Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the US Food and Drug Administration's designation of Swedish snus as a modified risk tobacco product, if he will discontinue the ban on snus oral tobacco.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Snus is banned in the United Kingdom under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. The Government will consider reviewing the position on snus in due course.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his planned review of tobacco legislation after the transition period will be based on the harm reduction principle of regulating products according to individual risk to health.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has a legal commitment to undertake a Post Implementation Review (PIR) of the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016 and The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 by May 2021. A response to the PIRs on tobacco legislation from 2010-2016 will be published later this year.
The Government is committed to achieving a smokefree England by 2030. Plans to achieve this will be set out at a later date. We will continue to monitor the evidence base on the latest developments in the reduced risk products market, including e-cigarettes, to assess their risks and evidence to help smokers quit smoking.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for his Department to undertake a review of tobacco legislation after the transition period; and what the terms of reference for that review will cover.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has a legal commitment to undertake a Post Implementation Review (PIR) of the Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016 and The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations 2015 by May 2021. A response to the PIRs on tobacco legislation from 2010-2016 will be published later this year.
The Government is committed to achieving a smokefree England by 2030. Plans to achieve this will be set out at a later date. We will continue to monitor the evidence base on the latest developments in the reduced risk products market, including e-cigarettes, to assess their risks and evidence to help smokers quit smoking.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
What steps the Government is taking to encourage girls to study STEM subjects.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
We want to see more girls studying STEM subjects and are committed to improving the gender balance in computing, maths and physics, where uptake by girls is low. We are funding several interventions in this area. A-levels mathematics students are likely to earn on average 11 per cent more on their salary by the time they are 34, than students who choose not to study maths. Indeed, studying STEM can lead to a wide range of brilliant careers - from computer scientist to Minister for Women and Equalities.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is on course to meet its 2024 target of a maximum four-week waiting time for children and young people who are referred to a mental health specialist.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
NHS England is currently working nationally with 12 pilot sites to test the feasibility of delivering a four-week waiting time for access to National Health Service mental health support. Delivering and maintaining a waiting time across the large and complex children and young people’s mental health pathway is a challenge, and we are proceeding carefully so as not to establish any perverse incentives.
The pilots will test not only what it takes to achieve and maintain a four-week waiting time, but also how best to define and measure this access to specialist children and young people’s mental health services.
The agreed pilots end in 2020/21. Results will then be evaluated. The Department and NHS England will consider the results of the evaluation and will look at its implications for the development and rollout of access and waiting time standards for all children and young people who need specialist mental health services.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the National Health Service spent on cyber security in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The information requested on cyber spending covers sensitive detail about cyber security investment for the National Health Service. In this instance, releasing this information at the level of any annual breakdown may assist in determining the effectiveness of detecting cyber-attacks on the NHS, and could compromise measures to protect NHS IT systems, leaving them vulnerable to future cyber-attacks.
However, in total, over £250 million will have been invested nationally to improve the cyber security of the health and care system between 2016 and 2021. This excludes both investment by local organisations, and wider national IT investment which supports better security such as Microsoft licensing for NHS organisations.
Regarding the steps taken to defend against cyber attacks on the NHS, the active cyber defence of NHS organisations is a local responsibility for each organisation to carry out. However, there is national support and practical guidance available to NHS organisations which is primarily delivered by NHS Digital but supported and prioritised for the highest risk organisations by NHS England and the Department. In the event of national-scale incidents that affect many health and care organisations, NHS Digital plays a vital role in coordinating and ensuring appropriate technical remediation, as part of the wider cross-system cyber security response led by the Department.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
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 that NHS England is prepared to defend the NHS against cyber attacks.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The information requested on cyber spending covers sensitive detail about cyber security investment for the National Health Service. In this instance, releasing this information at the level of any annual breakdown may assist in determining the effectiveness of detecting cyber-attacks on the NHS, and could compromise measures to protect NHS IT systems, leaving them vulnerable to future cyber-attacks.
However, in total, over £250 million will have been invested nationally to improve the cyber security of the health and care system between 2016 and 2021. This excludes both investment by local organisations, and wider national IT investment which supports better security such as Microsoft licensing for NHS organisations.
Regarding the steps taken to defend against cyber attacks on the NHS, the active cyber defence of NHS organisations is a local responsibility for each organisation to carry out. However, there is national support and practical guidance available to NHS organisations which is primarily delivered by NHS Digital but supported and prioritised for the highest risk organisations by NHS England and the Department. In the event of national-scale incidents that affect many health and care organisations, NHS Digital plays a vital role in coordinating and ensuring appropriate technical remediation, as part of the wider cross-system cyber security response led by the Department.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on implementing the recommendations accepted by the Government in its response to the Science and Technology Committee's Seventh Report of Session 2017-19 on E-cigarettes, HC505.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government published its response to the Science and Technology Committee on the 10 December 2018. Good progress is being made on implementing the report’s recommendations: for example, Public Health England will publish its latest annual evidence review on e-cigarettes by the end of March 2019 and NHS England is developing guidance on e-cigarettes for mental health trusts. The Department will continue to monitor progress as part of its monitoring of the delivery of the Tobacco Control Plan for England.
The Government believes in proportionate regulation of e-cigarettes, recognising that they are not risk-free. Through the European Union Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU (TPD), transposed into United Kingdom law by the UK Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR), we have introduced measures to regulate e-cigarettes to reduce the risk of harm to children, protect against any risk of renormalisation of tobacco use, provide assurance on relative safety for users, and give businesses legal certainty. This has enabled the UK to implement appropriate standards for products whilst allowing smokers to move to e-cigarettes should they wish.
While the UK Government is a member of the EU it will continue to comply with the requirements of the EU’s TPD. The Government has made a commitment to review the TRPR by May 2021 to consider its regulatory impact. In addition, as announced in the Tobacco Control Plan the Government will review where the UK’s exit from the EU offers us opportunities to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Seventh Report of Session 2017-19 of the Science and Technology Committee on E-cigarettes, HC505, what steps he has taken to ensure that the regulatory system for e-cigarettes is risk-proportionate.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government published its response to the Science and Technology Committee on the 10 December 2018. Good progress is being made on implementing the report’s recommendations: for example, Public Health England will publish its latest annual evidence review on e-cigarettes by the end of March 2019 and NHS England is developing guidance on e-cigarettes for mental health trusts. The Department will continue to monitor progress as part of its monitoring of the delivery of the Tobacco Control Plan for England.
The Government believes in proportionate regulation of e-cigarettes, recognising that they are not risk-free. Through the European Union Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU (TPD), transposed into United Kingdom law by the UK Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 (TRPR), we have introduced measures to regulate e-cigarettes to reduce the risk of harm to children, protect against any risk of renormalisation of tobacco use, provide assurance on relative safety for users, and give businesses legal certainty. This has enabled the UK to implement appropriate standards for products whilst allowing smokers to move to e-cigarettes should they wish.
While the UK Government is a member of the EU it will continue to comply with the requirements of the EU’s TPD. The Government has made a commitment to review the TRPR by May 2021 to consider its regulatory impact. In addition, as announced in the Tobacco Control Plan the Government will review where the UK’s exit from the EU offers us opportunities to re-appraise current regulation to ensure this continues to protect the nation’s health.
Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will estimate how much (a) anatomical and (b) cytotoxic waste the NHS (i) produced in (A) 2017 and (B) 2018 and (ii) will produce in (A) 2025 and (B) 2030.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The following table shows the information that NHS Improvement hold for the waste produced by the National Health Service in 2017 and 2018. NHS Improvement does not currently hold a breakdown of waste into anatomical and cytotoxic.
The data contained within this table relates only to England. As waste disposal is a devolved matter, devolved administrations should be contacted for figures in those nations.
NHS Improvement and the Environment Agency are not in a position to estimate anatomical and cytotoxic waste figures in 2025 and 2030.
| Sum of Landfill disposal volume (Tonnes) | Sum of Incineration disposal volume (Tonnes) | Sum of Waste recycling volume (Tonnes) | Sum of Other recovery volume (Tonnes) |
2017-18 | 58,152 | 74,730 | 107,848 | 183,502 |
2016-17 | 88,594 | 148,424 | 137,442 | 216,495 |