Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 6 February (HL5236), when they will publish their final impact assessment on changes to the Statutory Scheme for Branded Medicines.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government published its final impact assessment of updates to the statutory scheme on 2 March 2023. A copy of the impact assessment is attached.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the sustainability of a market cap model as used in the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
As part of our preparations to negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry a mutually beneficial successor scheme to the current Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAS), the Government is considering all relevant issues such as the use of a cap on allowed sales.
In the December 2022 consultation on the impact of changes to the Statutory Scheme for Branded Medicines, which included an associated Impact Assessment, we consulted on the scheme’s methodology which is based around ensuring we continue to control growth at a rate of 1.1% and maintain broad commercial equivalence with VPAS. The Department has received materials from the pharmaceutical industry, Trade Associations and from individual companies about a wide range of issues relevant to both the Voluntary and Statutory Schemes for branded medicines pricing. We will be considering this evidence over the coming weeks, and will publish our response alongside the final Impact Assessment.
With regard to increasing medicine spend, the Secretary of State met with industry Trade Associations in 2022 and was clear that, whilst we cannot agree any change to the current scheme, the Government is open to ideas about how a successor to VPAS should operate from 2024 onwards and that we will work with industry to agree a successor scheme that supports better patient outcomes, ensures the sustainability of National Health Service spend on branded medicines, and enables a strong United Kingdom life sciences industry.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to increasing medicine spending in line with the overall increase in NHS funding.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
As part of our preparations to negotiate with the pharmaceutical industry a mutually beneficial successor scheme to the current Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access (VPAS), the Government is considering all relevant issues such as the use of a cap on allowed sales.
In the December 2022 consultation on the impact of changes to the Statutory Scheme for Branded Medicines, which included an associated Impact Assessment, we consulted on the scheme’s methodology which is based around ensuring we continue to control growth at a rate of 1.1% and maintain broad commercial equivalence with VPAS. The Department has received materials from the pharmaceutical industry, Trade Associations and from individual companies about a wide range of issues relevant to both the Voluntary and Statutory Schemes for branded medicines pricing. We will be considering this evidence over the coming weeks, and will publish our response alongside the final Impact Assessment.
With regard to increasing medicine spend, the Secretary of State met with industry Trade Associations in 2022 and was clear that, whilst we cannot agree any change to the current scheme, the Government is open to ideas about how a successor to VPAS should operate from 2024 onwards and that we will work with industry to agree a successor scheme that supports better patient outcomes, ensures the sustainability of National Health Service spend on branded medicines, and enables a strong United Kingdom life sciences industry.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the differential rebate rates in the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access when compared to other countries, including Germany, and the impact of those rates on (1) foreign direct investment into UK Research and Development, and (2) the prioritisation of the UK as a launch market for innovative medicines.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
No assessment has been made.
The Government is open to ideas about how a successor to the voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access (VPAS) should operate from 2024 onwards. The Government will work with industry and apply learning from approaches in the United Kingdom and internationally to agree a mutually beneficial successor that supports better patient outcomes; ensures the sustainability of National Health Service spend on branded medicines; and enables a strong UK life sciences industry.
Within VPAS there are strong incentives to launch new products in the UK in the form of the new active substance exemptions, which allow innovative medicines containing new active substances to set their list price freely and exempts such medicines from payments for three years.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government which financial year or years the additional £250 million announced on 9 January 2023 to speed up hospital discharges relate to; whether this is additional funding or a reallocation of existing budgets; and whether some of the £250 million will be spent on adult social care provided by local government.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The £50 million capital funding announced on 9 January 2023 is a reallocation within the Department’s 2022/23 budget where some underspends have emerged in-year. The funding can be used to provide expanded spaces that can handle larger volumes of patients, for example to expand hospital discharge lounges and ambulance hubs. NHS England has worked with local areas and trusts to identify where the investments are deliverable in this financial year, have the best impact, and fit with their existing estate. The funding will be provided to the individual trusts through issuing public dividend capital.
The £200 million discharge funding announced on 9 January 2023 will provide short-term National Health Service step-down care packages to help ease the pressure on hospital beds. It will be for the local NHS trust to determine the most clinically appropriate settings for community-based care. The funding is held centrally by NHS England and allocated to integrated care boards (ICBs) and has been taken from the Department’s existing 2022/23 budget. ICBs lead on the procurement and purchasing of this additional capacity, working closely with local authorities, in line with local need.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the latest information they have, by financial year, on (1) adult social care providers handing back contracts to local authorities, (2) the number of new residential and nursing home care providers being registered, (3) the rise or fall in the registration of new home care providers, and (4) the number of people waiting to be assessed for adult social care.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The commissioning of care and support services is a matter for local authorities. The Department does not have oversight of contract hand backs, with local authorities being used to manage entry and exit of care providers in the market and having appropriate plans in place to minimise any disruption to services.
The Care Quality Commission notes that from financial years 2017/18 to 2022/23, there was a net overall increase of 79,081 beds. 4,151 care homes were registered in this period, with 3,126 care homes unregistered, leading to a net increase of 1,025 care homes. 8,764 home care providers were registered in the same period, with 3,640 home care providers unregistered, meaning a net increase of 5,124 home care providers.
The Department does not hold adult social care assessment data centrally.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what forecasts they have made of the number of additional (1) GPs, (2) nurses, (3) hospital consultants, and (4) radiographers, they will need by 2030, compared with the numbers currently available, according to the latest available data.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
To support the overall health workforce, the Department has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term plan for the National Health Service workforce for the next 15 years.
The Government has committed to publishing the high-level workforce plan this year, including independently verified projections for the number of doctors, nurses and other professionals that will be needed in five, 10 and 15 years’ time.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they expect the additional (1) ambulances, and (2) hospital beds, announced on 30 January to be staffed and in operational use by patients.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services was published on 30 January 2023 and sets out plans for increasing National Health Service capacity. A copy of the plan is attached.
The plan includes over 800 new ambulances, of which 100 are specialist mental health ambulances, in 2023/24, with the majority of these on the road by next winter. There will be an additional 5,000 staffed beds in 2023/24 as part of the permanent bed base for next winter.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what forecasts they have made of the number of extra NHS staff required to make operational the additional (1) ambulances, and (2) hospital beds, announced on 30 January; and what estimates they have made of the revenue costs of employing those extra staff.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
NHS England has asked systems as part of the 2023/24 planning round to develop and implement integrated urgent and emergency care workforce plans based on capacity and demand assessments in line with local population need. As such, these estimates are still under consideration.
Asked by: Lord Warner (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the link between the use of innovative medicines by the NHS and (1) the placement of clinical trials in the UK, (2) patient outcomes, and (3) employment levels in the life sciences industry in the UK.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Whilst we have made no specific assessment, the Government’s Life Sciences Vision sets out our ambition to stimulate the United Kingdom’s life sciences sector. The vision commits the Government to supporting the National Health Service to test, purchase and spread innovative technologies more effectively, so that cutting-edge science and innovations can be embedded widely across the NHS as early as possible, and rapidly adopted in the rest of the world. We are working with industry and system partners to make the NHS the country’s highest driver of innovation.