Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure that funding allocated to breast cancer screening units is not diverted into the symptomatic pathway.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
National Health Service breast screening services are commissioned with funds which are dedicated to the NHS Breast Screening Programme. The screening pathway at both the initial screening stage, and if further diagnostic testing is required, is conducted in clinics which only accommodate women who have attended invitations from the screening programme. Provision for women with symptoms is funded from other sources and via separate clinics.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 22 February 2023 to Question 48769 on Breast Cancer: Screening, whether his Department requires GP's to introduce text message alerts for all breast screening services.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Invitations and text reminders to attend breast screenings are not sent out by general practitioners. They are sent out through breasts screening units using the national information technology system commissioned by NHS England, which generates invitations.
In line with the NHS Long Term Plan and the Sir Mike Richards Independent Review of National Cancer Screening Programmes in England, NHS England has committed to the promotion of the use of text messages in screening.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to announce the details of the application process and criteria for the Community Automated External Defibrillator Fund.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
The Department is currently in the pre-procurement stage in its process of determining a selected partner for the Automated External Defibrillator Fund. The criteria for assessing whether proposed recipients are eligible to access the Automated External Defibrillators Fund will be part of the procurement process. A typical procurement that is compliant with the regulations can take anywhere from three to six months depending on the procurement route chosen.
The Department will publish in due course a notice informing interested organisations of the upcoming opportunity and invite them to bid for the grant through GOV.UK.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the time taken to consult and legislate on the proposed mandatory display of food hygiene ratings in England on consumers.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is operated by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in partnership with local authorities across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The FSA has not made a recent assessment. However, evidence from Wales and Northern Ireland demonstrates that mandatory display has improved transparency, which encourages businesses to achieve better levels of compliance with hygiene requirements.
This is therefore a long-standing ambition of the FSA, and the FSA will continue to explore opportunities to progress a statutory scheme with the Department which would sponsor the legislation. In the meantime, the FSA is working hard with its local authority partners to maintain and improve the impact and benefits of this highly successful public health scheme.