Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals to ensure that football clubs donate a proportion of their profits to help ex-professional football players suffering Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy with their health and social care.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. I welcome work by the football industry to protect players from harm and provide practical support to former players who develop neurodegenerative conditions. One example of this is the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Football Brain Health Fund, supported by the Premier League and announced in September 2023, which aims to assist former players and their families who have been impacted by dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions.
The Government has no plans to legislate in this area, but will continue to liaise with the football authorities about their work to protect players and provide support, including funding initiatives.
The Government continues to take the issue of head injuries very seriously. In December 2021 DCMS published its Command Paper report on concussion in sport, outlining the steps the Government is undertaking to help reduce risks associated with head injuries by improving understanding, awareness, prevention and treatment of concussion in sport. As part of this, in April 2023 the Government announced the first UK concussion guidelines for grassroots sport, in conjunction with the Sport and Recreation Alliance. This guidance is intended to be a helpful tool in reducing the risks associated with concussion and marks an important step in making sport safer for thousands of people who enjoy sport at a grassroots level, as well as an aid to professional sports.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of the football industry on (a) the scale of and (b) tackling Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy suffered by ex-professional football players.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The safety, wellbeing and welfare of everyone taking part in sport is absolutely paramount. I welcome work by the football industry to protect players from harm and provide practical support to former players who develop neurodegenerative conditions. One example of this is the Professional Footballers’ Association’s Football Brain Health Fund, supported by the Premier League and announced in September 2023, which aims to assist former players and their families who have been impacted by dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions.
The Government has no plans to legislate in this area, but will continue to liaise with the football authorities about their work to protect players and provide support, including funding initiatives.
The Government continues to take the issue of head injuries very seriously. In December 2021 DCMS published its Command Paper report on concussion in sport, outlining the steps the Government is undertaking to help reduce risks associated with head injuries by improving understanding, awareness, prevention and treatment of concussion in sport. As part of this, in April 2023 the Government announced the first UK concussion guidelines for grassroots sport, in conjunction with the Sport and Recreation Alliance. This guidance is intended to be a helpful tool in reducing the risks associated with concussion and marks an important step in making sport safer for thousands of people who enjoy sport at a grassroots level, as well as an aid to professional sports.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full time equivalent staff were employed in the health improvement directorate of (a) the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and (b) Public Health England in each year since 2017.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
A Health Improvement Directorate was not part of the structure of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) when it was established as part of the Department, in October 2021. The OHID incorporated people and health improvement functions from different parts of Public Health England (PHE) and the Department. The following figures show the total civil servant full time equivalent (FTE) complement of the OHID since its establishment in October 2021:
- 1,115 FTE civil servants as of 31 March 2022;
- 923 FTE civil servants as of 31 March 2023; and
- 777 FTE civil servants as of 31 December 2023.
The number of FTE staff recorded as assigned to PHE’s Health Improvement directorate from 2017 to 2021 was:
- 991 as of May 2017;
- 1,041 as of March 2018;
- 1,064 as of March 2019;
- 1,086 as of March 2020; and
- 1,062 as of March 2021.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made (a) of the number of vaping products that have been seized by trading standards and (b) of those, the number that (i) were non-compliant with UK regulations and (ii) have gone through the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency notification process.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The underage and illicit sale of tobacco, and more recently vapes, undermines the work the Government is doing to regulate the industry and protect public health. The Government is increasing investment for our enforcement agencies by £30 million per year. In addition, the Government also announced £3 million of investment to a new illicit vapes enforcement unit, led by National Trading Standards, building on existing work by trading standards officers across the country. They identified that 2.1 million illicit vapes were seized across England by trading standards in 2022 to 2023. These vapes often contain unknown ingredients, higher levels of nicotine, and are often made easily available through markets that target children. The Department does not hold data on the total number of vaping products seized by Trading Standards that have successfully gone through the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s notification process.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
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 in response to the Kimberley Liu: Prevention of future deaths report, published on December 29, 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department takes all prevention of future death reports seriously, including working with healthcare partners where appropriate to develop our responses. We are conscious of the statutory deadline for these reports, and the Department will provide a formal response in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her Department's policy is on maintaining (a) supply of and (b) access to commonly prescribed medicines.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply. However, the medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global, and supply disruption is an issue which affects countries all around the world.
There are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, including manufacturing difficulties, regulatory non-compliance, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes, or distribution issues. Supply issues are driven by a range of factors, many of which are non-specific to the United Kingdom.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, the Department has a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise, and help mitigate risks to patients. We work closely with industry, the National Health Service, and others, to develop bespoke mitigation plans, which are tailored to each issue, to help ensure patients continue to have access to the medicines they need.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists were registered with the General Dental Council in each financial year since 2010-11; and of those registered dentists how many and what proportion provided some NHS care.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Dental Council (GDC) is the independent regulator of dentists and dental care professionals (DCPs) practising in the United Kingdom and enforces the standards they must adhere to. In order to practise in the UK, all dentists and DCPs are required to hold registration with the GDC.
The Department does not hold data on how many dentists have been registered with the GDC. Data on the registration of dentists and DCPs with the GDC is held by the GDC. The GDC regularly publish registration reports on their website at the following link:
https://www.gdc-uk.org/about-us/what-we-do/the-registers/registration-reports
The following table shows the number of dentists with National Health Service activity in England only between the years 2010/11 to 2022/23:
Number of dentists with NHS activity in England
Year | Number of dentists |
2010/11 | 22,799 |
2011/12 | 22,920 |
2012/13 | 23,201 |
2013/14 | 23,723 |
2014/15 | 23,947 |
2015/16 | 24,089 |
2016/17 | 24,007 |
2017/18 | 24,308 |
2018/19 | 24,545 |
2019/20 | 24,684 |
2020/21 | 23,733 |
2021/22 | 24,272 |
2022/23 | 24,151 |
Source: Data is from the NHS Dental Statistics for England Annual Report 2017-18 (Workforce Table 8a) and the NHS Dental Statistics for England Annual Report 2022-23 (Workforce Table 1a). The reports are available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) dental nurses, (b) dental hygienists, (c) dental technicians, (d) dental therapists, (e) orthodontic therapists and (f) clinical dental technicians were employed in each financial year since 2010-11.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data on how many dental nurses, dental hygienists, dental technicians, dental therapists, orthodontic therapists, and clinical dental technicians are registered with the General Dental Council (GDC) is available at the following link:
https://www.gdc-uk.org/about-us/what-we-do/the-registers/registration-reports
In order to practise in the United Kingdom, all members of the dental team must be registered with the GDC. The Department does not hold data on the number of employed dental nurses, dental hygienists, dental technicians, dental therapists, orthodontic dentists, or clinical technicians.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 5.81 of the Autumn Statement 2023, published in November 2023, what his planned timetable is to open the consultation on the VAT treatment of private hire vehicles.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
As announced at Spring Budget, the Government will launch the consultation on the impacts of the July 2023 High Court ruling in Uber Britannia Ltd v Sefton MBC in April.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total number of dental undergraduate training places available to (a) UK and (b) international students was in each financial year from 2010-11 to 2023-24.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Office for Students (OfS) publish annual data showing the number of entrants to dental degrees in England each year from 2012 to 2023, split by those paying home fees and those paying other fees, which can be used as a proxy for the numbers of domestic and international students respectively.
This data can be found at:
The Government controls the number of dental school places that it funds. The OfS sets a maximum number of funded places for dental degrees on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education. Each provider is allocated a number of these places, but may take slightly fewer or more people than their allocated number, for example if exam results are unexpectedly good. For this reason, the target for funded places does not necessarily match actual intakes, though the difference is often not large. Therefore, we have linked to entrant figures in response to this question.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan published on 30 June 2023 sets out an ambition to expand dentistry training places by 40%, so that there are over 1,100 places by 2031/32.