Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the progress being made on the (1) prevention, and (2) treatment, of brain tumours.
Answered by Lord Bethell
A 2018 review of evidence suggested about 2.5% of brain and central nervous system cancers are attributable to modifiable causes. This equates to approximately 119 cancers that year. The majority of these are attributed to excess weight.
Public Health England supports local authorities and the National Health Service to commission weight management services that are based on and align with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidance for weight management. These types of activities may help prevent brain tumours attributable to modifiable causes.
Treatment decisions for brain tumours should always be made by doctors based on a patient’s individual clinical needs and preferences. Brain tumours can be treated using a number of treatment modalities, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as appropriate to the tumour type, size and position. These treatments fall within the scope of NHS England direct commissioning responsibilities for specialised services.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of research being undertaken into the (1) prevention, and (2) treatment, of brain tumours.
Answered by Lord Bethell
More research is needed on brain cancer. This is a challenging area as the research community is relatively small. We announced £40 million over five years as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. The planned designation of Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence will be a major step forwards in enhancing both treatment and research for people with brain cancer.
Asked by: Lord Crisp (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to mitigate the adverse effects of the COVID-19 lockdown for people who are shielding or over the age of 70.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government will continue to ensure support is available for those who need it for as long as people are advised to follow shielding guidance. We know this is challenging guidance to follow and we want to ensure that people who are shielding continue to receive the right advice for them at a time.
From 1 June those shielding may wish to spend time outdoors once a day. This can be beneficial for mental and physical wellbeing for people of all ages, particularly those shielding alone. The advice is for people who are shielding to spend time outdoors alone or with members of their own household or, for those shielding alone, with one person from another household.
To ensure vulnerable individuals, including those shielding and the over 70s, we have put a core support offer in place to help them stay at home where they wished to follow this advice, including delivering over 2 million free food boxes, providing priority supermarket delivery services, providing care, ensuring people can get medicines delivered to their homes and enlisting the help of National Health Service volunteer responders in delivering shopping and calling people for a ‘check in and chat’.
We have also announced £5 million of funding for mental health charities to support adults and children and a further £4.2 million is being awarded to mental health charities as part of the Government’s £750 million package of support for the voluntary sector during the pandemic.