Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure a full consultation with (1) environmental, and (2) public health, organisations before progressing with the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Policy on the environment is owned by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and any decisions regarding retained EU law on the environment are for Defra Ministers to take.
Policy on public health is owned by the Department for Health & Social Care, and any decisions regarding retained EU law on public health are for DHSC Ministers to take.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce UK regulations covering food and environmental safety if remaining EU regulations are removed from the UK statute book.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra is in the process of analysing its REUL stock to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Bill, including in relation to food and environmental standards.
The United Kingdom is a world leader in environmental protection and in reviewing our retained EU law, we want to ensure that environmental law is fit for purpose for the UK’s unique environment and able to drive improved environmental outcomes, whilst ensuring regulators can deliver efficiently. Any changes to environmental regulations will be driven with those goals in mind.
Maintaining the UK’s high food standards also remains our priority. HM Government remains committed to promoting robust food standards nationally and internationally, to protect consumer interests, facilitate international trade, and ensure that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the proposed station renewal for Darlington will be completed by the time of the bi-centennial celebrations of the Darlington and Stockton Railway in 2025.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Following close work between the Department, Network Rail and Tees Valley Combined Authority, a Full Business Case for a package of interventions at Darlington Station has recently been submitted for consideration. This is currently being reviewed as part of the process for determining if delivery funding will be awarded for the scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the levels of (1) training, and (2) accreditation, for staff administering simple breathing tests, such as (a) spirometry, and (b) FeNO.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There are no plans to introduce an annual respiratory services delivery report.
The Association of Respiratory Technology and Physiology (ARTP) sets and assesses competence against the standards for quality assured spirometry. The ARTP oversee a national register of those who achieved certification in the performance and/or interpretation of spirometry. Additional funding has been made available to systems in 2021/22 and 2022/23 for the training and accreditation of staff in the provision and interpretation of quality assured spirometry. This process is being supported by respiratory clinical networks.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide devices to diagnose asthma. These devices were selected by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) for tailored support in 2021/22 as part of the Rapid Uptake Product (RUP) programme to increase adoption in the National Health Service.
During 2021/22, the RUP programme produced resources with AAC partners to support successful implementation and improve patient access to these products. This included educational packages for health professional responsible for care to improve knowledge and skills.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce an annual respiratory services delivery report.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There are no plans to introduce an annual respiratory services delivery report.
The Association of Respiratory Technology and Physiology (ARTP) sets and assesses competence against the standards for quality assured spirometry. The ARTP oversee a national register of those who achieved certification in the performance and/or interpretation of spirometry. Additional funding has been made available to systems in 2021/22 and 2022/23 for the training and accreditation of staff in the provision and interpretation of quality assured spirometry. This process is being supported by respiratory clinical networks.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide devices to diagnose asthma. These devices were selected by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) for tailored support in 2021/22 as part of the Rapid Uptake Product (RUP) programme to increase adoption in the National Health Service.
During 2021/22, the RUP programme produced resources with AAC partners to support successful implementation and improve patient access to these products. This included educational packages for health professional responsible for care to improve knowledge and skills.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the universal restart of spirometry testing in primary care prior to the establishment of community diagnostic centres.
Answered by Lord Kamall
Systems have been asked to work towards restoring asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) registers and spirometry checks for adults and children to pre-pandemic levels in 2022/23. The Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) for 2022/23 includes respiratory indicators in relation to the diagnosis of asthma and COPD which was fully re-instated in April 2022.
For people with a diagnosis of asthma, the QOF sets thresholds for maintaining a record of patients with either a record of spirometry and one other objective test between three and six months after diagnosis, and within six months of registration for those newly registered with a diagnosis of asthma but no record of objective tests performed at the date of registration.
For those with COPD, the QOF asks practices to maintain a record of people with a diagnosis on or after 1 April 2021 whose diagnosis has been confirmed by quality assured post bronchodilator spirometry between three months before or six months after diagnosis or within six months of registration, in addition to patients with a clinical diagnosis on or after 1 April 2021 who are unable to undertake spirometry.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they are proposing to address the finding by Asthma + Lung UK that the UK has the highest rate of lung disease deaths in western Europe.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The NHS Long Term Plan proposed interventions which included early and accurate diagnosis, increasing service provision for pulmonary rehabilitation, medicines optimisation, a care bundle for community acquired pneumonia and self-management of respiratory conditions. We are expanding pulmonary rehabilitation into less served communities and improving self-management support for patients with lung disease.
The Quality Outcomes Framework ensures all general practitioner practices in England establish and maintain a register of patients with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma diagnosis in accordance with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines. This ensures regular reviews and monitoring of those with asthma and COPD.
We are encouraging the use of preventer inhalers, inhaled corticosteroid inhalers and reducing overuse of reliever inhalers and short-acting bronchodilator inhalers, which are associated with poorer clinical outcomes. A Commissioning for Quality and Innovation incentive for a care bundle for community acquired pneumonia commenced in April 2022. The Lung Health @home project is working with the national respiratory programme to enable more patients to manage their lung health at home and ensuring they can access the most appropriate support. The project aims to deliver supported self-management and exercise and activity tools for those diagnosed with a chronic lung condition. NHS England and NHS Improvement have also established 13 Respiratory Clinical Networks to provide clinical leadership of respiratory services.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include metric-driven targets on improvements in respiratory mortality and provision of care within the NHS Long Term Plan.
Answered by Lord Kamall
There are no specific plans to do so. However, NHS England and NHS Improvement are updating the NHS Long Term Plan to review progress and state the actions required to recover services such as elective care. Implementation plans will be developed to support National Health Service delivery and new Operating Models from 2023 to 2025, within the existing NHS budget. NHS England and NHS Improvement will work with partners, patient and staff groups, NHS networks and the public to review the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have if any, to amend the Licensing Act 2003 to add public health as a licensing objective.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government believes the existing provisions to consider health matters in relation to licensing applications are sufficient at present.
Directors of Public Health in England and Local Health Boards in Wales have been responsible authorities under the Licensing Act 2003 since 2012. As responsible authorities, health bodies are automatically notified of new licence applications and can make representations based on the existing licensing objectives
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for industries including aviation, which do not expect to return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in the short term.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
As set out at Budget 2021, the Government will extend the CJRS for a further five months from May until the end of September 2021 in order to aid businesses and employees through the next stage of the pandemic. Furloughed workers in the UK will continue to receive more generous support than those in many other countries, as the CJRS ensures employees receive 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to £2,500 per month.
The scheme will be extended on current terms – with no additional employer contributions – until the end of June 2021.
As the economy reopens and demand returns, the Government will ask employers to make a small additional contribution, of 10% towards the cost of paying for unworked hours, from July. As the economy reopens further, this employer contribution will increase to 20% in August and September.