, an email containing the same information is sent to those individuals who have registered an email address with their GP.

We are actively encouraging the use of email, though we recognise this is not appropriate for everyone as some individuals are digitally excluded and would not receive any communication if the Government only sent letters in electronic formats. It has also been noted that that some clinically extremely vulnerable people rely on the physical letter as evidence for others, such as their employer.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Tuesday 26th January 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich of 25 September 2020 on Government guidance on the self-isolation of school children when one of their classmates tests positive for covid-19, ref PO1259890.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We are working to provide all Members and external correspondents with accurate answers to their correspondence, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hon. Member’s letter will be answered as soon as possible.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Wednesday 6th January 2021

Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich of 1 October 2020 on proposed changes to the Human Medicine Regulations 2012, ref PO1264736.

Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

We are working to provide all Members and external correspondents with accurate answers to their correspondence, as well as supporting the Government’s response to the unprecedented challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hon. Member’s letter will be answered as soon as possible.