Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Gulf states on revitalising security and diplomatic arrangements with Israel after the Israel-Hamas War.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a supporter of Israel's normalisation ambitions; and of the Abraham Accords, an historic milestone that bring us closer to the goal of shared prosperity and peace throughout the region. We continue to encourage close regional cooperation, and the need to work towards ending the war between Israel and Hamas, and to secure sustainable peace and justice for Israelis and Palestinians through he delivery of the Two State Solution. We are continuing intensive engagement with Gulf states, bilaterally and in November, the former Foreign Secretary met seven Arab League Foreign Ministers in Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Secretary and I hosted Foreign Ministers from the OIC in London including 5 Arab states.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with (1) the government of Israel, (2) the International Red Cross, and (3) the Gulf states, about the conditions in which the hostages of Hamas are being held, and their health and wellbeing.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The safety of British Nationals is our utmost priority, and we are working around the clock to get them home. Urgent work is continuing at all levels with regional leaders and others to ensure all remaining hostages are safely freed. We are not going to give a running commentary on hostage negotiations, which are highly sensitive and ongoing, but we're involved in intensive diplomatic efforts to secure the release of hostages and working with Israel, the US and other diplomatic partners.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman correspondence to the Chief Executive of Sciensus on 16 October 2023 asking him to review the Sciensus complaints process.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) reports to Parliament directly and is held to account through the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
As the PHSO's jurisdiction includes independent healthcare providers that deliver services on behalf of the National Health Service in England, it is right that the Ombudsman wrote to the Chief Executive of Sciensus, a company providing home care medicines service to NHS patients, about its complaints process. We understand that Sciensus has agreed to continue to improve their complaints handling process in line with the principles set out in the NHS Complaint Standards.
The NHS Complaint Standards were co-created by the PHSO and organisations across the NHS and Government. The Standards, along with the model complaint handling procedure and guidance, set out how organisations providing NHS services should approach complaint handling. They apply to NHS organisations in England and independent healthcare providers who deliver NHS-funded care.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have assessed the difference between a missed delivery and a missed dose of medicine in terms of their policy implications as part of the National Homecare Medicines Committee’s review of national homecare medicines services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to improving patient safety and understanding the important role data can play in driving quality improvement.
There are currently national key performance metric definitions available as part of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Homecare Services Professionals Standards which include definitions criteria on the number of failed deliveries, missed doses and patient safety incidents. Patients routinely hold approximately two weeks’ worth of supply of medicines to minimise the risk of a missed or delayed delivery becoming a missed dose.
NHS England has been carrying out an internal review on homecare medicines services. Extensive stakeholder engagement has been undertaken on revising the national key performance indicators (KPIs) and a transition to new KPIs will begin in spring 2024, with full reporting expected by autumn 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to publish (1) national-level, and (2) NHS trust-level, key performance indicators on missed doses and delayed treatment initiation to monitor the performance and safety of homecare medicines services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to improving patient safety and understanding the important role data can play in driving quality improvement.
There are currently national key performance metric definitions available as part of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Homecare Services Professionals Standards which include definitions criteria on the number of failed deliveries, missed doses and patient safety incidents. Patients routinely hold approximately two weeks’ worth of supply of medicines to minimise the risk of a missed or delayed delivery becoming a missed dose.
NHS England has been carrying out an internal review on homecare medicines services. Extensive stakeholder engagement has been undertaken on revising the national key performance indicators (KPIs) and a transition to new KPIs will begin in spring 2024, with full reporting expected by autumn 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that rheumatology teams involved in homecare medicines services are consulted about possible changes to the delivery, monitoring and standards that define homecare medicines services made as part of NHS England’s desktop review.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Homecare medicines are used by a wide range of clinical services and patients. NHS England has been carrying out an internal review of homecare medicines services to understand the issues affecting these groups in more detail. Representatives from the rheumatology sector have been involved in this work.
The next steps are to bring together data from this review with the House of Lords inquiry report recommendations to shape a programme of work on homecare medicines. Engagement with relevant key stakeholders will continue throughout this process.
The Department is carefully considering all the conclusions and recommendations made in the report and will respond to the House of Lords Public Services Committee in January 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of delays, workforce shortages, and lack of e-prescribing systems, on the health and well-being of patients receiving homecare medicines services.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has been carrying out a desktop exercise to review homecare medicines services. The next steps are to bring together data from the internal review with the House of Lords inquiry report recommendations to shape a programme of work on homecare medicines. The Department is carefully considering all the conclusions and recommendations made in the report and will respond in due course.
The House of Lords Public Services Committee will be updated in January 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with NHS England about its desktop review of homecare medicines services, and whether they will publish its terms of reference and timetable.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England’s desktop exercise to review homecare medicines services is not guided by terms of reference. The next steps are to bring together data from the desktop exercise with the House of Lords inquiry report recommendations to shape a programme of work on homecare medicines. The Public Services Committee will be updated on progress in January and March 2024.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made since the announcement in July 2022 that they intended to raise the regulatory baseline for the accessibility of all new homes to the M4(2) accessible and adaptable standard.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government has set out its intention to mandate higher accessibility standards for all new homes by raising the minimum standard in Building Regulations in England in due course. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local planning authorities should assess the housing needs for different groups, including people with disabilities, and reflect these in their policies and decisions. Guidance was introduced in June 2019 to help councils implement this policy. The Framework encourages planning policies that make use of the Government’s optional technical standards for accessible and adaptable housing, including M4(3) compliant homes, which can be provided where local plans have identified and evidenced a need for wheelchair-user dwellings.
Asked by: Lord Shinkwin (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to revise the National Planning Policy Framework to explicitly require local plans to include a policy and target for new wheelchair-accessible homes of the M4(3) standard.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The Government has set out its intention to mandate higher accessibility standards for all new homes by raising the minimum standard in Building Regulations in England in due course. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local planning authorities should assess the housing needs for different groups, including people with disabilities, and reflect these in their policies and decisions. Guidance was introduced in June 2019 to help councils implement this policy. The Framework encourages planning policies that make use of the Government’s optional technical standards for accessible and adaptable housing, including M4(3) compliant homes, which can be provided where local plans have identified and evidenced a need for wheelchair-user dwellings.