Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help improve the treatment of Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department, and NHS England have taken steps to improve the treatment of invasive lobular breast cancer (ILBC) but are aware that more needs to be done. In September 2022, the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre announced funding from NHS England and the Welsh Government of £5.4 million to support delivery of six new national cancer audits. Two of these focus on breast cancer, one on primary and one on metastatic, and include ILBC.
Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) supports breast cancer research funded by research partners in the charity and public sectors. For example, over the last five years, the NIHR Clinical Research Network has supported 10 ILBC-related studies.
The Department and NHS England continue to work closely with research funding partners such as Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council, and cancer charities who fund research into new scientific discoveries.
The Department urges researchers working on ILBC to submit bids for NIHR funding, including applications to fund the United Kingdom arms of international studies.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with NHS England on the potential merits of (a) lowering the thresholds for initiation of treatment for chronic hepatitis B and (b) expanding opt-out testing for blood borne viruses in areas estimated to have high prevalence of chronic hepatitis B relative to the rest of the country.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Management of care for patients with Hepatitis B (HBV) is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs). National clinical guidelines for monitoring HBV are published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
NHS England is identifying opportunities to build on the very successful programme to eliminate Hepatitis C by ensuring for example, that the Emergency Department opt-out testing programme, which has plans for expansion, includes testing for HBV as well as HIV and Hepatitis C.
NHS England will continue to seek to identify opportunities to align elimination strategies wherever possible in partnership with ICBs, who can respond to local differences in HBV prevalence.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle pavement parking where alternatives are available; whether he has had discussions with city councils on the potential merits of prohibiting pavement parking where it is feasible; what assessment he has made of the minimum width of footway needed to be accessible for all disabled people; and whether he is taking steps to help reduce the potential impact of pavement parking on bus journey times.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department is fully aware that pavement parking can pose problems for all pedestrians, particularly for people with sight or mobility impairments. Local authorities already have powers to restrict pavement parking. We have undertaken a consultation on additional options to help councils tackle pavement parking outside London and it received views on many issues including minimum footway clearances and public transport. We will publish our formal response in due course.
The Department has produced good practice guidance on designing accessible public realm, in Inclusive Mobility: A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure. This includes recommendations on minimum footway widths. Inclusive Mobility can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-mobility-making-transport-accessible-for-passengers-and-pedestrians
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to increase the number of community policing teams in the West Midlands.
Answered by Chris Philp
Decisions about how neighbourhood policing is delivered, including the deployment and composition of community policing teams, are for operationally independent Chief Constables. They are best placed to use their local knowledge and experience to serve local communities. Democratically elected PCCs are responsible for holding Chief Constables to account for the running of their force.
We are ensuring that policing has the resources it needs. As a result of the Police Uplift Programme there are now almost 150,000 officers in police forces across England and Wales - the highest number on record. As at 31 March 2023, West Midlands Police had recruited 1,376 additional officers against a total three-year uplift allocation of 1,218 officers.
The number of police officers within local policing roles in England and Wales is the highest since comparable data began. As at 31 March 2023, West Midlands Police had 3,629 full time equivalent police officers employed in local policing roles, a 4.2% increase on the previous year (3,483 FTE in March 2022).
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many dogs have been destroyed by police since 2019.
Answered by Chris Philp
The Home Office does not collect data on the number of dogs destroyed by the police.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
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 to help prevent community pharmacy closures.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Department is closely monitoring changes to the pharmacy network. Access to services remains good with 80% of people in England living within 20 minutes walking distance of a pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas of the country.
The Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 2019-24 five-year deal commits £2.592 billion each year to these private contractors and the Government recently announced further funding to back the introduction of Pharmacy First and an expanded service offer. The Pharmacy Access Scheme also provides targeted financial support to pharmacies in areas where there are fewer pharmacies.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department are taking steps to (a) support community-based organisations that work directly with at-risk populations to provide targeted HIV prevention and support services, (b) encourage research and development on HIV prevention, (c) encourage (i) social media platforms, (ii) influencers and (iii) celebrities to promote accurate information on HIV, safer sex practices and testing, (d) support black-led organisations that focus on HIV prevention, education and support and (e) consult with black-led organisations on HIV prevention strategies.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
HIV Prevention England (HPE) is the national HIV prevention programme for England and is funded at £3.5 million by the Department. The programme aims to support communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV, including gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men and Black African heterosexual men and women. The Department has appointed Terrence Higgins Trust, a national charity who provide services related to sexual heath and HIV, to deliver the programme from 2021 to 2024. HPE delivers a nationally co-ordinated programme of HIV prevention work, including public campaigns such as National HIV Testing Week, that is designed to complement locally commissioned prevention activities in areas of high HIV prevalence. HPE also aims to improve knowledge and understating of HIV transmission and reducing stigma within affected communities.
HPE works with a wide range of models and their network of influencers and develops its strategies based on comprehensive data, audience insight and knowledge from local partners within England which ensure a wide range of patient’s voices and experiences are represented including with black-led organisations. Campaigns are promoted using a multi-channel approach including specialist channels relevant to the audiences and targeting via digital platforms and social media.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent children being (a) exploited, (b) recruited into criminal organisations and (c) involved in knife crime in the West Midlands.
Answered by Chris Philp
This Government is determined to crack down on knife crime and the criminal gangs who are exploiting our children and have a devastating impact on our communities.
That is why we are investing in a number of programmes to respond to child exploitation including the Prevention Programme, delivered by The Children’s Society, who work with partners across sectors to tackle and prevent a range of exploitation types.
In addition, we are investing up to £145m over three years in our County Lines Programme which provides funding for targeted operational activity in the four largest exporting force areas including West Midlands Police. We are also investing in dedicated specialist support provided by Catch-22 to help those who are criminally exploited through county lines to safely reduce and exit their involvement. Since the County Lines Programme was launched in 2019, police activity has resulted in over 4,700 lines closed, over 14,800 arrests and over 7,200 safeguarding referrals.
The Government is also committed to ensuring that the police have the tools and powers they need to tackle the scourge of knife crime on our streets. We are currently piloting Serious Violence Reduction Orders in the West Midlands which give the police more powers to stop and search convicted knife offenders. We also plan to legislate on banning zombie-style machetes and knives that have no practical use, more powers for police to seize knives that could be used in crimes, and a new offence and higher sentencing to those who sell and possess these dangerous weapons.
Since 2019, West Midlands Police have received over £20m of funding for a Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) (including £4.38m this year) and £19m (including £3.4m this year) for the Grip programme. Collectively, these programmes are providing a multi-agency preventative response designed to tackle the drivers of violence, alongside additional, high visibility patrols and problem-solving tactics in the areas worst affected.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of night work on (a) the level of risk of diagnosis with diabetes, (b) the level of risk of diagnosis with cardiovascular disease and (c) other health outcomes.
Answered by Will Quince
We have made no such assessment.
The Major Conditions Strategy will set out how we intend to tackle conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England which include cancers; cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes; chronic respiratory diseases; dementia; mental ill health; and musculoskeletal conditions.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on (a) consulting on the new name for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services, b) rebranding these services (i) digitally and (ii) physically on (A) signs and (B) official documents and (c) informing patients of this name change.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The new name of NHS Talking Therapies, for services previously known as Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, was chosen following an extensive consultation process involving clinical leads, staff members, patients and the public. NHS Talking Therapies was chosen as the most accessible and easy to remember name for the public, which was the main objective of the rebranding exercise.
NHS England has advised that it spent £20,000 on the consultation and implementation of the rebrand, which was funded from within existing budgets. NHS England also provided national support to minimise any additional costs at a local level, including a suite of editable branding resources and a 12-month timeframe for implementation.