Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are plans for the NHS to put in place system incentives to reduce overreliance on SABA due to (a) environmental and (b) clinical concerns posed by such overreliance.
Answered by Jo Churchill
NHS England and NHS Improvement are considering the feasibility of introducing system incentives to increase appropriate prescribing of inhaled corticosteroid inhalers and to improve the prescribing of short-acting beta-agonists inhalers. The aim will be to improve patient outcomes but also reduce carbon emissions.
An update to the General Practitioner Contract for 2020/21 to 2023/24 includes an improved Quality Outcome Framework asthma domain. This incorporates aspects of care positively associated with better patient outcomes and asthma control, including a review of inhaler technique and record of exacerbations.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans are in place to introduce NHS system incentives to reduce over-prescribing of oral corticosteroid for asthma and severe asthma.
Answered by Jo Churchill
NHS England and NHS Improvement are considering the feasibility of introducing system incentives to increase appropriate prescribing of inhaled corticosteroid inhalers and to improve the prescribing of short-acting beta-agonists inhalers. The aim will be to improve patient outcomes but also reduce carbon emissions.
An update to the General Practitioner Contract for 2020/21 to 2023/24 includes an improved Quality Outcome Framework asthma domain. This incorporates aspects of care positively associated with better patient outcomes and asthma control, including a review of inhaler technique and record of exacerbations.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to make recurrent oral corticosteroid use a trigger for treatment reviews in asthma and other conditions.
Answered by Jo Churchill
NHS England and NHS Improvement are considering the feasibility of introducing system incentives to increase appropriate prescribing of inhaled corticosteroid inhalers and to improve the prescribing of short-acting beta-agonists inhalers. The aim will be to improve patient outcomes but also reduce carbon emissions.
An update to the General Practitioner Contract for 2020/21 to 2023/24 includes an improved Quality Outcome Framework asthma domain. This incorporates aspects of care positively associated with better patient outcomes and asthma control, including a review of inhaler technique and record of exacerbations.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's timescale is for the publication of the joint asthma guideline from NICE/BTS/SIGN.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The British Thoracic Society, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence have begun work to develop a joint guideline relating to asthma care. The recruitment process for the roles of guideline group co-chair and topic expert is underway, with the first scoping workshop due to take place on 6 August 2021. The likely publication date is 2023.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of potential effect of loyalty penalties in the energy retail market on consumers.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government is tackling the loyalty penalty experienced by households who do not shop around for their energy supply, which the Competition and Markets Authority has estimated, creates a £1.4bn average annual detriment to those consumers. We legislated for a price cap in 2018, which saves households £75-£100 a year on average. Ofgem, the sector regulator, is working to make it easier and quicker for households to switch energy deal. As set out in our Energy White Paper, the Government will introduce an opt-in switching scheme and trial out-out switching to help more households get a better deal on their energy.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of exclusive tariffs on price comparison websites on competition in the energy retail market.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The offering of exclusive tariffs by price comparison companies enables them to exert competitive pressure on suppliers to offer consumers better energy deals. The ability to offer exclusive tariffs and the removal of the requirement to show whole of the market tariffs by price comparison companies followed the Competition Markets Authority’s recommendation in its market study of digital comparison tools in 2017. Consumers can access the exclusive tariffs via the price comparison companies’ websites or telephone comparison service.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans are in place to focus on the contribution of positive patient outcomes to the healthcare carbon savings within the delivery plan of Greener NHS Strategy.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The National Health Service committed to achieving net zero for both direct and indirect emissions. ‘Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service’, published in October 2020, sets out how more sustainable models of care can not only improve patient outcomes, patient experience and care quality but also reduce carbon emissions.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure consumers and businesses have access to redress and other consumer protections in emerging low-carbon markets.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
As a Competent Authority, the energy regulator Ofgem, has an obligation to ensure Alternative Dispute Resolution is provided in the energy sector under the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015.
Ofgem has appointed Ombudsman Services: Energy as the redress provider in the energy sector and has set out the types of dispute that Ombudsman Services: Energy can resolve, including issues relating to billing, sales, switching, supply, micro-generation and Feed in Tariffs.
Consumer protection continues to be a central part of policy considerations in relation to new energy markets, for example we have recently consulted on extending access to redress to heat network customers.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help vulnerable consumers make the transition to net zero.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government has extended the Energy Company Obligation to 2026 and expanded the Warm Home Discount to £475 million per year from 2022 to 2025/2026. This will see targeted support continue to be provided to low-income and vulnerable households to install energy saving measures and heat their homes over the winter months, while making savings on their energy bills through having better insulated homes. The future Home Upgrade Grant scheme, due to commence in 2022, will support low-income households with upgrades to the worst-performing homes off the gas grid in England. These upgrades will create warmer homes at lower cost and support low-income families with the switch to low-carbon heating. This increased energy efficiency is complemented by the Government’s rollout of over 26 million smart meters, which help consumers see how much energy they are using in near real-time and make sure they are ready to take advantage of the next wave of flexible, low-carbon technologies and energy tariffs.
This Government is committed to getting the transition to net zero right for all consumers, including those in vulnerable circumstances, and will shortly publish a call for evidence to begin an ongoing strategic dialogue between consumers, industry and the Government on affordability in the energy system.
Asked by: Yvonne Fovargue (Labour - Makerfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much of the Hardship Fund allocated to local authorities was spent between March and October 2020; and what proportion of that fund was spent over that time period.
Answered by Luke Hall
The £500 million Hardship Fund has been made available to councils in England to provide support to economically vulnerable people and households, including through reductions in council tax to recipients of working age local council tax support. The management of those allocations is a matter for local councils.