Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many antidepressant prescriptions were issued to patients under the age of 25 in each year since 2014.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Many medicines, including medicines used to treat depression, are licensed and prescribed for other conditions. The Department expects prescribers to always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed.
The following table shows the number of patients aged under 18 and 25 years old, who were prescribed antidepressants, each year from 2015 to 2023:
Year | Antidepressants prescribed to people under 18 years old | Antidepressants prescribed to people under 25 years old |
2015/16 | 312,113 | 2,477,798 |
2016/17 | 332,706 | 2,759,953 |
2017/18 | 346,126 | 2,910,607 |
2018/19 | 367,850 | 3,202,784 |
2019/20 | 393,762 | 3,525,602 |
2020/21 | 406,391 | 3,890,347 |
2021/22 | 437,365 | 4,170,154 |
2022/23 | 448,515 | 4,119,463 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
Notes:
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many antidepressant prescriptions were issued to patients under the age of 18 in each year since 2014.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Many medicines, including medicines used to treat depression, are licensed and prescribed for other conditions. The Department expects prescribers to always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed.
The following table shows the number of patients aged under 18 and 25 years old, who were prescribed antidepressants, each year from 2015 to 2023:
Year | Antidepressants prescribed to people under 18 years old | Antidepressants prescribed to people under 25 years old |
2015/16 | 312,113 | 2,477,798 |
2016/17 | 332,706 | 2,759,953 |
2017/18 | 346,126 | 2,910,607 |
2018/19 | 367,850 | 3,202,784 |
2019/20 | 393,762 | 3,525,602 |
2020/21 | 406,391 | 3,890,347 |
2021/22 | 437,365 | 4,170,154 |
2022/23 | 448,515 | 4,119,463 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
Notes:
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 7 March (HL2663), whether they have made any estimate of the number of camps, including the so-called anti-extremism centres and re-education camps, in (1) Tibet and (2) the rest of China.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government refers to credible external estimates, in particular those from the United Nations, of numbers of individuals in China detained under various circumstances and within certain geographies. For example, the April 2023 UN Special Procedures found "[h]undreds of thousands of Tibetans have reportedly been 'transferred' from their traditional rural lives to low-skilled and low-paid employment since 2015" noting "the labour transfer programme is facilitated by a network of 'vocational training centres', which focus less on developing professional skills and more on cultural and political indoctrination in a militarised environment." As noted in the Government's response to Written Question HL2663, with regard to the situation in Xinjiang, in 2018 the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination estimated "upwards of a million people were being held in so-called counter-extremism centres and another two million had been forced into what the Chinese refer to as 're-education camps' for political and cultural indoctrination."
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to the report of the Gender Apartheid Inquiry Shattering Women's Rights, Shattering Lives, launched on 4 March, and whether they intend to formally respond to its findings and recommendations.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO is aware of the report. There are complex legal and political questions which arise in considering any new crime of 'gender apartheid'. We are considering these questions and consulting legal advisers and subject matter experts.
We have repeatedly condemned Taliban and Iranian policies and actions that restrict the rights of women and girls. Officials from the UK Mission to Afghanistan regularly press Taliban acting ministers to reverse their harmful policies on women and girls. Since Iran's mass protests of 2022-23, we have sanctioned 94 individuals or entities for human rights abuses, including senior decision makers responsible for Iran's oppressive hijab law. We will continue to work with the international community to address women and girls' rights issues in Afghanistan and Iran.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following reporting that Shein is considering listing on the London Stock Exchange, what steps they are taking to ensure that such listings do not violate the UK’s commitments to uphold the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and International Labour Organization Conventions.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government does not comment on individual companies. Furthermore, a decision to apply for a listing is for an individual firm to make. It is then for the independent regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, to decide whether a firm meets the requirements of the UK listings rules.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number prescriptions for fluoxetine and nortriptyline issued in England each year since 2014 to patients under the age of 18.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The tables below show the total of prescription items for patients aged under 18 who were prescribed fluoxetine or nortriptyline for the partial year of April–Dec 2015, and then full calendar years 2016–23.
The NHS Business Services Authority does not hold patient level data prior to April 2015.
This information is extracted from ePACT2, using British National Formulary chemical substance, prescribed in England that are then dispensed in the community in England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
Total number of items issued for Fluoxetine Hydrochloride | |
Time Period | Total items issued to age range (Under 18) |
Part year 2015 (Apr – Dec) | 91,685 |
2016 | 126,193 |
2017 | 129,205 |
2018 | 136,275 |
2019 | 143,271 |
2020 | 147,555 |
2021 | 155,398 |
2022 | 156,324 |
2023 | 149,839 |
Total number of items issued for Nortriptyline | |
Time Period | Total items issued to age range (Under 18) |
Part year 2015 (Apr – Dec) | 1,481 |
2016 | 1,931 |
2017 | 1,673 |
2018 | 1,514 |
2019 | 1,616 |
2020 | 1,599 |
2021 | 1,777 |
2022 | 1,758 |
2023 | 1,915 |
Prescriptions do not state the purpose for which they are written, so there may be instances where medicines are used for other conditions.
Many medicines, including medicines used to treat depression, are licensed and prescribed for other conditions. The Department expects prescribers to always satisfy themselves that the medicines they consider appropriate for their patients can be safely prescribed.