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Written Question
Department of Health and Social Care: Legal Costs
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour - Torfaen)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total cost to the public purse was of legal (a) support and (b) representation to Ministers in her Department in relation to their official conduct in each of the last three years.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The information is not held centrally or collated in the format requested. More generally, I would refer the hon. Member to the long-standing policies on legal expenditure, as set out recently by Cabinet Office Ministers on 12 March 2024, Official Report, Question 17709 and 12 March 2024, Official Report, House of Lords, Cols. 1901-1904.


Written Question
Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to provide an Answer to Question 17965 tabled by the hon. Member for Stockport on 11 March 2024.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 17965 on 21 March 2024.


Written Question
Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions
Wednesday 20th March 2024

Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to provide a substantive answer to Question 16155 on Blood: Contamination, tabled on 28 February 2024 by the Hon. Member for Glenrothes.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 16155 on 18 March 2024.


Written Question
Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)

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 raise awareness of sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC); and whether there is a timeframe for information relating to SUDC to be included on the NHS website.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the Rt hon. Member for Spelthorne to the answer I gave the Rt hon. Member on 19 February 2024, to Question 11788.

To further raise awareness of sudden unexplained death in childhood (SUDC), NHS England intends to update the When a Child Dies leaflet in collaboration with affected families, parents, and carers, as well as National Child Mortality Database colleagues and SUDC charities, including SUDC UK and relevant professional groups. The Department and NHS England also held a roundtable in July 2023, which brought together expert organisations to discuss possible ways to improve SUDC training and awareness, both collectively and within organisations.


Written Question
Department of Health and Social Care: Ministers' Private Offices
Wednesday 21st February 2024

Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2024 to Question 11392 on Department of Health and Social Care: Ministers' Private Offices, what the cost was of the refurbishment to ministerial offices in 2023.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The total cost of refurbishment of the ministerial offices in 2023 was approximately £140,000. This answer was previously shared in the answer to the hon. Member for Ilford North on the 20 of September 2023 to Question 198375.


Written Question
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
Tuesday 20th February 2024

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, whether her Department has set targets relating to the reduction of alcohol (a) use and (b) harm.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8 January 2024 to Question UIN 7367.


Written Question
Electronic Cigarettes: Advertising
Tuesday 20th February 2024

Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of advertising vape products (a) in sports venues and (b) on sports kits on health outcomes.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is concerned about the worrying rise in vaping among children. Youth vaping has tripled in the last three years, and one in five children now use a vape. The health advice is clear: if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, and children should never vape. In our recent consultation response, we set out our plan to introduce legislation as soon as possible to further crack down on youth vaping by providing powers to restrict flavours, point of sale and packaging of vaping products.

In regard to advertising and sponsorship, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 January 2024 to Question 11133.

The Department has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of advertising vape products in sports venues and on sports kits on health outcomes.


Written Question
Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)

Question

To ask the Leader of the House why Written Questions HL660 and HL661, tabled on 28 November, have not been answered after 10 working days.

Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal

As Leader of the House of Lords I have reiterated to all Departments the importance of adhering to the 10 day target for responses to questions for written answer. My office has been in close contact with the Department for Health and Social Care’s Parliamentary Team to ascertain why HL660 and HL661 went unanswered. They have now confirmed that they have been answered. The Permanent Secretary has previously reassured me that the department is working to return performance to pre-pandemic levels. As this issue has persisted I am writing again to the Permanent Secretary to highlight the lack of improvement.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Immunosuppression
Wednesday 13th December 2023

Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)

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 provide covid-19 (a) tests and (b) treatment to immunocompromised patients in winter 2023-24.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS702 on 30 March 2023, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will maintain a range of capabilities to protect those at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. We have retained appropriate levels of testing to support diagnosis for clinical care and treatment and to protect higher risk individuals. Those who are eligible for COVID-19 treatments can collect free rapid lateral flow test kits from a local pharmacy. Those who are immunocompromised are eligible for COVID-19 treatments and influenza antivirals in the community, enabling them easy access to treatment.

Higher risk individuals, their carers, and household contacts, are also part of the priority cohort in line for booster vaccines. UKHSA continues to encourage people to take vaccines they are eligible for, most recently via the ‘get winter strong’ campaign. More information on the campaign is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-campaign-get-winter-strong-with-flu-and-covid-19-vaccines

Guidance for people whose immune system means they are at a higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19 is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk


Written Question
Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Health Services
Monday 11th December 2023

Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)

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 support NHS services to make adequate provision to (a) diagnose and (b) manage Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Loughborough on 17 November 2023 to Question 950.