Asked by: Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made with the proposed amendments to the Part IX of the Drug Tariff, including any impact assessments on the future provision of medical technologies in the UK; how these proposals meet the ambitions of the Life Sciences Vision; and what steps they are taking to ensure that there is sufficient patient choice following the outcome of the consultation.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The consultation response on the proposed amendments to Part IX and the final impact assessment is expected to be released in May 2024, and will outline the Government’s response.
The Department believes that it is currently difficult to identify which devices are broadly comparable, and whether more expensive devices provide added value. The proposed amendments that were consulted on intend to increase meaningful choice, not to decrease choice for clinicians and patients. Comparison between products can increase awareness of different brands amongst prescribers.
These proposals support the Life Sciences Vision, and are designed to increase innovation and alignment between partners in the health and care system. The enhanced assessment process will allow comparison between products based on their merits, increasing transparency and competition, and encouraging new products and small and medium sized businesses to enter the market. The proposed introduction of environmental attributes in social value scoring increases the vision to help the National Health Service meet Net Zero.
The Department is aware that there are some very good devices in use, relied upon by clinicians and patients. Part IX will remain a list of devices available to be prescribed in the community via the FP10 prescription route. Any amendments that are taken forward will happen gradually, with review points and engagement with stakeholders, including industry, patient representatives, clinicians, and NHS organisations. The Department will share a timeline of proposed changes taken forward, in due course.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of pharmacy closures on the quality of primary care in St Albans constituency since 2019.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There were 16 pharmacies on 31 December 2023 in St Albans constituency. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, three pharmacies closed in St Albans and no new pharmacies opened. However, access to pharmaceutical services remains good, with 89 percent of the population in St Albans living within a 20 minutes’ walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80 percent. Residents of St Albans can also access services from distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.
It is the role of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. ICBs have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many pharmacies have closed in Worthing West constituency since 2019; and what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of these closures on NHS primary care services in Worthing West constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There were 19 pharmacies in Worthing West constituency on 31 December 2023. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, three pharmacies closed and no new pharmacies opened in Worthing West.
Access to pharmaceutical services remains good. 99 percent of the population in Worthing West live within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80 percent. In addition, residents of Worthing West can access distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.
It is the role of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of pharmacies that have closed in Easington since 2019; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of these closures on primary care services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There were 21 physical pharmacies on 31 December 2023 in Easington constituency. Between 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2023, two pharmacies closed in Easington constituency. However, access remains good. 85 percent of the population in Easington live within a 20-minute walk from a pharmacy. This exceeds the national average of 80 percent. Residents of Easington can also access services from distance selling pharmacies that operate nationally.
It is the statutory duty of local authorities in England to undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas, every three years, to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs. Integrated care boards have regard to those assessments when commissioning services and where a pharmacy closure impacts on the access to services, a new contractor can apply to open a pharmacy in the area.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of obesity; and what steps her Department is taking to help tackle obesity.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is delivering a wide range of measures to reduce the numbers of both adults and children who are overweight, or living with obesity. To date this includes legislative measures to limit the advertising, and location and price promotion, of less healthy products, and to ensure calorie levels are provided on menus when eating out of the home. Impact assessments for the legislated measures suggest there will be substantial health benefits, as well as savings to the National Health Service, accrued.
We have seen important successes through the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), which between 2015 and 2020 has seen sugar levels reduced by 46% in, and over 46,000 tonnes of sugar removed from, products in scope of the levy. Data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey from 2019 shows that sugar intakes have fallen for some age groups. In older children and adolescents, this appears to be partly driven by soft drinks contributing less to sugar intakes, likely as a result of the changes made to drinks included in the SDIL. Further information from the survey is available at the following link:
A paper on the association of obesity in primary school children and the SDIL suggests that the reduction in the sugar content of soft drinks delivered by the SDIL could have prevented up to 5,000 cases of obesity in girls in the last year of primary school. Reductions were greatest in girls who attended schools in the 40% of the most deprived areas. Further information from the paper is available at the following link:
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1004160
The voluntary reformulation programme requires businesses reduce levels of sugar, salt, and calories in everyday food and drink. Levels of sugar have reduced in breakfast cereals, yogurts, and pre-packed milk-based drinks by 15%, 13.5%, and 29.7% respectively, between 2015 and 2020. Levels of salt have reduced in some products by 20%.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of workforce requirements for (a) babies and (b) children with neurodevelopmental conditions.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No recent assessments have been made. We are working closely with the Department for Education to ensure that children and young people with Special Educational Need and Disability (SEND) receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.
We are taking forward work to better understand the health needs of children and young people with SEND so that these needs can be better met as we plan what workforce we need. A research commission from the National Institute for Health and Care Research to understand the demand for therapists for children with SEND was issued January 2024.
In June 2023, we published the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan (LTWP) which sets out the steps the National Health Service and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term. The LTWP applies to all workforce groups, including those working with babies and children with neurodevelopmental conditions.
The modelling NHS England has used in the plan is founded on data, evidence and analysis and provides a set of broad ranges to measure the potential impact of actions over its 15-year timeframe. We have committed to refreshing the modelling that underpins the plan every two years or in line with fiscal events.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of average waiting times for autism assessments on educational attainment.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government recognises that there can be long waits for autism assessments. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is taking steps to improve access to assessments for autism. In 2023/24 DHSC allocated £4.2 million to improve services for autistic children and young people including assessments, pre-and post-diagnostic support, and the continuation of the Autism in Schools programme. Additionally, in April 2023, NHS England published a national framework to support the local NHS to commission and deliver autism assessment services for children, young people, and adults.
The Department for Education wants all children and young people to be able to reach their full potential and receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The SEND Code of Practice is clear that meeting the needs of a child with SEND does not require a diagnostic label or assessment. Instead, the department expects teachers to monitor the progress of all children and young people and put support in place where needed, including arranging diagnostic tests where appropriate.
The 2023 SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan set out the department’s vision to improve mainstream education through setting standards for early and accurate identification of need, and timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and practitioner standards will be developed to support frontline professionals, including one on autism.
The department’s Universal Services contract brings together SEND-specific continuing professional development and support for the school and further education workforce to improve outcomes for children and young people, including those with autism, through one programme, which aims to reach 70% of schools and colleges in England per year.
The contract offers autism awareness training and resources: over 135,000 professionals have undertaken autism awareness training provided by the Autism Education Trust through the programme's train the trainer model.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of average waiting times for autism assessments on other health and care services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no current plans to make this specific assessment. We recognise the importance of early identification of autism so that an individual’s needs can be identified sooner, and support put in place earlier in life.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines on autism highlight the importance of conducting an autism assessment as soon as possible so that appropriate health and social care interventions, and advice and support, can be offered. It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with the NICE’s guidelines.
In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This guidance will help the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults. The operational guidance makes it clear that people should be able to access support and care from other services for needs that appear linked to physical and mental health, including while they are waiting for an autism assessment. This year, the Department is updating the Statutory Guidance on Autism to support the NHS and local authorities in delivering improved outcomes for autistic people.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of recent advances in clinical (a) technology and (b) other equipment on the number of (i) medical physicists and (ii) clinical engineers that are required in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not plan to make specific assessments of the impacts, but advances in clinical technology and equipment are crucial to the work of NHS England. For example, the Government has invested in the latest technology in radiotherapy, ensuring that every radiotherapy provider had access to modern, cutting-edge radiotherapy equipment, enabling the rollout of new techniques like stereotactic ablative radiotherapy. The total central investment made between 2016 and 2021 was £162 million, and enabled the replacement or upgrade of approximately 100 radiotherapy treatment machines.
The Department does not plan to make specific assessments of the number of medical physicists and clinical engineers required in the National Health Service, but is backing the NHS’s Long-Term Workforce Plan with over £2.4 billion of funding over the next five years, to ensure additional education and training places. We are also working with NHS England to reform and modernise the way staff work and harness new technology and innovations to double NHS labour productivity, and to make sure staff can spend more time with patients. Finally, NHS England is also growing the cancer workforce, with 50% more staff in the cancer workforce when compared to 2010.
Asked by: Steve Brine (Conservative - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the (a) surveillance of infectious diseases and (b) Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As part of our responsibility to protect citizens from the impact of infectious diseases, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) carries out surveillance activities across a range of pathogens which represent a significant risk to health. This involves multiple UKHSA teams working with external partners across a wide range of activities. Our assessments of the effectiveness of surveillance are incorporated into annual reports on surveillance and progress towards the elimination of notifiable diseases, including tuberculosis and measles.
Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 serve an important role in England’s ability to respond promptly to suspected cases of infectious disease that could have an impact on public health, by supporting a robust surveillance system. Regulations are reviewed by the Department and UKHSA, and include public consultations. A summary of responses to the recent Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010: proposed amendments consultation, is available at the following link: