Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he requires Integrated Care Boards to hold data on the number of patients provided with hospital transport, broken down by (a) treatment type and (b) mode of transport.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England requires integrated care boards to submit monthly data for the Non-Emergency Patient Transport Scheme (NEPTS). This includes the total number of NEPTS journeys, timeliness of journeys, and journeys covered by the Healthcare Travel Cost Scheme. The data is categorised by treatment types, namely Outpatient – Renal Dialysis, Outpatient – Other, Discharge, Hospital Transfer, and Other. However, the data is not further broken down by specific treatment type or by mode of transport.
Further information on the data collected for NEPTS is available at the following link:
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
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 (a) improve recognition of topical steroid withdrawal and (b) ensure that NHS clinicians are able to diagnose that condition accurately.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has reviewed topical steroid withdrawal (TSW) reactions and first communicated about these reactions in September 2021 through our Drug Safety Update (DSU), which is widely disseminated among health care professionals. This communication can be found at the following link:
The MHRA had continued to monitor reports of TSW reactions and undertook a further review in 2024, resulting in an additional DSU publication which can be found at the following link:
During this review advice was sought from dermatologists, the National Eczema Society, and the Commission on Human Medicines. Consequently, the MHRA took forward a number of actions including ensuring there are updated warnings in the product information that is supplied with the creams, and the inclusion of information regarding the potency of topical steroids on the packaging. The British National Formulary (BNF) has updated their topical steroids potency information in line with the outcomes of the MHRA review. BNF treatment summary for topical corticosteroids, including information on withdrawal reactions, can be found at the following link:
https://bnf.nice.org.uk/treatment-summaries/topical-corticosteroids/
Furthermore, the MHRA engaged with the British Association of Dermatologists who have released an updated statement that can be found at the following link:
https://cdn.bad.org.uk/uploads/2024/02/22095550/Topical-Steroid-Withdrawal-Joint-Statement.pdf
Following these discussions, the British Association of Dermatologists has formed a Topical Steroid Withdrawal Working Party Group in collaboration with National Eczema Society, Scratch That, Primary Care Dermatology Society, and the British Dermatological Nursing Group. A Topical Steroid Withdrawal Joint Statement from the Topical Steroid Withdrawal Working Party Group is available at the following link:
https://www.bad.org.uk/topical-steroid-withdrawal-joint-statement
The objective of the TSW Working Party Group is to develop an expert consensus guidance on supporting people with concerns about TSW, including a Patient Information Leaflet, and any revision to the above joint statement, as appropriate.
The MHRA acknowledges that more high-quality research would enhance the understanding of TSW reactions, including what causes them and how to accurately diagnose and manage them. To make good decisions about what research to fund, the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) needs a balanced picture about which questions most urgently need answering. To achieve this, they ask patients, carers, clinicians, healthcare workers, service managers, and researchers for research topics. Any member of the public can submit suggestions via the NIHR website at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/get-involved/suggest-a-research-topic
In the meantime, the MHRA continues to monitor reports of TSW reactions via the Yellow Card Scheme, which encourages anyone to report if they suspect an adverse reaction to a medical product or products. Access to the Yellow Card reporting site can be found at the following link:
https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/
In addition to Yellow Card Scheme, the MHRA receives adverse event reports from pharmaceutical companies who collect data from healthcare professionals and patients, as well as cases from published literature and other sources.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that planning policy does not inhibit the creation of transitional self-contained stepping stone homes for young people who are ready to live independently but cannot afford the private rented sector.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department continues to engage with stakeholders in the homelessness sector to support the development of schemes and policies to tackle homelessness, including stepping stone accommodation.
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that it is for local authorities to assess the size, types and tenure of housing needed for different groups, including those who require affordable housing, and reflect this in their planning policies.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to support local authorities in scaling up the provision of stepping stone homes for young people at risk of homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department continues to engage with stakeholders in the homelessness sector to support the development of schemes and policies to tackle homelessness, including stepping stone accommodation.
The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that it is for local authorities to assess the size, types and tenure of housing needed for different groups, including those who require affordable housing, and reflect this in their planning policies.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to publish its decision on the licensing of DCVax-L..
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is an executive agency of the Department and regulates medicine, medical devices, and blood components for transfusion in the United Kingdom, with responsibility for ensuring that medicines meet appropriate standards of safety, quality, and efficacy.
Northwest Biotherapeutics has submitted a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) to the MHRA for DCVax®-L, an immunotherapy for glioblastoma. The MHRA are unable to comment on applications during the process of review, but the MHRA can confirm that this application is not affected by any backlogs.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
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 (a) reduce the backlog of ADHD assessments for children and (b) ensure continuity of care for people affected by service pauses in (i) NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board and (ii) other places.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has recognised that, nationally in England, demand for assessments for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has grown significantly in recent years and that people are experiencing severe delays accessing such assessments. The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan for England will make the National Health Service fit for the future, recognising the need for early intervention and support.
It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to ADHD assessment and treatment, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
NHS England established an ADHD taskforce which brought together those with lived experience with experts from the NHS, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing services and support. An interim report was published on 20 June, with the final report expected later this year, and we will carefully consider its recommendations.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on support for clean energy projects in Wales.
Answered by Jo Stevens - Secretary of State for Wales
This government is supporting clean energy projects right across Wales – from tidal stream on Anglesey to floating wind in the Celtic Sea - which will create jobs, deliver regional growth and accelerate our drive towards lower bills for households and businesses.
Our new Clean Energy Jobs Plan sets out how we will at least double the number of jobs supported by clean energy industries in Wales by the end of the decade.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the availability of funding for a fixed-link viability study to the Isle of Wight.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport has not made an assessment of the availability of funding for a fixed-link viability study to the Isle of Wight. We believe that decisions on transport interventions for a local community are best made at local level and it would be for the Local Authority to lead any feasibility study work.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children died while receiving inpatient mental health care in each year since 2010; and what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that (a) these deaths are properly (i) recorded and (ii) investigated and (b) future deaths are prevented.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 2013, there has been a total of 40 deaths of young people aged under 18 years old in contact with Tier 4 inpatient children and young people’s mental health services, including those on home leave, or who had absconded. We are unable to provide the information broken down by year as requested, as the annual data held by NHS England includes a small patient count of fewer than five cases which could lead to the identification of individuals. Data is not available prior to 2013.
All deaths of children and young people under the care of Tier 4 services are routinely reported to the Department via NHS England. Such deaths are also notified to the Care Quality Commission and the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health.
With regards to investigating inpatient deaths, the NHS Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), introduced in August 2022, promotes four core principles to inform learning from safety events: compassionate engagement; systems-based learning; proportionate responses; and supportive oversight. While PSIRF represents a significant improvement to the way that the National Health Service responds to patient safety incidents, it does not alter the requirements set out in the National Learning from Deaths policy framework. These require a patient safety incident investigation to be undertaken into any event where problems in care are thought more likely than not to have led to the death of a patient.
To help ensure that future deaths are prevented, NHS England has radically redesigned the children and young people’s inpatient model of care, working in partnership with hundreds of children, young people, and their families. One of the key recommendations from working with families through the Quality Transformation Programme was to change the service model to enable families to stay overnight at inpatient services to maintain the connection with their loved one and, critically, to ensure that the delivery of care at a point during a crisis is seen as being delivered to the young person, as well as their family and support network. These recommendations have been built into the new service model. NHS England is in the process of testing the new service model through the use of a development service specification.
Asked by: Richard Quigley (Labour - Isle of Wight West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using a UK-based manufacturer to build the Border Force’s replacement cutters and coastal patrol vessels.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Border Force Maritime Command is the UK’s national sea-going law enforcement body. Its Cutter and CPV fleet tackles the whole range of law enforcement duties, including preventing and deterring importation of illegal drugs, organised people crime and other threats.
Renewal of the Border Force fleet remains a key Departmental priority.
A dynamic UK shipbuilding sector has potential to play a key role in creating and sustaining jobs and in ensuring shared prosperity around the country.