Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to her contribution to the debate on Drugs Policy on 23 October 2018, Official Report, column 87WH, whether she plans to continue to recuse herself from issues relating to cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In line with normal procedures, my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has declared these interests both to her previous departments and the Department for Health and Social Care, and recused herself in the usual way.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what financial steps his Department is taking to (a) treat and (b) prevent HIV.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS England are responsible for providing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) treatment and care, which continues to have very high coverage and effectiveness across England. In 2021, among those with known treatment status, 99% received treatment, and 98% of those treated were virally suppressed.
The Department is investing over £3.5 million from 2021 to 2024 to deliver the National HIV Prevention Programme, to work alongside local prevention activities by developing resources for populations most affected by HIV and to deliver over 20,000 HIV tests for free annually during National HIV Testing Week.
Since 2013, the Government has mandated local authorities in England to commission comprehensive open access to most sexual health services, including free and confidential HIV testing, and provision of the HIV prevention drug pre-exposure prophylaxis through the Public Health Grant, funded at £3.4 billion overall in 2022/23. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need and to commission the service lines that best suit their population. A key commitment in the HIV Action Plan published in 2021 is the investment of £20 million over three years by NHS England to implement opt-out HIV testing in Emergency Departments in local areas with extremely high HIV prevalence.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has (a) included and (b) made an assessment of the potential merits of including low dose Naltrexone on its RAPID C-19 programme.
Answered by Will Quince
The multi-agency research to access pathway for investigational drugs for COVID-19 (RAPID C-19) was established in 2020 to ensure that treatments for COVID-19 were made available safely to National Health Service (NHS) patients as soon as possible. The initiative has enabled rapid patient access to therapeutics including dexamethasone, remdesivir, tocilizumab and sarilumab and baricitinib, novel antibody treatments such as sotrovimab, and the two oral antivirals molnupiravir and nirmatralvir+ritonavir (Paxlovid).
RAPID C-19 has made no assessment of low dose naltrexone for COVID-19 and its role in reviewing potential COVID-19 treatments is now ending as the NHS moves back to routine commissioning arrangements for these treatments. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence will therefore appraise new licensed treatments, as appropriate, through its standard Technology Appraisal process and will continue to update its COVID-19 rapid guidelines as the evidence base evolves.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have accessed NHS gambling treatment care since the start of the FIFA World Cup.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
This information is not currently held in the format requested. Data on referrals to the National Health Service gambling service is collected on a quarterly basis. Information on Quarter 3 and Quarter 4 2022/23 will be published later in 2023.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
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 impact to public health caused by the delayed publication of the gambling white paper.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Batley and Spen (Kim Leadbeater MP) on 2 November 2022 to Question 71349.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are prescribed cannabis-based medicines via private healthcare services in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with industry stakeholders on the adequacy of funding for the treatment of Motor Neurones Disease ahead of the upcoming Spending review.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
There have been no specific discussions.
NHS England and NHS Improvement commission the specialised care and treatment that patients with Motor Neurone Disease may receive from the specialised neurological treatment centres across England. Funding decisions for these are made in line with local priorities. The Department continues to engage with stakeholders including a recent meeting between ministers and the MND Association on ways to significantly boost further research on MND and access government funding for research within existing routes.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to increase research funding for mental health.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is the largest funder of mental health research in the United Kingdom with spending of £93.4 million in 2019/20. While it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions, the NIHR’s funding is available through open competition and we encourage researchers to submit applications in this area.
We are also funding the Mental Health Research Initiative to build the capacity and capability of mental health research in region currently under-represented in mental health research.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on how to protect children from alcohol marketing to support their health and wellbeing in the short and long term.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department of Health and Social Care works closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on a range of issues. We are committed to ensuring that children and young people are suitably protected from irresponsible promotions, advertising and marketing of alcohol.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing covid-19 vaccinations to (a) UK cruise ship employees and (b) other UK seafarers working in UK waters.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department of Health and Social Care alongside the Department for Transport continues to assess how the Government can best support the vaccination of UK cruise ship employees and other UK seafarers working in UK waters. The UK Government encourages all eligible cruise ship employees and seafarers to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice.
We are working closely with DfT, the Devolved Administrations and NHS England and Improvement to ensure that operational challenges in vaccinating these groups are mitigated so all those who are eligible can access the vaccine in an efficient and convenient way.