Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant the Answer of 20 February 2018 to Question 127567, if he will publish (a) the healthy offerings available to staff on his departmental estate and (b) guidelines that are offered to NHS hospitals in relation to low sugar content in vending machines.
Answered by Steve Brine
A fresh chopped fruit option is served as part of the breakfast menu on the Departmental estate. The Department offers a healthy meal option in locations hot food is served. The Department also offers a healthy sandwich meal deal, a salad bar and whole fruit snacks every day in the restaurants and cafes on its estate.
National Health Service hospitals are required to meet the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services through the NHS Standard Contract, and are required to develop and maintain a food and drink strategy which focuses on healthier eating across the whole hospital community, including the contents of vending machines.
The Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services are available at the following link:
In 2016 NHS England introduced a financial incentive for hospitals to encourage healthier food options to be available for staff, limiting the proportion, placement and promotion of foods high in fat, salt, sugar and saturates sold on NHS premises, including via vending machines. This scheme was expanded in the 2017/19 Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQUIN). Alongside this, in July 2017 NHS England introduced a voluntary Sugar Sweetened Beverage (SSB) reduction scheme limiting sales of SSBs in each vendor on NHS premises to no more than 10% of SSBs, by volume.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant of his Answer to Question 127566 if he will (a) publish the names of the representatives from (i) Mars, (ii) Coca Cola and (iii) the British Soft Drinks Association who met his Department on the specified dates, (b) place notes of those meetings in the Library and (c) publish any correspondence between 2017 and 2018 between these companies and his Department.
Answered by Steve Brine
Details about the meetings with Mars, Coca Cola and the British Soft Drinks Association, including representatives attending from these organisations, are provided in the following table.
Organisation | Date | Meeting type | External Attendees |
Mars | 12 January 2017 | 1:1 meeting with Public Health England (PHE) | Communications Manager, Director Global Public Affairs, UK Public Affairs Manager, Scientific Affairs Manager Europe |
20 January 2017 | Large PHE stakeholder forum meeting to discuss data in relation to the sugar reduction programme | Unknown | |
17 June 2017 | Large PHE stakeholder forum meeting on drinks covered by PHE’s reformulation programme | UK Public Affairs Manager | |
22 September 2017 | 1:1 meeting with PHE | UK Public Affairs Manager | |
1 November 2017 | Large PHE stakeholder forum meeting on drinks covered by PHE’s reformulation programme | UK Public Affairs Manager | |
20 December 2017 | PHE meeting with Mars, Mondelez and Ferrero to discuss Treatwise initiative | UK Public Affairs Manager | |
Coca Cola | 17 July 2017 | Large PHE stakeholder forum meeting on drinks covered by PHE’s reformulation programme | Senior Regulatory Affairs Manager |
9 January 2018 | 1:1 meeting with PHE | Chief Executive Officer and Director Public Affairs & Communication | |
British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) | 22 March 2017 | 1:1 with Department of Health (DH) | Director General |
17 July 2017 | Large PHE stakeholder forum meeting on drinks covered by PHE’s reformulation programme | Director General and Public Affairs Manager | |
27 July 2017 | 1:1 meeting with PHE | Public Affairs Manager | |
7 September 2017 | 1:1 with DH | Director General | |
1 November 2017 | Large PHE stakeholder forum meeting on drinks covered by PHE’s reformulation programme | Technical Executive | |
18 January 2018 | Introductory meeting with new Deputy Director of Obesity, Food and Nutrition Branch in DH | Director General and Public Affairs Manager |
The Department does not have a central record of notes of these meetings.
The Department does not have a centralised record of all correspondence with these organisations and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many amputations were carried out as a result of Type 2 diabetes in each clinical commissioning group area in each of the last four years.
Answered by Steve Brine
The data is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with type two diabetes by (a) age and (b) gender in each clinical commissioning group area in each of the last five years.
Answered by Steve Brine
Tables showing the number of people who were diagnosed with type 2 or other diabetes in each of the five calendar years 2012 to 2016 in each clinical commissioning group, by ten-year age band, and the number of people who were diagnosed with type 2 or other diabetes in each of the five calendar years 2012 to 2016 in each clinical commissioning group, by gender are attached.
Disclosure control has been applied to all figures, as per the National Diabetes Audit publication. All numbers are rounded to the nearest five, unless the number is one to seven, in which case it is rounded to ‘five’.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many under 18 year olds had an operation for an amputation as a result of diabetes in each of the last five years.
Answered by Steve Brine
There were no under 18 year olds that had an amputation due to diabetes in the last five years.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (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 plans to recognise gambling disorder and addiction as a distinct mental health condition; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government has not made any estimates of the number of people at risk of developing a gambling addiction. The most recent figures from the Health Survey for England published in April 2018, estimated that 3.6% of people in England were at low or moderate risk of developing problems with their gambling.
The Gambling Commission support a survey of young people each year, which found in 2017 that 0.9% of 11-16 year olds are defined as problem gamblers and 1.3% are ‘at risk’ gamblers. The survey is available at the following link:
live-gamblecom.cloud.contensis.com/PDF/survey-data/Young-People-and-Gambling-2017-Report.pdf
It is not the role of the Department to recognise gambling disorder and addiction as a distinct mental health condition. The International Classification of Disease (ICD) is a system created by the World Health Organization (WHO) for documenting diagnoses, diseases, signs and symptoms and social circumstances. The ICD was revised in 2018 (ICD-11) and now recognises gambling disorder as a mental health condition due to addictive behaviours. The revised document will be formally published in 2019 and as a WHO member, the Government will adopt this updated classification standard for collecting and reporting information related to health conditions by 2022.
Further information is available on the WHO website at the following link:
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (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 estimate he has made of the number of people under the age of 18 who have a gambling addiction.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government has not made any estimates of the number of people at risk of developing a gambling addiction. The most recent figures from the Health Survey for England published in April 2018, estimated that 3.6% of people in England were at low or moderate risk of developing problems with their gambling.
The Gambling Commission support a survey of young people each year, which found in 2017 that 0.9% of 11-16 year olds are defined as problem gamblers and 1.3% are ‘at risk’ gamblers. The survey is available at the following link:
live-gamblecom.cloud.contensis.com/PDF/survey-data/Young-People-and-Gambling-2017-Report.pdf
It is not the role of the Department to recognise gambling disorder and addiction as a distinct mental health condition. The International Classification of Disease (ICD) is a system created by the World Health Organization (WHO) for documenting diagnoses, diseases, signs and symptoms and social circumstances. The ICD was revised in 2018 (ICD-11) and now recognises gambling disorder as a mental health condition due to addictive behaviours. The revised document will be formally published in 2019 and as a WHO member, the Government will adopt this updated classification standard for collecting and reporting information related to health conditions by 2022.
Further information is available on the WHO website at the following link:
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (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 estimate he has made of the number of people who are at risk of developing a gambling addiction.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government has not made any estimates of the number of people at risk of developing a gambling addiction. The most recent figures from the Health Survey for England published in April 2018, estimated that 3.6% of people in England were at low or moderate risk of developing problems with their gambling.
The Gambling Commission support a survey of young people each year, which found in 2017 that 0.9% of 11-16 year olds are defined as problem gamblers and 1.3% are ‘at risk’ gamblers. The survey is available at the following link:
live-gamblecom.cloud.contensis.com/PDF/survey-data/Young-People-and-Gambling-2017-Report.pdf
It is not the role of the Department to recognise gambling disorder and addiction as a distinct mental health condition. The International Classification of Disease (ICD) is a system created by the World Health Organization (WHO) for documenting diagnoses, diseases, signs and symptoms and social circumstances. The ICD was revised in 2018 (ICD-11) and now recognises gambling disorder as a mental health condition due to addictive behaviours. The revised document will be formally published in 2019 and as a WHO member, the Government will adopt this updated classification standard for collecting and reporting information related to health conditions by 2022.
Further information is available on the WHO website at the following link:
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Obesity Review Group last met.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Obesity Review Group last met in January 2015 and is no longer active.
Asked by: Lord Watson of Wyre Forest (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role the Obesity Review Group has played in shaping the child obesity strategy due to be released.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Obesity Review Group last met in January 2015 and is no longer active.