Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the international work undertaken by Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance; and what steps his Department is taking to help support their work.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted global health and immunisation. The UK Government is supporting efforts to get routine immunisation back on track and has committed £1.65 billion to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance from 2021-2025 to support their mission to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine preventable diseases over this period. The UK has supported Gavi since its inception in 2000, during which time Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children in 78 lower-income countries, saving over 17 million lives. Alongside our Gavi investment, we are working with countries to build stronger primary health care systems as a core part of restoring immunisation services.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support global (a) immunisation and (b) vaccination efforts; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK Government has pledged £1.65 billion to Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance from 2021-2025 to support their mission to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine-preventable diseases over this period. The UK has supported Gavi since its inception in 2000, during which time Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children in 78 low-income countries, saving over 17 million lives. Alongside our Gavi investment, we are working with countries to build stronger primary health care systems to further bolster immunisation services.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations of the report by the World Health Organisation entitled Leveraging Vaccines to Reduce Antibiotic Use and Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance, published on 27 January 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) contributes to the World Health Organization’s efforts to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The AMR National Action Plan (NAP) 2019-24 highlights the importance of developing new vaccines. The forthcoming NAP (2024-29) is under development, and infection prevention and control, including vaccines, will be a central part of the plan.
UKHSA conducts research on the potential for vaccines to tackle antibiotic prescribing and AMR. UKHSA leads work within a European public-private partnership. UKHSA’s AMR network provides innovative technologies and develops interventions to tackle AMR, including vaccines and alternatives to antibiotics.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to negotiate bilateral youth mobility schemes with (a) the EU, (b) France, (c) Greece, (d) Italy and (e) Spain.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK remain open to negotiating new Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) arrangements with other countries and territories including EU Member States. However, as each YMS is subject to a bilateral, reciprocal arrangement which also provides benefit to UK nationals, with the details agreed between the relevant parties, we are unable to disclose the status of negotiations as they occur.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans with Cabinet colleagues to increase research funding into the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of blood cancers.
Answered by Will Quince
As with other Government funders of health research, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area is driven by factors, including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including blood cancers.
The following table shows NIHR research spend on diagnosis, treatment, and diagnosis & treatment of blood cancers since 2018:
Number of projects | Total Awards Value | |
Blood Cancer Diagnosis | 11 | £11.9 million |
Blood Cancer Treatment | 14 | £14,7 million |
Blood Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment | 4 | £7,712 |
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
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 4 April 2019 to Question 238305 on Vaccination, what advice the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation Healthcare Associated Infections Working Group provided on the development of better tools to estimate and quantify the potential impact of vaccines in reducing the long-term burden of antimicrobial resistance; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Advice on the development of better tools to estimate and quantify the potential impact of vaccines in reducing the long-term burden of antimicrobial resistance has not been provided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation Healthcare Associated Infections Working Group.
The Healthcare Associated Infections Working Group was formed and met in 2018 and 2019. The Working Group, or an equivalent, will be reconvened in due course once relevant vaccines progress through the vaccine pipeline.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Alzheimer’s Research UK’s report entitled Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia, what steps his Department is taking to increase the proportion of people with a dementia diagnosis who are registered to be informed about dementia clinical trials.
Answered by Will Quince
Join Dementia Research (JDR), delivered by the Department via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer Scotland and Alzheimer’s Research UK, is our main tool for enabling people to register their interest in dementia research and be matched to trials. The goal is to improve participation and diversity in dementia research by making it possible for anyone who wants to be involved in dementia research to get the chance to do so.
To increase the proportion of people with a dementia diagnosis in dementia clinical trials and other research and to increase awareness of opportunities to take part, the NIHR is undertaking several actions, including but not limited to: direct text messaging from general practitioners to patients at selected sites across England; establishing links with NHS Memory Services and other care networks to integrate discussion of JDR into their processes; working with the NHS Admiral Nurses to develop training materials to support healthcare professionals when discussing research with patients; and working to establish a national network of local JDR champions who will build on relationships with local organisations, charities and local groups representing under-represented communities to engage people with JDR.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the correspondence from Garden Court Chambers of (a) 24 August and (b) 14 September 2023 on pension age changes for women born in the 1950s, whether he plans to meet with them to discuss this issue.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has not completed his investigation into communication of changes to women’s state pension. It would be inappropriate to enter into Alternative Dispute Resolution with third parties or comment while the PHSO investigation is ongoing. Section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 35 of the report Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia, published by Alzheimer’s Research UK in September 2023, whether his Department is taking steps to increase awareness among people with a dementia diagnosis about dementia (a) clinical trials and (b) other research.
Answered by Will Quince
Join Dementia Research (JDR), delivered by the Department via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and in partnership with Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer Scotland and Alzheimer’s Research UK, is our main tool for enabling people to register their interest in dementia research and be matched to trials. The goal is to improve participation and diversity in dementia research by making it possible for anyone who wants to be involved in dementia research to get the chance to do so.
To increase the proportion of people with a dementia diagnosis in dementia clinical trials and other research and to increase awareness of opportunities to take part, the NIHR is undertaking several actions, including but not limited to: direct text messaging from general practitioners to patients at selected sites across England; establishing links with NHS Memory Services and other care networks to integrate discussion of JDR into their processes; working with the NHS Admiral Nurses to develop training materials to support healthcare professionals when discussing research with patients; and working to establish a national network of local JDR champions who will build on relationships with local organisations, charities and local groups representing under-represented communities to engage people with JDR.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he is taking steps with his international counterparts to include older people from developing countries in consultations on the development of Universal Health Coverage in low and middle-income countries.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is committed to championing universal health coverage (UHC). In the 2019 Political Declaration on UHC, United Nations Member States committed to promote healthy and active ageing and to respond to the needs of ageing populations. We are working with other Member States to retain and build on that commitment at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting. We continue to work with country partners and global organisations such as the World Health Organization on integrated and equitable approaches to strengthening health systems and achieving UHC that meets the needs of people of all ages and promotes their participation and inclusion.