Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that cigarette filter tips are included in the definition of relevant products in the Tobacco and Vapes Bill that are not allowed to be advertised or promoted.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 prohibits any advertisements whose purpose or effect is to promote a tobacco product. The Advertising Standards Authority’s rules state that marketing communications for cigarette filters should not encourage people to start smoking or increase their consumption.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill restates the restrictions on the advertising of tobacco products. We have no current plans to introduce additional restrictions on the advertising of filters through the bill.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of nurses dropped out of (1) all nurse training, (2) paediatric nurse training, (3) adult nurse training, and (4) mental health nurse training, in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency publish the proportion of nursing entrants to undergraduate courses that are no longer in higher education. The following table shows the proportion of United Kingdom domiciled undergraduate nursing entrants who are no longer in higher education 2019/20. The rates in will not include students that have transferred to a course in another subject. Non-continuation rates are not available at the level of specific nursing professions.
| Proportion of entrants that are no longer in higher education |
Young students (21 years old and under) | 4.70% |
Mature students (over 21 years old) | 7.10% |
Source: The Higher Education Statistics Agency Non-continuation rates 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the COVID-19 vaccine programme is (1) resilient, and (2) stable, in terms of vaccine supply and product diversity; and whether they will avoid overreliance on one COVID-19 vaccine technology.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The United Kingdom has received sufficient supply of vaccines to meet the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s current advice for the autumn booster vaccination programme. This includes Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, with Novavax where no other UK-approved COVID-19 vaccine is deemed clinically suitable. These vaccines, which the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has approved for use in the UK, are currently in deployment.
The majority of the Government’s contracts with developers contain flexibilities to ensure that the UK can receive updated vaccines being produced, including the recently regulated bivalent mRNA vaccines, which provide broader protection against variants and variant-specific vaccines. We remain in regular contact with the vaccine manufacturers to ensure the future supply of vaccines to the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the timeline for future Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (1) deliberations, and (2) decisions, on the COVID-19 vaccine booster programme; and whether those decisions will be published in full.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) continues to monitor COVID-19 epidemiology and evaluate data from the United Kingdom and globally in order to provide advice to the Government on potential vaccination programmes. However, as this is an ongoing process, we are unable to confirm a specific timetable.
The minutes of the JCVI’s meetings, where advice to the Government is discussed, is published in an online only format at GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to maximize the use of vaccines that are ready to be deployed in England and Wales this winter.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The United Kingdom’s national immunisation programmes are co-ordinated to improve access at general practices, clinics and pharmacies through working with stakeholders. NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) are working with regional teams on communications to support higher vaccine uptake, including under-served communities; people with long term health conditions; and pregnant women. Those eligible for COVID-19 and flu vaccines include people over 50 years old, health and social care workers and those aged from six months for flu and five years old for COVID-19 in the relevant clinical risk groups. The flu vaccine is also being offered to healthy children aged two to 11 years old and some secondary school children.
From 5 September to 17 October 2022, over 8.5 million COVID-19 autumn booster doses have been administered in England. We are ensuring that COVID-19 vaccination appointments being offered 3,100 sites, including more than 1,680 community pharmacies and 80 hospital hubs.