Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Barnett Consquentials are for (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland of his Budget 2021 announcement on funding for the Thalidomide Health Grant Renewal.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
At Budget 2021 a lifetime commitment was announced to continue the Thalidomide Health Grant in England once the existing funding commitment expires in 2023-24.
The devolved administrations have already received Barnett consequentials in the usual way for any funding provided to the Department of Health and Social Care at previous fiscal events and spending reviews up to 2021-22.
For 2022-23 onwards, the devolved administrations will receive funding through the Barnett formula at the upcoming spending review and future fiscal events. The government is committed to engaging closely with them to ensure all recipients benefit from this funding.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when a decision is planned to be made on renewing the Thalidomide Health Grant.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The current multi-year settlement continues for a further three years running until the end of the 2022/23 financial year. Officials are continuing to meet with the Thalidomide Trust to discuss ongoing health needs after the end of the current Grant.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 engage with (a) representatives of people affected by thalidomide and (b) other stakeholders as part of his Department's consultation on Distributing vaccines and treatments for covid-19 and flu, announced on 28 August 2020.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department’s public consultation from 28 August to 18 September proposed changes to the Human Medicine Regulations and welcomed views from a wide variety of stakeholders. The response to consultation, which has now closed, will be issued in due course.
As part of the consultation process, the Department, in collaboration with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, held a number of meetings with health and social care professional bodies and pharmaceutical industry representatives. The Department invited views from a wide range of organisations, including patient groups, to respond to the consultation.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to renew the thalidomide health grant in April 2023.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
While we are unable to take commit future funds at this time, ahead of the forthcoming Spending Review, we remain committed to supporting thalidomiders to live a full and independent life. We are working closely with the Thalidomide Trust to consider how thalidomiders can be best be supported in the future.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will provide an update on the status of the Thalidomide Health Grant; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to meeting the additional health needs of thalidomiders and to give them the same opportunities that others enjoy. The provision of the Thalidomide Health Grant is a central element of this. The current multi-year settlement continues for a further three years running until the end of the 2022/23 financial year.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 9 September 2019 to Question 286835 on Thalidomide, what his timetable is for considering evidence from the Thalidomide Trust on the continuation of the health grant for thalidomide survivors; and what plans he has for discussions with that Trust on the continuation of that grant.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Officials are in ongoing discussion with the Thalidomide Trust and hold regular meetings.
Further discussions with the Thalidomide Trust are due to take place later this year and we expect to discuss how those suffering from the effects of thalidomide can be best supported in future and consider arrangements after 2022 when the present 10-year grant is due to end.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to renew the health grant for thalidomide survivors in April 2023.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to meeting the additional health needs of thalidomide survivors and to giving them the same opportunities that others enjoy. The current health grant is a central element of this. We will be drawing on evidence in due course from the Thalidomide Trust regarding the value and benefits of the grant when considering arrangements for when the current 10 year grant ends in 2023. Future funding decisions will be undertaken as part of the appropriate Spending Review process in due course.
Asked by: Alex Chalk (Conservative - Cheltenham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a national parking exemption badge to assist people (a) Thalidomide and (b) other disabilities that have difficulties in using the clock system on Blue Badges.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Department has assisted local authorities by providing guidance to local authorities who may want to consider issuing an exemption letter to the Blue Badge holder which would clarify the position in the event of a Penalty Charge Notice being issued. Blue Badge holders affected with upper limb disabilities eg. Thalidomide can use marked disabled bays on-street without needing to display a parking clock alongside their Blue Badge.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to renew the health grant scheme for thalidomide survivors beyond 2022-23.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The future of budgets outside of the NHS England resource settlement will be confirmed later this year at Spending Review 2019, and as part of that process, we will be considering how thalidomiders can be best supported in future.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure the (a) impartiality and (b) independence of panels members on the Commission on Human Medicines’ independent scientific review of the publication by Professor Carl Heneghan into hormone pregnancy tests.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Since publication of the report of the Commission on Human Medicines Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests (HPTs) the Government has committed to review any important new evidence that arises. In response to publication of the study by Heneghan et al. the Commission on Human Medicines convened an Expert Group to advise on the suitability and robustness of the methodology (including the selection and application of the data quality score) and any clinical implications.
To ensure impartiality none of the members of the Group was involved in the previous review by the Expert Working Group on HPTs. A specific conflict of interest policy was developed and all participants were required to complete and sign a declaration of interests form. Participants were asked to declare personal or non-personal interests in the companies who marketed HPTs or whose predecessors marketed them, current or previous involvement in any studies or reviews on HPTs, the expression in public of a strong opinion about HPTs or any of the companies that produced them, and direct or indirect involvement with, or peer review of, the publication by Heneghan et al. The conflict of interest policy and declarations of participants will be made public in due course.
For complete transparency the meeting was observed by the Chair of the Association for Children Damaged by HPTs, an advocate for those affected by thalidomide, a Lay representative and a representative from the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review.
In parallel, the European Medicines Agency is conducting an independent review of the publication by Heneghan et al. Both reviews are ongoing, and we expect the conclusions to be made public within a month of their completion, likely to be May 2019.