Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 increase the number of dermatologists in England.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The next Spending Review will set out further details of the Government’s spending plans for the National Health Service workforce, including dermatologists.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it is his policy to ensure that in any booster vaccine programme third doses of covid-19 vaccines are prioritised for people who are immunosuppressed in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne and (b) other areas with a number of cases.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recognises that some individuals who are severely immunosuppressed due to underlying health conditions or medical treatment may not achieve the same full immune response to the initial two dose COVID-19 vaccination course as those who are not immunosuppressed. The committee has therefore advised on 1 September that as a precautionary measure those with severe immunosuppression at or around the time of their first or second dose of COVID-19 vaccination should receive a third dose. The aim is to raise the level of immunity in these individuals closer to the level of immunity as the non-immunosuppressed achieve from two doses in Newcastle upon Tyne and other areas.
The Government has accepted this advice, which will be applied at a national level. Severe immunosuppression at the time of vaccination is defined using guidance and timings outlined at the following link:
The purpose of the separate potential booster programme is to maximise protection in those who are most vulnerable to serious COVID-19 ahead of the winter months. The JCVI published interim advice on a potential Covid-19 booster vaccination programme on 30 June 2021, which is available at the following link:
Final decisions on the timing and scope and cohort eligibility of any COVID-19 vaccine booster programme will be confirmed once the JCVI has provided their final advice.
It is expected that severely immunosuppressed individuals will become eligible for a booster dose as part of any routine booster programme from around six months after their third dose, pending further advice.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what target his Department has for responding to correspondence from hon. Members; and what recent assessment he has made of his Department's performance against that target.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The Department's target for correspondence from hon. Members is to reply to 90% of cases within 18 working days. The recently published cross-Government league tables for 2020 are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers
During 2020 we received 31,509 cases from hon. Members compared to 10,467 in 2019. Our performance against the target was 18% in 2020 compared to 67% for 2019. The Department is currently working to improve response times for 2021.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the scientific reasoning is behind the Government’s policy of a person who is fully vaccinated against covid-19 still having to self-isolate if they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Continuing with close contact isolation until 16 August 2021 will allow more time for people to receive their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Higher population immunity will mitigate against the small risk of onward transmission from fully vaccinated, but infected, close contacts. Maintaining contact self-isolation will contribute to transmission reduction and aligns with the principle of gradual resumption of pre-pandemic behaviours following step four of the roadmap.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies’ modelling suggests a period of extremely high prevalence of infection lasting until at least the end of August 2021, which increases exposure risk, even in vaccinated individuals. This modelling is available at the following link:
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 increase the number of residential care home beds in the North East of England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations and to develop and build local market capacity. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have the duty to shape their local markets, ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable and person-centred care and support options available to them. This includes adequate provision of care home beds to meet local needs. This Government is supporting local authorities to develop their local markets by providing them with over £1 billion of additional funding for social care in 2021/22.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the demand for adult social care in (a) the North East of England and (b) Newcastle upon Tyne East constituency over the next decade.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
We have made no such estimate as local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their local populations.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
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 promote to health professionals the Reading Well social prescribing scheme available free from public libraries as part of a Government-funded covid-19 recovery initiative.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Social prescribing link workers (SPLWs) can connect those who are referred to them by health professionals to community groups and agencies for practical, social and emotional support, such as libraries and the Reading Well initiative. SPLWs work closely with local partners across health, local authorities, the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, communities and other partners to identify and nurture community assets, such as local libraries and to raise awareness of the range of support available, such as the Reading Well resources.
NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the Reading Agency to share their resources and the role of local libraries via its social prescribing bulletin, its collaborative platform and via regional networks and will continue to work with Reading Well to share its resources, including via the new cross Government green social prescribing programme. The National Academy of Social Prescribing has promoted the Reading Well programme via a blog post and via their Thriving Communities programme.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of deaths that were attributed to air pollution in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne, (b) the North East and (c) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Of the last five years, data estimates are available are for 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The following table shows the fraction of adult mortality attributable to long-term exposure to human-made particulate air pollution in Newcastle upon Tyne, the North East and England.
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Newcastle upon Tyne | 3.6% | 3.7% | 3.8% | 3.5% |
North East | 3.6% | 3.7% | 3.8% | 3.6% |
England | 5.4% | 5.1% | 5.2% | 5.1% |
Source: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/air%20pollution
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne 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 effect of air pollution on the health of people living in (a) deprived areas compared with (b) other areas.
Answered by Jo Churchill
Although air pollution can be harmful to everyone, some people are more affected because they live in a polluted area, are exposed to higher levels of air pollution or are more susceptible to air pollution exposure. The most vulnerable face all of these disadvantages. Groups that are more affected by air pollution include older people, children, individuals with existing cardiovascular or respiratory disease, pregnant women, communities in areas of higher pollution, such as close to busy roads low-income communities.
Public Health England has developed a five-year cleaner air programme of work, which aims to reduce people’s exposure to air pollution particularly for the most vulnerable groups.