Paul Foster

Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities.

To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, the Government will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences.

In South Ribble, the £7.3 million Croston Flood Scheme was completed in 2017 - protecting 438 properties. In the last 5 years (2019 -2024) there has been a further investment of around £500,000 for reconditioning projects, electricity running costs and repair works for the scheme and flood defence in Croston Village. An additional £42,000 is planned for 2024/25.

Annual Delay Repay compensation figures are published by Financial Year for train operating companies on the Government website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation/train-operating-companies-passengers-charter-compensation

Further compensation figures will be available later in the year.

Avanti West Coast also publishes periodic Delay Repay compensation paid out to passengers on its website at the following link:

https://www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk/help-and-support/delay-repay#:~:text=You%20can%20claim%20Delay%20Repay%20if%20your%20journey,calculated%20against%20the%20scheduled%20timetable%20on%20the%20day.

Under the terms of the National Rail Contract, the Department ordinarily funds all Delay Repay spend.

The latest available data shows that in Winter 2023 to 2024, there were 14,717 pensioner households living in the South Ribble constituency. This is based on winter-fuel-payments-household-2023-to-2024.ods.

At that point in time, 1,528 pensioner households received Pension Credit in the South Ribble constituency. This is based on February 2024 Pension Credit statistics which are available via DWP Stat-Xplore.

Based on these figures, 10.4% of pensioner households in the South Ribble constituency received Pension Credit in February 2024.

The latest Pension Credit statistics were published in November 2024 and cover the period up to May 2024. The next iteration of Pension Credit caseload statistics will be released on 18^th February, as part of the DWP Benefits Statistics quarterly release. This will contain data for the period from June 2024 to the end of August 2024. Following release, the data can also be accessed at Stat-Xplore - Home.

Annual statistics on the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients and households by local authority and by Westminster parliamentary constituency are made publicly available via GOV.UK. The latest release contains data on individual and household level statistics for winter 2022 to 2023. For Winter 2022 to 2023, 22,044 people received a Winter Fuel Payment in South Ribble constituency.

Caseload statistics are routinely published and made publicly available via DWP Stat-xplore. At February 2024, there were 1,528 people claiming Pension Credit in South Ribble constituency.

Information relating to Pension Credit eligibility is only available via take-up statistics. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). However, these statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas.

Palliative and end of life care is commissioned at a local level by integrated care boards (ICBs). Consequently, neither the Department nor NHS England hold data centrally on which hospices have all medication supplied for free or at a discounted rate by the National Health Service or which hospices do not have medication supplied by the NHS.

There are no plans currently to make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the NHS to pay for all medications supplied to hospices, because medication supply to charitable hospices is dependent on local arrangements with ICBs. Hospices are advised to reach individual agreements with their ICBs, which have a broader picture of local arrangements on medication prescribing and provision within their areas.

Palliative and end of life care is commissioned at a local level by integrated care boards (ICBs). Consequently, neither the Department nor NHS England hold data centrally on which hospices have all medication supplied for free or at a discounted rate by the National Health Service or which hospices do not have medication supplied by the NHS.

There are no plans currently to make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the NHS to pay for all medications supplied to hospices, because medication supply to charitable hospices is dependent on local arrangements with ICBs. Hospices are advised to reach individual agreements with their ICBs, which have a broader picture of local arrangements on medication prescribing and provision within their areas.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published technology appraisals recommending Epidyolex, a licensed form of cannabidiol extracted from cannabis, for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare forms of epilepsies, specifically Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and tuberous sclerosis complex.

Deciding whether to prescribe an unlicensed cannabis-based medicine, a medicine that has not been assessed or approved by the medicines regulator, is a clinical decision, and the funding of medicines within the National Health Service is governed by well-established processes and evidence-based guidelines produced by the NICE. The NICE found that there is insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness to support a population-wide recommendation in relation to unlicensed cannabis-based medicines for severe treatment-resistant epilepsy. The NICE also calls for further research.

Following the publication of the NICE’s guidance, NHS England and The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has agreed funding for two trials relating to the use of cannabis-based medicines for the treatment of difficult-to-treat epilepsies. These will be world-first trials and will be crucial in informing future NHS funding decisions. Due to commercial confidentiality, further information on the trials cannot be released at this time.

Where a treatment is not currently routinely funded by the NHS in England, an NHS clinician can, on behalf of their patient, make an application for funding in exceptional clinical circumstances. This is known as an Individual Funding Request (IFR). In making an application for an IFR, clinicians must demonstrate that the patient in question is clinically exceptional compared to the wider group of patients with the same condition, and is likely to derive greater benefit from the treatment. Each case is assessed on an individual basis, and is not a process the Government can seek to influence.

Until the evidence base improves, prescribers will remain reticent in prescribing, and no decision can be made by the NHS on routine funding. That is why the Government is committed to research and catalysing the generation of evidence to support use of these products.

Like any other area of medicine, manufacturers of these products must invest in research and clinical trials to ensure that cannabis-based medicines are proven both safe and effective before they can be considered for routine funding by the NHS. The NIHR remains open to receiving good quality proposals for research in this area as a priority, and stands ready to support researchers and manufacturers to develop applications.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published technology appraisals recommending Epidyolex, a licensed form of cannabidiol extracted from cannabis, for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare forms of epilepsies, specifically Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and tuberous sclerosis complex.

Deciding whether to prescribe an unlicensed cannabis-based medicine, a medicine that has not been assessed or approved by the medicines regulator, is a clinical decision, and the funding of medicines within the National Health Service is governed by well-established processes and evidence-based guidelines produced by the NICE. The NICE found that there is insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness to support a population-wide recommendation in relation to unlicensed cannabis-based medicines for severe treatment-resistant epilepsy. The NICE also calls for further research.

Following the publication of the NICE’s guidance, NHS England and The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has agreed funding for two trials relating to the use of cannabis-based medicines for the treatment of difficult-to-treat epilepsies. These will be world-first trials and will be crucial in informing future NHS funding decisions. Due to commercial confidentiality, further information on the trials cannot be released at this time.

Where a treatment is not currently routinely funded by the NHS in England, an NHS clinician can, on behalf of their patient, make an application for funding in exceptional clinical circumstances. This is known as an Individual Funding Request (IFR). In making an application for an IFR, clinicians must demonstrate that the patient in question is clinically exceptional compared to the wider group of patients with the same condition, and is likely to derive greater benefit from the treatment. Each case is assessed on an individual basis, and is not a process the Government can seek to influence.

Until the evidence base improves, prescribers will remain reticent in prescribing, and no decision can be made by the NHS on routine funding. That is why the Government is committed to research and catalysing the generation of evidence to support use of these products.

Like any other area of medicine, manufacturers of these products must invest in research and clinical trials to ensure that cannabis-based medicines are proven both safe and effective before they can be considered for routine funding by the NHS. The NIHR remains open to receiving good quality proposals for research in this area as a priority, and stands ready to support researchers and manufacturers to develop applications.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published technology appraisals recommending Epidyolex, a licensed form of cannabidiol extracted from cannabis, for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare forms of epilepsies, specifically Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and tuberous sclerosis complex.

Deciding whether to prescribe an unlicensed cannabis-based medicine, a medicine that has not been assessed or approved by the medicines regulator, is a clinical decision, and the funding of medicines within the National Health Service is governed by well-established processes and evidence-based guidelines produced by the NICE. The NICE found that there is insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness to support a population-wide recommendation in relation to unlicensed cannabis-based medicines for severe treatment-resistant epilepsy. The NICE also calls for further research.

Following the publication of the NICE’s guidance, NHS England and The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has agreed funding for two trials relating to the use of cannabis-based medicines for the treatment of difficult-to-treat epilepsies. These will be world-first trials and will be crucial in informing future NHS funding decisions. Due to commercial confidentiality, further information on the trials cannot be released at this time.

Where a treatment is not currently routinely funded by the NHS in England, an NHS clinician can, on behalf of their patient, make an application for funding in exceptional clinical circumstances. This is known as an Individual Funding Request (IFR). In making an application for an IFR, clinicians must demonstrate that the patient in question is clinically exceptional compared to the wider group of patients with the same condition, and is likely to derive greater benefit from the treatment. Each case is assessed on an individual basis, and is not a process the Government can seek to influence.

Until the evidence base improves, prescribers will remain reticent in prescribing, and no decision can be made by the NHS on routine funding. That is why the Government is committed to research and catalysing the generation of evidence to support use of these products.

Like any other area of medicine, manufacturers of these products must invest in research and clinical trials to ensure that cannabis-based medicines are proven both safe and effective before they can be considered for routine funding by the NHS. The NIHR remains open to receiving good quality proposals for research in this area as a priority, and stands ready to support researchers and manufacturers to develop applications.