Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 7 May 2024 to 24262, whether the Innovative Devices Access Pathway pilot will conclude in March 2025; and what his planned timetable is for assessing the findings of the pilot.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Innovative Devices Access Pathway (IDAP) pilot will conclude in March 2025. We are continuing to seek feedback from the pilot, which will capture key insights and learnings to help inform the feasibility and development of a future pathway. This will inform a wider evaluation of IDAP. We will complete this evaluation soon after the conclusion of the pilot and intend to publish a report in spring.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
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 tackle the public health risks associated with high levels of nitrogen oxide pollution from diesel vehicles.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Despite significant progress, air pollution remains a significant environmental threat to human health. Leading our Health Mission, the Department of Health and Social Care is working across Government, including with the Department for Transport, to promote a reduction in the health harms of air pollution.
Tackling the public health risks associated with air pollution involves reducing concentrations of pollutants where people live, work and play. Local authorities have an important role in identifying and implementing the local measures needed to achieve legal air quality limits and clean up the air we breathe. The NO2 programme has provided £575 million to support local authorities to address nitrogen dioxide pollution and achieve compliance with legal limits in the shortest possible time, supporting measures such as Clean Air Zones, traffic management improvements and vehicle upgrade schemes, and recently agreeing Greater Manchester’s £86 million Clean Air Plan.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
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 impact of excess diesel emissions from vehicles using defeat devices on (a) the prevalence of respiratory diseases and (b) public health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Diesel vehicles significantly impact air pollution in the United Kingdom, primarily through emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) and particulate matter. Poor air quality is one of the largest environmental risks to public health in the UK, and epidemiological studies have shown that long-term exposure to air pollution, over years or lifetimes, reduces life expectancy, mainly due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Short-term exposure, over hours or days, to elevated levels of air pollution can also cause a range of health impacts, including effects on lung function, exacerbation of asthma, increases in respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions and mortality.
The Department for Transport is responsible for setting and enforcing standards for NOx emissions from diesel vehicles. The Market Surveillance Unit within the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is undertaking a programme looking at possible non-compliant diesel emissions in Euro 5 and Euro 6A/B/C diesel cars and vans where there is reason to believe that they contain a prohibited defeat device. The programme is designed to ensure any non-compliance found is fixed as soon as reasonably possible, working together with manufacturers to achieve real-world impacts on air quality. There is no current assessment of the potential health impacts specifically related to the use of defeat devices in diesel vehicles.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
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 recent trends in the level of funding for elective services on ADHD right to choose assessments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Elective funding covers a range of planned health services, including elective ordinary and day cases, outpatient appointments, and diagnostics tests, although this does not include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services. ADHD patients continue to benefit from the right to choose their provider at the point of referral.
It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including assessments for ADHD, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
NHS England has established a taskforce which is working to bring together those with lived experience, and experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors. The taskforce is working to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including timely and equitable access to services and support, and is expecting to report in the summer of 2025.
In conjunction with the taskforce, NHS England has carried out detailed work to develop an ADHD data improvement plan to inform future service planning. NHS England has also conducted detailed work to understand the provider and commissioning landscape, capturing examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services. NHS England is using this information to support systems to tackle ADHD waiting lists and provide support to address people’s needs.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of midwife training with respect to (a) pay and (b) conditions and (i) the impact to the profession and (ii) the care that expectant parents receive.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In addition to the student loans system, there is supplementary financial support available from the Department to midwifery students through the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF). The LSF provides eligible midwifery students with a non-repayable training grant of £5,000 per academic year, with further financial support depending on personal circumstances. The Government keeps the funding arrangements for all healthcare students under close review to strike a balance between ensuring that students are financially supported during their studies and delivering maximum value for money for the taxpayer. Apprenticeship opportunities are also available for those for whom a full-time university course is not practical or preferred, as well as postgraduate conversions and return to midwifery programmes.
Approved Education Institutions and practice partners are responsible for developing the content and design of academic and practice-based learning programmes in line with the standards of proficiency, conduct, and performance of midwives, as set out by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). The NMC approves these programmes and ensures the quality of practice placements for students. It would not be appropriate for the Government to intervene in this process, and we respect the independence and expertise of universities and regulators in designing standards that ensure public safety, including the safety of expectant parents.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
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 disabled children from all socio-economic backgrounds receive appropriate therapy.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people, and will break down the barriers to opportunity and ensure that every child has the best start in life. This includes all children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Across England, community health services, including therapies, are locally commissioned to enable systems to best meet the needs of their communities. We are working closely with NHS England to improve access to community health services and on actions to reduce long waits.
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires that education, health, and social care services work together to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. In May 2023, NHS England issued statutory guidance setting out the requirement for integrated care boards (ICBs) to have an executive lead for SEND, who will lead on supporting the Chief Executive and the board to ensure the ICB performs its functions effectively in the interests of children and young people with SEND.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to conduct a review of the medicines supply chain to ensure that the causes of ongoing shortages of medicines for (a) epilepsy, (b) Parkinson’s and (c) ADHD are (i) understood and (ii) addressed.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The resilience of United Kingdom’s supply chains is a key priority, and the Department and NHS England are committed to helping to build long term supply chain resilience for medicines. The Department, working closely with NHS England, is taking forward a range of actions to improve our ability to mitigate and manage shortages and strengthen our resilience.
The Department is working hard with industry to help resolve intermittent supply issues with some epilepsy medications. As a result of ongoing activity and intensive work, including directing suppliers to expedite deliveries, some issues, including with some carbamazepine, lamotrigine, and oxcarbazepine presentations, have been resolved.
We are aware of an ongoing supply issue with all strengths of topiramate tablets, with the resupply date to be confirmed. Other manufacturers of topiramate tablets can meet the increased demand during this time.
The Department is aware of supply constraints with one supplier of amantadine 100miligram capsules used in the management of Parkinson’s Disease, however stocks remain available from alternative suppliers to cover demand. The Department has also been notified of a discontinuation of apomorphine (APO-go PFS) 50 milligram/10mililitre pre-filled syringes from April 2025. Alternative formulations of apomorphine remain available for patients and management guidance has been issued to the National Health Service.
The Department has also been working hard with industry and NHS England to help resolve the supply issues with some attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medicines, which are affecting the United Kingdom and other countries around the world. As a result of intensive work, some issues have been resolved, and all strengths of lisdexamfetamine, atomoxetine capsules, and guanfacine prolonged-release tablets are now available.
We are intensively working to resolve issues with methylphenidate prolonged-release tablets by collaborating with current and new suppliers, expanding the UK supplier base, and partnering with NHS England to improve demand forecasting for ADHD medicines.