Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of (a) staffing and (b) funding for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the context of the agency’s new responsibilities under the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Will Quince
As part of the Spring Budget, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will receive £10 million of additional funding for the next two years. This is to support it to accelerate routes for bringing innovative medical products developed in the United Kingdom onto the market, as well as to support the establishment of an international recognition framework, allowing the MHRA to capitalise on the expertise and decision making of trusted regulatory partners. The Government is committed to supporting the MHRA to meet its statutory obligations.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of staffing levels at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on (a) the time taken by the agency to conduct clinical studies and (b) patient access to clinical studies in each of the last three years.
Answered by Will Quince
The average response time for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to issue its initial written opinion following assessment of a clinical trial authorisation application in each of the last three years was 22.83 days for the financial year 2020/21; 27.45 days for the financial year 2021/22; and 45.94 days for the financial year 2022/23.
The extended timeline for financial year 2022/23 is the result of increased demand to process applications and respond to queries, in response to which the MHRA is increasing resources and improving processes in this area. Vacancies within the Clinical Trials Unit of the MHRA have been filled, including key leadership posts. The MHRA has also recruited seven new clinical trials assessors over the last 12 months and is currently prioritising their training. Moreover, the MHRA is supplementing new assessor capacity with an additional fixed-term resource of appropriately experienced and qualified specialists to support the training and supervision of new staff. The MHRA does not monitor patient access to clinical trials.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will undertake an audit of skills capacity within the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency; and what steps he is taking to ensure that any skills needs are met through appropriate (a) recruitment and (b) training.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has no plans to undertake an audit of skills within the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA leads responsibility for the recruitment and training of its staff. We receive regular updates on the performance and capacity of the MHRA through established mechanisms, including quarterly and annual accountability reviews.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2023 on Question 158778, for what reason the service specification for the school aged flu immunisation programme is not published; and if he will consider the potential merits of publishing this information.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The School Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS) specification covers all school age immunisations, including flu. It is a template for NHS England regional commissioners to commission SAIS providers that evolves in line with latest policy advice, for example, the addition of flu cohorts. Contracts are held between NHS England regions and SAIS providers and are varied to best meet local need. It is on these grounds NHS England does not publish the specification. This is in contrast to the general practitioner and community pharmacy flu service specifications, which are published as they are part of a national contract. However, each year the annual flu letter is published by the UK Health Security Agency and outlines which groups are eligible for a free vaccine as part of the National Health Service programme, including children.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the paper by the Joint Committee on Vaccinations and Immunisation, entitled Advice on influenza vaccines for 2023-24, published on 30 November 2022, whether it is his policy to take steps in line with the advice of the Joint Committee that flu vaccinations for secondary school children should be routine.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation published advice on 30 November 2022 regarding the 2023/24 seasonal flu vaccination programme. The Government is considering this advice and details about which cohorts will be offered a free seasonal flu vaccine in England in 2023/24, and which vaccines they will be offered, will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England plans to publish the service specification for childhood influenza vaccination as part of School Aged Immunisation Service activity for 2023-24.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Ahead of each flu season NHS England confirms the requirements for the seasonal flu programme with all relevant contracted providers. The service specification for the school aged flu immunisation programme is not published in the public domain.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact on (a) uptake of vaccinations among eligible cohorts and (b) number of childhood influenza cases over the 2021-22 flu season in the context of the vaccine delivery completion deadline for the Childhood Influenza Vaccination Programme for 2021-22 moving from 15 December 2021 to the end of January 2022.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Overall low levels of influenza activity were seen in 2021 to 2022, with late season activity peaking in week 12 and week 14 of 2022, weeks beginning 20 March and 3 April, when hospital and critical care admissions peaked but at lower levels than seen in previous seasons. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) weekly surveillance reports is available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports-2021-to-2022-season
The UKHSA monthly influenza vaccine uptake data shows that the majority of children were vaccinated by end of December 2021 available at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/statistics/seasonal-flu-vaccine-uptake-in-children-of-school-age-monthly-data-2021-to-2022
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2023 to Question 151418 on Influenza: Vaccination, for what reason the disclosure of the quantity of flu vaccinations is considered commercially sensitive.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The volume of flu vaccines procured by UK Health Security Agency test is commercially sensitive as it could potentially be used to determine the cost per unit of vaccines. The release of this information would therefore be detrimental in future negotiations with individual suppliers.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that new ambulances are manufactured in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
No such steps are being taken by the Department. The procurement of ambulances is an operational matter for the National Health Service.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2023 to Question 117444 on Medicine: Education, for what reason his Department does not monitor the number of medical students currently training in the UK.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department monitors a number of points across the medical training pipeline for England. This includes, the numbers of applicants, acceptances and entrants. The Department also monitors those entering foundation training in the National Health Service following completion of medical degrees through statistics drawn from the Electronic Staff Record and published by NHS Digital.
However, there is not a single indicator that shows how many medical students are studying in the United Kingdom across all years and all medical schools at a given point in time. To obtain such information it would require each medical school across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to take on a significant and more detailed reporting burden. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own arrangements for managing their education and training pipelines.
However, the following table shows medical courses applicants, acceptances in England and entrants in the UK from 2011 to 2022.
Academic year | Unique applicants to undergraduate medical courses in England | Acceptances to undergraduate medical courses in England | Entrants to undergraduate medical courses in the United Kingdom |
2011 | 21,825 | 6,090 | N/A |
2012 | 21,060 | 6,225 | 7,810 |
2013 | 21,430 | 5,915 | 7,560 |
2014 | 21,965 | 6,085 | 7,640 |
2015 | 19,820 | 6,095 | 7,515 |
2016 | 19,545 | 6,185 | 7,560 |
2017 | 18,520 | 6,175 | 7,765 |
2018 | 19,870 | 6,720 | 8,615 |
2019 | 21,585 | 7,660 | 9,450 |
2020 | 22,665 | 8,385 | 10,460 |
2021 | 27,460 | 8,610 | 10,540 |
2022 | N/A | N/A | 10,655 |
Source:
University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) end of cycle 2021 and Office for Students Medical Dental Students Survey (2012-2022), Office for Students
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