Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the current NHS eligibility criteria are for CAR-T therapy for both high-grade and low-grade lymphomas.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England funds the use of licensed medicines that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), or the off-label use of licensed indications that have been approved via the NHS England clinical policy process.
NICE has evaluated and recommended several CAR-T therapies for both high-grade and low-grade lymphomas, some of which are recommended for a period of managed access, for instance:
To support implementation of NICE recommendations, NHS England sets clinical treatment criteria to ensure that treatments are made available to those intended by the NICE Guidance. Clinical input helps set the clinical and patient treatment criteria based on the NICE committee deliberations, how the treatment will be used within the treatment pathway, and the evidence base considered by NICE and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which specific CAR-T treatments are available for individuals with low grade lymphomas.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England funds the use of licensed medicines that have been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), or the off-label use of licensed indications that have been approved via the NHS England clinical policy process.
NICE has evaluated and recommended several CAR-T therapies for both high-grade and low-grade lymphomas, some of which are recommended for a period of managed access, for instance:
To support implementation of NICE recommendations, NHS England sets clinical treatment criteria to ensure that treatments are made available to those intended by the NICE Guidance. Clinical input helps set the clinical and patient treatment criteria based on the NICE committee deliberations, how the treatment will be used within the treatment pathway, and the evidence base considered by NICE and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing to NHS Trusts to restore or replace paused CAR-T clinical trials, to prevent patients being left without viable treatment pathways.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to turbocharging clinical research and ensuring that all patients, including those with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.
Decisions about whether a specific clinical trial should be paused are the responsibility of the study sponsor and research team, who closely monitor any reported patient safety concerns and other data that could impact a decision for an individual trial to be halted.
To support National Health Service trusts to deliver clinical trials, the Department funds research and research infrastructure across England through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including on CAR-T therapy.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have carried out an impact assessment on the effect of halted CAR-T clinical trials, and whether they will publish that assessment.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to turbocharging clinical research and ensuring that all patients, including those with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.
The Department has not carried out an impact assessment on the effect of halted CAR-T clinical trials. This is because decisions about whether a specific clinical trial should progress or not are the responsibility of the study sponsor and research team involved, who closely monitor any reported patient safety concerns and other data that could impact this decision.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to continue the Commission for Countering Extremism and the role of the Commissioner after the term of the current post holder ends in July.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We are currently reviewing the roles and remits of various bodies to ensure our resources are best placed to meet current challenges.
As is usual when public appointments come to an end, Ministers are considering next steps and will update the house in due course.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their formal definition of extremism; and how they share this definition with police, local authorities, schools and others in order to measure the scale of extremism in British society and provide clarity to those bodies about their responsibilities and powers to intervene.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The current definition of extremism, which was last reviewed by the previous government in March 2024, is openly available on gov.uk. The definition is designed to support and shape policy, not data collection or operational activity.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what information they have about the five Rwandan genocide suspects named in an extradition judgment and currently living in the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer Lord Mendelsohn to UIN 249920 and UIN HL787, where similar questions were posed.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) War Crimes Unit is a dedicated specialist unit which investigates and prosecutes people living in the UK suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in line with universal jurisdiction and the CPS Counter Terrorism Division has the responsibility for prosecuting such crimes. Criminal investigations are an operational matter for law-enforcement agencies, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further.
I would invite Lord Mendelsohn to consider referring the second part of the question to the Attorney General and the Metropolitan Police for a response.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what explanations they have received from the police regarding the length of time taken to investigate the cases of the five suspected Rwandan war criminals currently living in the UK following the judgment in Government of Rwanda v Nteziryayo & Others [2017] EWHC 1912 (Admin), and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of those police investigations.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer Lord Mendelsohn to UIN 249920 and UIN HL787, where similar questions were posed.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) War Crimes Unit is a dedicated specialist unit which investigates and prosecutes people living in the UK suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in line with universal jurisdiction and the CPS Counter Terrorism Division has the responsibility for prosecuting such crimes. Criminal investigations are an operational matter for law-enforcement agencies, and it would be inappropriate for me to comment any further.
I would invite Lord Mendelsohn to consider referring the second part of the question to the Attorney General and the Metropolitan Police for a response.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what date the Attorney General last received a briefing from the Metropolitan Police regarding the five Rwandan genocide suspects named in an extradition judgement and currently living in the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We would invite you to consider referring this question to the Attorney General and the Metropolitan Police for a response.
Asked by: Lord Mendelsohn (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of infusion capacity within the NHS for blood cancer treatments.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of infusion capacity within the National Health Service for blood cancer treatments. However, it is a priority for the Government to support the NHS to diagnose and treat cancer, including blood cancer, as early and quickly as possible. The Department is committing to this by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to support increased capacity.