Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the number of people waiting more than 6 weeks for a colonoscopy in England.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Cutting waiting lists is a key priority for the Government. It is unacceptable that some patients are waiting over six weeks for a diagnostic test, including for a colonoscopy. To cut waiting lists for diagnostic tests, each integrated care board will have a recovery plan for diagnostic services, including endoscopy as needed.

NHS England is continuing to develop gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy networks across the country, which will address variations in care, including in the timely access to care. The Department is supporting NHS England in completing the rollout and expansion of the community diagnostic programme, including delivering additional endoscopy capacity closer to patients in the community. GI endoscopy training academies have also been established, with one per region, to enable the training and education of the required workforce.

The National Health Service is delivering on a number of specific steps to reduce waiting times for GI endoscopy services, including colonoscopy procedures. This includes the establishment of a national transformation project to enable and support the timely recovery of GI endoscopy services, and investment into an expected net increase of 80 additional dedicated endoscopy rooms to expand capacity, as well as a number of Community Diagnostic Centres offering endoscopy services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of bowel cancer.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the National Health Service, and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. In particular, he has highlighted the need to improve the number of patients starting their treatment within 62 days of referral, and increase the number of patients diagnosed at an earlier stage.

The NHS will maximise the pace of the roll-out of additional diagnostic capacity, delivering the final year of the three-year investment plan for establishing Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) and ensuring timely implementation of the new CDC locations, and upgrades to existing CDCs, with capacity prioritised for cancer diagnostics.

We are committed to transforming diagnostic services, and will support the NHS to increase capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. Furthermore, in 2024/25, we will continue to extend the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme to additional cohorts, specifically to 50 to 52-year olds.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of eligible people in Yorkshire and the Humber have been screened through the national targeted lung cancer screening programme since July 2023; and what steps he is taking to increase the level of uptake for that scheme.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme is available in some areas of England and offers a lung cancer screen to those who are over 55 years old but younger than 75 years old; are registered with a general practitioner; and have a history of smoking.

NHS England has advised that to the end of August 2024, 36.3% of the eligible population in the Humber and North Yorkshire Cancer Alliance has been invited to the Lung Cancer Screening programme since 2019, with 16,103 people participating between July 2023 and July 2024. Estimated uptake for May to July 2024, the most recent available three months of data, was 55.4%. This has improved significantly with the rolling average for the last 12 months being 47.8%.

A wide range of initiatives continues to be carried out to improve uptake in the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme. For example, at a national level this includes using social media, leaflets and posters to promote the programme and at a local level, using text messaging to remind people of their appointment. Cancer Alliances are also bringing together primary care networks, lung cancer screening teams and communication colleagues to ensure collaborative and informed working is taking place.

The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme will be fully rolled out to 100% of the eligible population by 2029.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that NHS providers prioritise funding for (a) upgrades and (b) replacements of radiotherapy machines.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government will continue to support the provision of radiotherapy machines, however since April 2022 the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines has been with local systems.

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 potential impact of the time taken to access radiotherapy treatment on cancer outcomes; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure patients that need radiotherapy treatment can access it as quickly as possible.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government believes that cancer patients are waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment, including radiotherapy treatment. We will get the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster. We will improve patients’ experience across the system.

Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the NHS and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. In particular, he has highlighted the need to improve the number of patients starting their treatment within 62 days of referral and to increase the number of patients diagnosed at an earlier stage.

Improving 62-day performance and early diagnosis are already key priorities for NHS England. Lord Darzi’s report will inform our ten-year plan to reform the NHS, which include further details on how we will improve cancer diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help improve the availability of wi-fi on the rail network.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

I have asked my officials to explore the feasibility of a range of technology options to improve passenger connectivity on the rail network. The Department is also measuring the strength of mobile signals along the rail network to fully understand where interventions are needed.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of eligible people have received a check through the targeted lung health check programme in Yorkshire since the establishment of that programme; and what steps he plans to take to help increase the update of those checks.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme is available in some areas of England and offers a lung cancer screen to those who are over 55 years old but younger than 75 years old; are registered with a general practitioner; and have a history of smoking.

The Yorkshire region is covered by three Cancer Alliances. NHS England has advised that in the Humber and North Yorkshire, of the 202,527 estimated eligible population, 75,973 people were invited for a lung check, representing 37.5% population coverage. 34,217 had lung checks, and 24,726 had scans. Uptake since inception of the programme is 45%.

In West Yorkshire and Harrogate, of the 202,836 estimated eligible population, 36,277 were invited, representing 17.9% population coverage. 19,941 people had lung checks, and 10,404 had scans. Uptake since inception of the programme is 55%.

In South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw, of the 177,788 estimated eligible population, 132,658 were invited, representing 74.6% population coverage. 49,682 had lung checks, and 32,561 had scans. Uptake since inception of the programme stands at 37%.

The Cancer Alliances undertake a range of community engagement, advertising, and ‘reminder’ activities to increase uptake. At a national level, NHS England continues to carry out behavioural insights research to inform their approach to supporting and improving uptake of the programme. NHS England has produced a range of engagement assets including for social media adverts, leaflets and posters which are used by local sites. They aim to run further social media adverts in future.

The NHS Lung Cancer Screening programme will be fully rolled out by 2029.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to (a) increase breast cancer screening rates to pre-covid-19 levels and (b) meet his Department's breast cancer screening targets.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following COVID-19, a national restoration plan was implemented by NHS England in 2020/21 with targeted support to all breast screening services, to clear the backlog by the summer of 2023. In 2021/22 and 2022/23, activity was higher than in the previous 10 years with more women invited for breast screening compared to pre-pandemic years.

NHS England’s national uptake improvement plan aims to address the fact that despite this action, some women are still not coming forward for breast screening. The plan includes active follow up of women who have missed appointments or who have not engaged with screening, a review to establish reasons for non-attendance to identify and address any barriers, and a look at how different invitation methods may impact on uptake, for instance factors such as age, screening history, and deprivation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of developing a specific action plan for (a) cancers of the (i) brain, (ii) liver, (iii) lung, (iv) stomach, (v) oesophagus and (vi) pancreas and (b) other less survivable cancers.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of an action plan for less survivable cancers individually or as a group, or had specific discussions with international counterparts on their approach to less survivable cancers.

Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the National Health Service, and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. The report will inform the Government’s ten-year plan to reform the NHS, including further detail on how we will improve outcomes for cancer, including less survivable cancers.

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 his international counterparts on their approach to less survivable cancers.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government has not made an assessment of the potential merits of an action plan for less survivable cancers individually or as a group, or had specific discussions with international counterparts on their approach to less survivable cancers.

Lord Darzi’s report has set out the scale of the challenges we face in fixing the National Health Service, and the need to improve cancer waiting time performance and cancer survival. The report will inform the Government’s ten-year plan to reform the NHS, including further detail on how we will improve outcomes for cancer, including less survivable cancers.

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 tackle the (a) physical and (b) mental health challenges faced by unpaid carers.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own physical and mental health and wellbeing.

People, including unpaid carers, with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. This includes recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers, introducing specialist mental health professionals in every school, rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, and modernising the Mental Health Act.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to review the adequacy of the level of Carer's Allowance in the context of increases in the cost of living.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Unpaid carers play a vital role in supporting elderly or disabled relatives or friends. Sometimes unpaid carers will need to turn to the benefit system for financial support, so it is right that we keep Carer’s Allowance under review, to see if it is meeting its objectives, and giving unpaid carers the help and support they need and deserve.

In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £198.31 per monthly assessment period. The additional amount for carers in Pension Credit is £45.60 a week.

The Secretary of State undertakes a statutory annual review of benefit and pensions, and the level of Carer’s Allowance is protected by Up-rating it each year in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to help (a) return breast cancer screening rates to pre-covid-19 levels and (b) meet breast cancer screening targets.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Following COVID-19, a national restoration plan was implemented by NHS England in 2020/21 with targeted support to all breast screening services to clear the backlog by the Summer of 2023. In 2021/22 and 2022/23, activity was higher than in the previous 10 years, with more women invited for breast screening compared to pre-pandemic years.

The NHS England national uptake improvement plan aims to address the fact that despite this action, some women are still not coming forward for breast screening. The plan includes active follow ups for women who have missed appointments or who have not engaged with screening, a review to establish reasons for non-attendance to identify and address any barriers, and a look at how different invitation methods may impact on uptake, considering factors such as age, screening history, and deprivation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the national screening programme for lung cancer, if he will increase funding for smoking cessation provision in order that it can be offered as an opt-out integrated service within all lung screening appointments.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme Standard Protocol includes a mandatory referral to smoking cessation services for all current smokers invited to the programme.The Government is providing £70 million additional funding this year to support local authorities increase provision of local stop smoking services which will support improved referral pathways and integrated working.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many complaints relating to the mental healthcare service at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS trust there have been in each of the last three years.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The following table shows information on concerns received by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust between 2021/22 and 2023/24:

Source: Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust Quality Accounts

Note: Concerns can range from an issue with a person’s care to environmental factors, such as parking on the Trust’s sites.

The Trust has advised that all complaints are managed in line with national guidance and it is committed to providing opportunities for its patients, their carers or their families to seek advice or information, raise concerns or make a complaint about the services that the Trust provides.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on implementing the reforms outlined in the white paper entitled High stakes: gambling reform for the digital age, published in April 2023; and what her planned timeline is for the full implementation of the proposals.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We are committed to reviewing the best available evidence from a wide range of sources and working with all stakeholders in order to support the sector and ensure there are robust protections in place to protect those at risk. We will provide further updates to the House soon.

The Gambling Commission is responsible for the implementation of a number of the regulatory reforms set out in the white paper, such as introducing new regulations to make online games safer and financial vulnerability checks aimed at reducing cases of unaffordable losses. It has consulted on and implemented the majority of these reforms.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish mortality rates of mental health patients at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust publishes the information requested (under ‘Learning from deaths’) as part of its annual Quality Account report about the quality of the services provided by the Trust. The most recent report is available at the following link:

www.tewv.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Quality-Account-23-24-Final.pdf

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many avoidable or preventable deaths of mental health patients at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS trust there have been in each of the last three years.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Information on the number of deaths reported to Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust's incident reporting system are shown in the table. These are not categorised as preventable or avoidable.

Source: Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust Quality Accounts

It is important to note that the majority of deaths of people in the Trust’s care from natural causes and therefore include end of life care and longstanding poor physical health. There is further detail and context within the Trust’s Quality Account for each year.

Social care workers and National Insurance

Israeli Knesset decision to ban UNRWA

Cuts to the International Development Budget

UN Special Rapporteur's report on atrocity crimes in Iran

Outdoor education

World Mental Health Day 2024

World Homelessness Day 2024

Value of grasslands

Conflict in the Middle East

Peace in the Middle East

Preservation of Harland & Wolff

Found: Joshua Reynolds Charlotte Cane Steff Aquarone Alex Easton Ellie Chowns Olly Glover Tim Farron Tom

Found: Joshua Reynolds Charlotte Cane Steff Aquarone Alex Easton Ellie Chowns Olly Glover Tim Farron Tom

Found: George Mr Joshua Reynolds Charlotte Cane Steff Aquarone Ellie Chowns Olly Glover Tim Farron Tom

Found: Goldman James MacCleary Andrew George Mr Joshua Reynolds Ellie Chowns Olly Glover Tim Farron Tom

Found: Victoria Collins Sarah Dyke Zöe Franklin Mike Martin Ellie Chowns Olly Glover Tim Farron Tom

Found: Sarah Champion Ellie Chowns Ann Davies Carla Denyer Ben Lake Adrian Ramsay Cameron Thomas Tom

Found: Sarah Champion Ellie Chowns Ann Davies Carla Denyer Ben Lake Adrian Ramsay Cameron Thomas Tom

Found: Sarah Champion Ellie Chowns Ann Davies Carla Denyer Ben Lake Adrian Ramsay Cameron Thomas Tom

Found: Sarah Champion Ellie Chowns Ann Davies Carla Denyer Ben Lake Adrian Ramsay Cameron Thomas Tom

Found: Sarah Champion Ellie Chowns Ann Davies Carla Denyer Ben Lake Adrian Ramsay Cameron Thomas Tom

Found: Sarah Champion Ellie Chowns Ann Davies Carla Denyer Ben Lake Adrian Ramsay Cameron Thomas Tom

Found: Sarah Champion Ellie Chowns Ann Davies Carla Denyer Ben Lake Adrian Ramsay Cameron Thomas Tom

Found: Sarah Champion Ellie Chowns Ann Davies Carla Denyer Ben Lake Adrian Ramsay Cameron Thomas Tom

Found: Sarah Champion Ellie Chowns Ann Davies Carla Denyer Ben Lake Adrian Ramsay Cameron Thomas Tom

No description available

Found: Zero, Energy & Transport Committee on 30 January 2024 • Article in The Herald (28 January 2024) by Tom