Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to audit NHS supply chains to ensure that no medical (a) garments and (b) equipment are sourced from (i) Xinjiang and (ii) other regions with widespread reports of forced labour and human rights abuses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom is committed to tackling the issue of Uyghur forced labour in supply chains, and is taking robust action. We have introduced new guidance on the risks of doing business in Xinjiang specifically in section 6.2 of the guidance, enhanced export controls, and announced the introduction of financial penalties under the Modern Slavery Act. This guidance is available at the following link:
The Procurement Act, which received Royal Assent in 2023, will enable public sector contracting authorities to reject bids and terminate contracts with suppliers which are known to use forced labour themselves or anywhere in their supply chain.
Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires commercial organisations that supply goods and services and have a total turnover over £36 million to publish a transparency statement annually, to set out what steps they have taken to ensure that modern slavery is not occurring in their supply chains.
The Department has pledged to put an end to modern slavery in the National Health Service by meeting my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s duty to assess and mitigate modern slavery risk in NHS supply chains. New regulations will require public bodies procuring goods or services for delivering health services in England to assess the risk of modern slavery and implement reasonable steps to procurement and contracting activities, with a view to eradicating the use of goods and services tainted by modern slavery.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress his Department and NHS England have made on the Greener NHS initiative.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Significant progress has been made on the Greener NHS initiative, with the National Health Service taking important strides toward its target of achieving net zero by 2040 for direct emissions, and 2045 for indirect emissions. Key achievements include: successfully delivering over £1 billion in decarbonisation grant funding under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, to replace fossil fuel systems with non-carbon alternatives; increasing the energy efficiency of the NHS estate, for instance boosting LED lighting coverage to over 50% of NHS facilities; the introduction of Green Plans by all NHS trusts; and the publication of the first ever NHS Net Zero Travel and Transport Strategy in 2023. These efforts are reducing emissions and improving sustainability across NHS operations. We continue to work with partners across the Government and the wider public sector to pursue our shared environmental aims.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to expand access to dementia training for adult social care workers
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The adult social care workforce provides vital care and support to people of all ages and with diverse needs, including those with dementia. Care workers are essential to those who draw on care and support, helping them maintain their quality of life, independence, and connection to the things that matter to them.
Enhancing skills for staff working in social care is of critical importance. As such, we will continue to develop the Care Workforce Pathway, the new national career structure for adult social care, and linked to this, a new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate qualification has already been developed and launched.
We will develop a long-term plan for social care, with those working in social care being at the heart of our reforms. We will outline our further plans for workforce reform in due course.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 implications for his policies of the recommendation in the report entitled A Workforce Strategy for Adult Social Care in England, published by Skills for Care's on 18 July 2024, that all social care workers should have dementia training aligned to the Dementia Training Standards Framework
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National training, including the Department’s Care Workforce Pathway and new Level 2 Adult Care Certificate qualification, has been developed using current standards and competency frameworks to support people with dementia. This includes the Dementia Training Standards Framework.
As we develop a long-term plan for social care, those working in social care will be at the heart of our reforms. We will outline further plans for social care workforce reform in due course.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 adequacy of the exercise by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence of its discretionary power to show flexibility in relation to its (a) Standard Technology Appraisal and (b) Highly Specialised Technologies programme routing decisions in circumstances where there is (i) uncertainty on the incidence and prevalence of the disease and (ii) high unmet clinical need to ensure fair and equitable access to innovative new treatments for patients living with rare diseases.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about a range of issues, including about the delivery of public commitments. The NICE will consult on proposed changes to its criteria for highly specialised technology appraisals in 2024/25.
We have made no assessment of the extent to which the NICE has demonstrated flexibility in making decisions on whether new medicines should be routed to its highly specialised technologies (HST) programme. Decisions on whether topics should be routed to the HST programme are taken independently of the Department by the NICE’s Prioritisation Board, in line with the routing criteria set out in the NICE’s published prioritisation framework, and through engagement with experts and other interested parties. The board’s decisions are published on the NICE’s website.
This Government is aware of the challenges facing those living with rare diseases, including access to specialist care, treatment, and medicines. The NICE is actively monitoring the impact of the changes that it made to its methods and processes in 2022 on the availability of medicines for rare diseases, and is planning to publish a report by the end of 2024.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on implementing the commitment in the England Rare Disease Action Plan 2024 to review the criteria for determining whether a medicine should be routed to its Highly Specialised Technologies programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has regular discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about a range of issues, including about the delivery of public commitments. The NICE will consult on proposed changes to its criteria for highly specialised technology appraisals in 2024/25.
We have made no assessment of the extent to which the NICE has demonstrated flexibility in making decisions on whether new medicines should be routed to its highly specialised technologies (HST) programme. Decisions on whether topics should be routed to the HST programme are taken independently of the Department by the NICE’s Prioritisation Board, in line with the routing criteria set out in the NICE’s published prioritisation framework, and through engagement with experts and other interested parties. The board’s decisions are published on the NICE’s website.
This Government is aware of the challenges facing those living with rare diseases, including access to specialist care, treatment, and medicines. The NICE is actively monitoring the impact of the changes that it made to its methods and processes in 2022 on the availability of medicines for rare diseases, and is planning to publish a report by the end of 2024.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing funding to increase capacity in children and young people's gender services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
This year NHS England has more than doubled the level of financial investment into children and young people’s gender services compared to last year, and will make significant further investment this year and in subsequent years, as up to eight regional providers are established in line with the recommendations of the Cass Review.
NHS England has made significant progress on its overhaul of children’s gender identity services. NHS England closed the Tavistock Gender Clinic last month and opened two new, regional services operating under a fundamentally differing service model earlier this month. A third clinic is set to open in Bristol this autumn, and NHS England has committed to a further three services by 2026. These new services will increase service capacity and reduce waiting lists.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support her Department is providing to families of children with poor mental health.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Every Mind Matters website and the National Health Service website both contain helpful advice for parents and carers of a child or young person with poor mental health. This includes signposting to a number of voluntary organisations offering support and information.
Family members of children with poor mental health, who feel they themselves need psychological support, should speak to their general practitioner, or can self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies online. Details are available on the NHS website.
In addition, NHS England is developing a new waiting time measure for children and their families and carers to start receiving community-based mental health care within four weeks of referral. NHS England began publishing this new data in 2023, to improve transparency and drive local accountability.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to protect children from unhealthy food and drink marketing.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Government is committed to working with businesses to ensure that we create the conditions for a healthier nation, and we are implementing an ambitious programme of measures to tackle childhood obesity. On 1 October 2022, the Government introduced legislation to restrict the location of foods high in fat, salt, or sugar in shops and online.
On 1 October 2025, the volume price promotion restrictions will come into force, restricting volume price promotions such as three for two offers on less healthy products. The Government will simultaneously introduce a United Kingdom-wide 9:00pm television watershed for products high in fat, salt, or sugar, and a restriction of paid-for advertising of these products online, also on 1 October 2025. We continue to work with industry on the Food Data Transparency Partnership, to co-develop voluntary reporting requirements for food business to demonstrate the healthiness of their sales.
The Government, through its focus on prevention, is committed to improving the oral health of our young children through the Smile for Life programme, so that they have good habits by the time they start primary school.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of transitioning from CAMHS to adult mental health services on the support provided to young people.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Under the NHS Long Term Plan, local health systems have been tasked with delivering a comprehensive offer for zero to 25 year-olds to ensure young adults receive appropriate mental health support, regardless of their age or diagnostic profile.
Between the ages of 16 to 18 years old, young people are more susceptible to mental illness, undergoing physiological change and making important transitions in their lives. The structure of the National Health Service’s mental health services often creates gaps for young people undergoing the transition from children and young people’s mental health services to appropriate support, including adult mental health services. The new approach to young adult mental health services for people aged 18 to 25 years old will better support the transition to adulthood.