Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 estimate of the number of hospital admissions for issues related to pipe smoking in the last (a) 12 months, (b) five years and (c) 20 years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tobacco is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes approximately one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS and social care at £3 billion a year.
All smoked tobacco is extremely harmful, including pipe smoking. Smoking is the main driver for conditions such as lung cancer and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and is a major factor for others such as premature cardiovascular disease.
Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco. As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of pipe smoking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to pipe smoking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 estimate of the annual cost to the NHS of pipe smoking.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Tobacco is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes approximately one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS and social care at £3 billion a year.
All smoked tobacco is extremely harmful, including pipe smoking. Smoking is the main driver for conditions such as lung cancer and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and is a major factor for others such as premature cardiovascular disease.
Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco. As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of pipe smoking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to pipe smoking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve rates of retention in HIV care among (a) Black African women, (b) Black Caribbean women, (c) White women and (d) women of other ethnicities.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach to drive forward progress and achieve our goal of ending new human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) transmissions, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including through testing, and high-quality care for those with a positive HIV status.
While the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant drop in HIV testing, we are pleased that services are recovering, and testing rates among gay and bisexual men are now at the highest level on record, with a 23% increase from 2019 to 2022. However, more progress is needed across all groups, which we are targeting through various initiatives.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department funds the HIV Prevention Programme, which annually runs a National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) campaign to encourage those in underrepresented groups, such as women and black ethnic groups, to test for HIV. In 2023, we introduced the self-testing option, which we know is very popular with harder to reach groups. During the 2024 NHTW campaign, self-testing orders from black African women nearly doubled when compared with 2023, and orders of these kits by heterosexual women increased by 39%.
The introduction of opt-out testing for HIV in emergency departments, in the areas with extremely high diagnosed HIV prevalence, is also a crucial strategy to help us identify those living with undiagnosed or untreated HIV. By normalising testing as part of an emergency department attendance when blood is drawn, we help reach communities that are currently underserved by testing opportunities, such as black African and black Caribbean ethnic groups and women, and reduce the number of people presenting with a late HIV diagnosis.
A subgroup of the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group (ISG), the Retention and Re-engagement in Care Task and Finish Group, is providing advice on increasing the number of people retained and re-engaged in care and receiving effective medical care, in particularly considering women and other groups disproportionally affected by HIV, which will be reviewed by the ISG in due course.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that HIV testing rates among women (a) return to and (b) exceed pre covid-19 levels.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach to drive forward progress and achieve our goal of ending new human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) transmissions, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. A key principle of our approach is to ensure that all populations benefit equally from improvements made in HIV outcomes, including through testing, and high-quality care for those with a positive HIV status.
While the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a significant drop in HIV testing, we are pleased that services are recovering, and testing rates among gay and bisexual men are now at the highest level on record, with a 23% increase from 2019 to 2022. However, more progress is needed across all groups, which we are targeting through various initiatives.
As part of the HIV Action Plan, the Department funds the HIV Prevention Programme, which annually runs a National HIV Testing Week (NHTW) campaign to encourage those in underrepresented groups, such as women and black ethnic groups, to test for HIV. In 2023, we introduced the self-testing option, which we know is very popular with harder to reach groups. During the 2024 NHTW campaign, self-testing orders from black African women nearly doubled when compared with 2023, and orders of these kits by heterosexual women increased by 39%.
The introduction of opt-out testing for HIV in emergency departments, in the areas with extremely high diagnosed HIV prevalence, is also a crucial strategy to help us identify those living with undiagnosed or untreated HIV. By normalising testing as part of an emergency department attendance when blood is drawn, we help reach communities that are currently underserved by testing opportunities, such as black African and black Caribbean ethnic groups and women, and reduce the number of people presenting with a late HIV diagnosis.
A subgroup of the HIV Action Plan Implementation Steering Group (ISG), the Retention and Re-engagement in Care Task and Finish Group, is providing advice on increasing the number of people retained and re-engaged in care and receiving effective medical care, in particularly considering women and other groups disproportionally affected by HIV, which will be reviewed by the ISG in due course.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released between 35 and 60 days early under the end of custody supervised licence scheme since October 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
End of Custody Supervised Licence began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data, and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released 70 days early under the end of custody supervised licence scheme since October 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
End of Custody Supervised Licence began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data, and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what data they collected on other countries that have restricted smoking when drafting the Tobacco and Vapes Bill.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs society £21.8 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. The latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS and social care at £3 billion a year.
As part of our impact assessment, we reviewed evidence and data from a range of countries. This included modelling from New Zealand, Singapore, and the Solomon Islands on the estimated impact of a smokefree generation policy on smoking prevalence, smoking attributable mortality, and other health impacts. We also considered evidence and data from countries that have already implemented an increase in the age of sale for tobacco to a particular age. For example, we analysed data and evidence from the United States on the impact that raising the age of sale from 18 to 21 years old had on smoking prevalence.
This was in addition to considering evidence and data from the UK on the impact that previous increases in the age of sale for tobacco have had on smoking prevalence. A copy of our Tobacco and Vapes Bill - impact assessment is attached.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of prisoners that were released under the End of Custody Supervised License scheme who were homeless upon their release from prison.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community.
Release under ECSL follows the same planning and arrangements as release at the normal automatic release point and that includes making suitable arrangements for accommodation.
We know that having a safe place to stay helps cut crime which is why we are investing in our transitional accommodation service so prison leavers can have a guaranteed 12 weeks of basic, temporary accommodation to provide a stable base on release.
Prisons and Probation have a statutory duty to refer someone at risk of homelessness to a local authority for assistance and we have worked closely with DLUHC on the design and delivery of their Accommodation for Ex-Offenders scheme.
In 2022/23, 86% of prisoners were accommodated on first night of release, up from 80% in 2019/20.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners were released 18 days early under the end of custody supervised licence scheme since October 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
End of Custody Supervised Licence began in October 2023. Analysis of its use will be based on at least one year’s worth of data, and published in line with the same approach we take for other statistical releases such as deaths of offenders in the community
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, whether she plans to place opioid-overdose reversal Naloxone alongside existing public access defibrillators.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working to expand access to naloxone, and to increase the availability of this life saving medicine. We will shortly update legislation to enable more services and individuals to provide take-home supplies of naloxone without a prescription. This follows a public consultation in which the responses were overwhelmingly supportive of our proposals. The consultation outcome is available at:
These changes mean naloxone can be given to a family member or friend of a person who is known to be using opiates, and to professionals working with people who use these drugs, to save lives in the event of an overdose.
Whilst the government has no current plans to place naloxone alongside public access defibrillators, we are committed to making naloxone as accessible as possible to those who need it. We are therefore considering the feasibility and potential benefits of a range of options, including making naloxone available in locked boxes in public places.
We have also launched a £5 million fund to tackle drug deaths across the United Kingdom, which is funding research projects that are considering other innovative ways to make naloxone more readily available. Further information is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/5-million-fund-to-tackle-fatal-drug-deaths-across-the-uk