Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ban the sale of single use vapes.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
There are no immediate plans to introduce a ban on disposable vaping devices.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they have removed Covid vaccine access for five to 11 year olds given that recent rates of reported cases in children have exceeded those in adults.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist - Opposition Whip (Lords)
There has been no change to the offer of COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged five to 11 years old. In February 2022, the Government accepted advice from the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) for a one-off, non-urgent vaccine offer for children aged five to 11 years old not in clinical risk groups. This offer has been applicable to children aged five years old by 31 August 2022 and eligible children may still receive this vaccination.
On 15 July 2022, the Government accepted the advice of the JCVI to offer a booster vaccination in autumn 2022 for those at higher risk of severe COVID-19. All children aged five years old and over in a clinical risk group are eligible for a booster dose in the autumn campaign.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the impact on (1) the health and wellbeing of school staff, (2) the manner in which COVID-19 is transmitted in education settings, and (3) the health of children and young people at school, when deciding not to include school staff, teachers and support staff in the list of eligible categories for the COVID-19 booster vaccine.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
In considering the eligible categories for the COVID-19 booster vaccine, the Government is guided by the independent expert Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on COVID-19 vaccinations. On 15 July 2022, the Government accepted advice from the JCVI on the eligibility criteria for the autumn booster vaccination programme in 2022.
The JCVI advised that the primary objective of the booster vaccine programme is to increase immunity in those at higher risk from severe illness, hospitalisation and death in winter 2022/23. The JCVI’s assessment of eligibility considered that while the vaccines offer good protection against severe outcomes in vulnerable individuals, it provides relatively brief protection from non-severe symptomatic disease. Therefore, the JCVI advised that the following should be eligible for an autumn booster dose: all adults aged 50 years old and over; those aged five to 49 years old in a clinical risk group, including pregnant women; those aged five to 49 years old who are household contacts of people with immunosuppression; those aged 16 to 49 years old who are carers; residents in a care home for older adults and staff working in care homes for older adults; and frontline health and social care workers.
The JCVI's current advice is that only school staff, teachers and support staff at higher risk from severe COVID-19 illness in these eligible groups will be offered a COVID-19 booster vaccination, in addition to children aged five years old and over who are at clinical risk.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they intend to recover the cost of NHS treatment from failed asylum seekers.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
Some groups of failed asylum seekers are exempt from charge for National Health Service secondary care under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended.
In situations where charges do apply to overseas visitors for NHS secondary care, including where the person is a failed asylum seeker, providers of that care must make and recover charges from the person liable where this is possible.
Where a clinician considers the need of the overseas visitor to be non-urgent in that treatment can safely wait until the person returns to their home country, payment must be received in advance of the provision of the treatment.
Immediately necessary treatment or urgent treatment, which clinicians assess as being unable to wait the person’s return to their home country, will not be withheld pending payment. It is a matter for the provider of NHS secondary care services what measures it takes to recover costs from overseas visitors that have received services to which they are not entitled free of charge, which might include agreeing a repayment plan with the patient or writing the debt off as unrecoverable.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the Safe Haven Projects, as operated by the Frimley Health Foundation Trust.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
We are informed by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust that five Safe Haven services are currently operating within Surrey and North East Hampshire, providing out of hours support to people who may be in a mental health crisis. The Foundation Trust has informed us that more than 500 people use these services each month, often as an alternative to attending accident and emergency (A&E).
An Independent Evaluation of the Aldershot Safe Haven, Independent Evaluation of the North East Hampshire and Farnham Vanguard: Aldershot Safe Haven Service, conducted by the Wessex Academic Health Science Network, and published October 2017, found that the Safe Haven may have contributed to a reduction in acute psychiatric inpatient admissions by 16% between August 2016 and July 2017 and that for a tracked cohort of people there was a reduction in A&E attendances by 45% for the year after their first attendance at a Safe Haven. A copy of the evaluation is attached.
The Prime Minister visited the Aldershot Safe Haven on 9 January 2017 where she announced funding for mental health crisis cafes and community clinics. The Government has pledged to provide up to £15 million investment from 2018 to 2020 to provide and promote such services.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
Her Majesty's Government how many ectopic pregnancies have been treated in each of the last 10 years, broken down by NHS regions in England.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The data requested cannot be provided by National Health Service region as regional boundaries have changed during this period. A table showing finished admissions episodes with a primary diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy by Government Office Region has been attached due to the size of the data.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes have taken place in the last two years to improve the measurement of babies in the final stages of pregnancy.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Fetal growth restriction is widely recognised as a major determinant of stillbirth. Knowledge to inform the effective identification and management of these babies continues to grow, particularly around what constitutes ‘normal’ growth for each baby.
We are advised by NHS England that it is developing the Saving Babies’ Lives “care bundle”. This is a package of measures which includes a recommendation to improve the detection of growth restricted babies. This includes use of a growth chart to plot fundal height (the distance from the maternal pelvis to the top of the growing womb) and estimated fetal weight, both measures to estimate a baby’s growth. The recommendation is also designed to tackle variable practice amongst clinicians in carrying out measurements. We understand this will be published as a guidance document later in 2016 and will be followed by an implementation toolkit.
The care bundle is now being voluntarily implemented by maternity care providers while its recommendations are tested, formally evaluated in practice and refined over time and in the light of new evidence.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they are giving about the dangers of the purchase of human breast milk and human breast milk products.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Food Standards Agency strongly advises against anyone purchasing and consuming human breast milk or products made from or containing human breast milk because such milk is unlikely to have been collected or stored hygienically and could be unsafe.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many inspections by the Food Standards Agency or local authorities have been related to the sale of human breast milk and human breast milk products in the last year.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Food Standards Agency annually collects information from all local authorities on the number and type of inspections in manufacturers, caterers and retailers but the system used does not go into the level of detail which would allow us to identify the number of inspections related to the specific activity of selling human breast milk or its products.
Asked by: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the scale of the sale of human breast milk and human breast milk products through (1) retail outlets, and (2) the internet.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The experience of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is that the sale of breast milk is centred on a reasonably small number of enterprises, selling direct to the final consumer on a limited scale. The FSA strongly advises against anyone purchasing and consuming human breast milk or products made from or containing human breast milk because such milk is unlikely to have been collected or stored hygienically and could be unsafe.