Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of breast cancer monitoring devices on global health outcomes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not yet assessed the potential impact of breast cancer monitoring devices. This technology is at an early stage and further evidence is needed before we can assess whether it could be trialled in medical settings.
Improving the early diagnosis of cancer, including breast cancers, is a priority for the National Health Service. NHS England has an ambition to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage one or two by 2028, which will help tens of thousands of people live for longer. NHS England is working to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) which sets a target of 28 days from urgent referral by a general practitioner or screening programme, to patients being told that they have cancer, or that cancer is ruled out.
In January 2022 the Department provided £10 million of funding for 28 new breast screening units and nearly 60 life-saving upgrades to services in the areas where they are most needed, so more women can be checked for signs of cancer, speeding up diagnosis and treatment.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many full-time equivalent members of staff work on pandemic preparedness in (a) her Department and (b) the UK Health Security Agency.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government continues to plan and prepare for a range of pandemic and emerging infectious disease scenarios, including those caused by respiratory contact, both influenza and non-influenza, and vector-borne pathogens, building on lessons learned from exercises and incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic. There are currently 21.35 full time equivalent (FTE) staff working on pandemic preparedness within the Global and Public Health Group of the Department.
Every team across the United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is playing a critical role in the nation’s pandemic preparedness and is committing significant resource and effort to meet our remit. As a result, it is not possible to provide an FTE figure of all staff whose work forms part of pandemic preparedness. The UKHSA’s Centre for Pandemic Preparedness (CPP) holds some members of staff who are focused primarily on pandemic preparedness policy and coordination. There currently are 18.4 FTEs working in CPP.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential connection between global ocean protection and mitigating the effects of climate change.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises that climate change and biodiversity loss, alongside other human pressures, are having a detrimental impact on ocean health. Ocean action can be part of our response to both challenges; protecting and restoring coastal and marine habitats can provide a wide array of benefits, including flood protection, improving biodiversity, carbon sequestration and supporting ecosystems to be more resilient to climate impacts.
The UK plays a leading role in advocating for nature and ocean to be embedded in global climate action. The annual UNFCCC Ocean and Climate Change Dialogue was established under our COP26 Presidency. At COP28, we worked with international partners to secure a negotiated decision for the first Global Stocktake which encouraged the strengthening of ocean-based climate action.
As Chair of the Global Ocean Alliance, the UK successfully led calls for ambitious and meaningful outcomes for the ocean from the Convention on Biological Diversity COP15. As agreed at that COP, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework includes commitments to protect at least 30% of the global ocean by 2030, restore degraded ecosystems and to tackle the impacts of climate change and ocean acidification, with Parties noting the interlinkage between these targets.
The UK played a significant and proactive role in securing The Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement which will mean much greater protection for the two-thirds of the global ocean that lies beyond national jurisdiction. The Agreement will play a key role supporting the delivery of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including helping to achieve the target to effectively conserve and manage at least 30% of the ocean by 2030.
Financed from the UK aid budget, the £500 million Blue Planet Fund supports developing countries to reduce poverty, protect and sustainably manage their marine resources and address human-generated threats across four interlinked key themes, one of which is climate change.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 potential impact of the removal of (a) overseas and (b) senior care workers’ rights to bring dependants on main applicant flows for the health and social care visa.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We expect social care visa volumes will remain resilient to removing the eligibility for new care and senior care workers to bring dependants. This is in the context of a strong global labour supply, possible changes in migrant behaviour in response, and that a proportion of recruits are estimated to already come without dependants. The Home Office has published estimates of the impact these changes might have on the number of people applying to work in the sector from outside the United Kingdom, which are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 to deliver inclusive and sustainable development in Africa and transform it into "the global powerhouse of the future"; and what engagement they are having with partners to support the delivery of those aims.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 30 October, the UK and the African Union held our inaugural High Level Dialogue, hosted by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Africa. At the Dialogue, Minister Mitchell announced further UK funding in support of the African Union's 2063 Agenda, and for its flagship Silencing the Guns campaign. This includes £10 million in stipends to support troops in Somalia, bringing our total commitment to the AU Transition Mission in Somalia since 2022 to more than £57 million.
We are also providing £3 million through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's Tackling Deadly Diseases in African Programme, helping the Africa Centres for Disease Control and World Health Organisation address emergency preparedness and response in the continent.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many medicine supply issue notifications her Department has received in each month since 2017.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are around 14,000 licensed medicines, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply. However, the medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global and supply disruption is an issue which affects countries all around the world.
The Department’s medicines Discontinuations and Shortages (DaSH) portal was established in October 2020 to collect notifications from suppliers of potential supply issues. Data from before October 2020 cannot be provided as this information is not held. The following table shows the number of supply issue notifications added to the DaSH portal, each month since 2020:
Month added to DaSH | Number of supply issue notifications |
October 2020 | 180 |
November 2020 | 130 |
December 2020 | 90 |
January 2021 | 90 |
February 2021 | 70 |
March 2021 | 60 |
April 2021 | 50 |
May 2021 | 60 |
June 2021 | 130 |
July 2021 | 60 |
August 2021 | 100 |
September 2021 | 90 |
October 2021 | 80 |
November 2021 | 100 |
December 2021 | 100 |
January 2022 | 110 |
February 2022 | 130 |
March 2022 | 70 |
April 2022 | 100 |
May 2022 | 120 |
June 2022 | 140 |
July 2022 | 210 |
August 2022 | 140 |
September 2022 | 180 |
October 2022 | 130 |
November 2022 | 180 |
December 2022 | 110 |
January 2023 | 170 |
February 2023 | 130 |
March 2023 | 140 |
April 2023 | 120 |
May 2023 | 120 |
June 2023 | 130 |
July 2023 | 130 |
August 2023 | 160 |
September 2023 | 110 |
October 2023 | 130 |
November 2023 | 170 |
December 2023 | 140 |
January 2024 | 160 |
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the process will be for importers to derogate the 24-hour notification process for medium-risk goods to four hours under the Border Target Operating Model.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The requirement for IPAFFS (Import of products, animals, food and feed system) prenotifications to be submitted one working day ahead of an animal product consignment’s arrival in GB is an existing requirement for goods from the EU, excluding goods from the island of Ireland. The requirement will remain as is from 31 January for those EU goods it currently applies to, and will be introduced for EU and non-qualifying Northern Ireland goods from the island of Ireland. The way in which this requirement will be enforced will also remain unchanged from now in the January-April period. This aligns with our wider approach to implementation. From the point that controls at the border are introduced, importers will be able to contact Port Health Authorities (PHAs) to request a derogation to reduce the pre-notification window to a minimum of four hours. It may be possible to negotiate a global derogation for certain routes with the PHA, benefiting regular shipments on these paths. However, this would need to be based on agreement with the relevant PHA.
Asked by: Lord Leigh of Hurley (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support healthcare facilities in developing countries to have clean water, decent toilets and better hygiene, as a cost-effective means for reducing the global infectious disease burden.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to supporting access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), including in healthcare facilities, as part of our approach to Ending Preventable Deaths. Our £18.5m WASH Systems for Health programme will support governments in low- and lower-middle income countries to develop stronger systems crucial to the delivery of sustainable and climate resilient WASH services - a vital part of reducing the global infectious disease burden. Additionally, the Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition, funded by the UK, trained 460,000 health workers on hygiene improvements, and supported 14,800 facilities with WASH supplies.
Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are their priorities ahead of this year's United Nations General Assembly High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The High-level Meeting (HLM) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) offers an excellent opportunity to catalyse global progress. The UK's priority is a political declaration that sets a high level of ambition across human health, animal health and environmental sectors. The UK is particularly keen to promote more equitable global access to antimicrobials and their appropriate stewardship.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her Department's policy is on maintaining (a) supply of and (b) access to commonly prescribed medicines.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply. However, the medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global, and supply disruption is an issue which affects countries all around the world.
There are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, including manufacturing difficulties, regulatory non-compliance, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes, or distribution issues. Supply issues are driven by a range of factors, many of which are non-specific to the United Kingdom.
Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, the Department has a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise, and help mitigate risks to patients. We work closely with industry, the National Health Service, and others, to develop bespoke mitigation plans, which are tailored to each issue, to help ensure patients continue to have access to the medicines they need.