Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what controls and penalties are in place to ensure that providers of medical assessors for social security benefits maintain high standards of accuracy and integrity; and on how many occasions any such controls or penalties have been used since June 2018.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The department is committed to ensuring claimants receive high quality assessments. We set our assessment providers challenging targets and monitor performance closely against a range of measures including through independent audit to improve accuracy and decision making. Contractual remedies are in place if assessment providers fail to deliver against the service standards.
Contractual remedies for underperformance against a range of service levels are recovered through service credit mechanisms and through deductions of payments (a ‘No Pay’ mechanism). The extent of underperformance and application of related mechanisms varies significantly and the regularity of such remedies should not be seen as a measure of overall performance.
In relation to the HDAS contract covering Work Capability Assessments, service credits (the contractual remedy for SC1 – Quality) have been applied in 12 out of the 14 months from June 2018 to July 2019 (the date of the most recent statistical information available).
In relation to the Personal Independence Payment contracts, “No Pay” (the contractual remedy for SC1 – Quality) has been applied in one or more Lots in each month from June 18 to June 19 (the date of the most recent statistical information available).
Below is the breakdown of the totals by Lot:
Lot 1 – No pay was applied to SC1 in 8 of those months
Lot 2 – No pay was applied to SC1 in 5 of those months
Lot 3 – No pay was applied to SC1 in 11 of those months.
Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford on 10 July (HL16834), what steps the Ministry of Defence has taken to address the concerns of the European Medicines Agency Pharmacovigilance Assessment Committee 2014 report on the toxicity of mefloquine (Lariam); and if they have not taken any such steps, why not.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Anti-malarial drugs are prescribed to Service personnel with the UK product information leaflet. For mefloquine, this reflects the recommendations of the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee of the European Medicines Agency.
All anti-malarial drugs have contraindications and a side effect profile which can be found in the British National Formulary or online at the Electronic Medicines Compendium. It is Ministry of Defence policy that healthcare professionals undertake a health risk assessment and to warn patients of the possible side effects of any anti-malarial drug.
Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will place a copy of the World Health Organisation Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety 2019 review of HPV vaccine safety in the Library of the House.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
A meeting was held by the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) on 5 to 6 June 2019. However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is not aware of any formal review of human papillomavirus vaccine safety published by GACVS in 2019.
Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risks to the neurological development of (1) foetuses, and (2) new-born children, of exposure to polyurethane mattresses treated with chlorinated phosphate flame retardants.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment has considered the evidence on the potential effects of chlorinated and non-chlorinated phosphate flame retardants from all exposure sources, in general. The Committee is preparing a statement on phosphate-based flame retardants and the potential for neurodevelopmental toxicity. It is expected that the statement will be published in summer 2019.
Chlorinated organophosphorous flame retardants are regulated under the European Union REACH (Restriction, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) regime. The United Kingdom has been proactive in supporting the regulation of flame retardants through REACH. The European Chemicals Agency has announced an intention to restrict a number of chlorinated flame retardants. It is expected that the restriction proposal will be submitted in July 2019, followed by a public consultation.
Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have assessed the environmental risks of disposing of polyurethane used in furniture which has been treated with tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCIPP).
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCIPP) is also known by its regulatory process name, tris (2-chloro-1-methylethyl) phosphate (TCCP).
The Environment Agency worked with chemical authorities in the Republic of Ireland to initially assess the risks of TCPP in 2008. The potential environmental and human health risks of TCPP in products and other objects are currently being considered by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and European Union member state scientists. Subsequently, building on a greater body of evidence, the ECHA, supported by Danish and German work are evaluating the properties of this substance and considering a legal restriction on it.
Further information on this is expected soon and will help identify the chemical properties and environmental risks from TCPP in products like furniture.
Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the European Medicines Agency Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee’s 2014 report on the toxicity of mefloquine (Larium).
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
At its meeting in February 2014, the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) of the European Medicines Agency recommended that the product information for mefloquine (Lariam) be amended to state that neuropsychiatric adverse reactions may persist for months, or longer, even after discontinuation of the drug. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) accepted the recommendations and implemented the advice of the PRAC, which is reflected in the United Kingdom product information for mefloquine. In addition, the MHRA has since taken further action to ensure that these risks are adequately conveyed to UK prescribers and patients in the form of improved checklists for healthcare professionals and a patient alert card.
Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the health and wellbeing of all participants in the Surgeon-General’s 2016–17 research study on anti-malarial chemoprophylaxis (Ref: 713/MoDREC/15) was monitored to ensure that all adverse events occurring during the study were reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA); whether participants have been monitored following the study to ensure that any adverse events that have occurred since are being reported to the MHRA; and what assessment they have made of whether suitable treatment is available to those participants suffering adverse events.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Adverse events are reported to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) using the Yellow card scheme and can be undertaken by a healthcare professional or the individual experiencing the adverse effect. The demographics required by the Yellow card scheme do not include the occupation of the subject, so military personnel are not uniquely identified.
The aims of the "713/MoDREC/15" study do not include assessing whether individuals or their healthcare professional reported side effects to the MHRA or to follow-up whether any person experiencing side effects required any form of treatment, including an assessment of whether suitable treatment was available. Data collated in the study is self-reported by individuals and any symptoms reported may not necessarily be related to the anti-malarial taken.
Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the publication of the study on the International Life Sciences Institute "Are industry-funded charities promoting “advocacy-led studies” or “evidence-based science”?, whether they classify the International Life Sciences Institute as an industry lobby group or a scientific health charity.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Department funds research via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR does not itself classify any organisation in terms of charitable status or lobby group. The NIHR regards a charity as a specific type of voluntary organisation which must conform to the regulations set out in charity law particularly the Charities Act 2011. Charity is a legal status for an organisation, not a legal form or organisational structure.
Any organisation which considers that it can carry out high-quality clinical, applied health or social care research is likely to be eligible for Departmental, NIHR-funded research programmes, either directly or with a partner. There are specific guidance documents setting out eligibility criteria for the NIHR’s programmes which include information on partnership working, funding mechanism and contractual obligations including reporting and disclosure of conflicts of interest.
Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to approve the appointment of a Chief Executive for the Food Standards Agency; and what has been the cause of the delay.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The appointment is subject to the approval process which governs the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles. An announcement will be made once that process has concluded.
Asked by: Countess of Mar (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 4 June (HL15892), why, if the terms DecaBDE and DecaPBDE are interchangeable, DecaBDE has been banned whilst production of DecaPBDE continues.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
DecaBDE refers to Decabromodiphenyl Ether, a substance which falls under a wider group of chemicals known as Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs). DecaBDE has not been produced in the UK since the late 1990s. DecaPBDE is not a term that is generally used to describe this or any other substance and no such substance is produced in the UK.