Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to take steps to mitigate the impact of advertising, promotion and placement restrictions on products that are high in fat, salt and sugar on businesses and jobs in the food and drink manufacturing industry.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The impact assessments for restricting promotions and further advertising restrictions for products high in fat, salt and sugar show a positive net present value for each policy, meaning the health benefits outweigh the costs to business and Government.
Following feedback in response to the public consultations on specific policy proposals on the promotions and placement policy, we have extended the implementation period to October 2022 and included an exemption for micro and small businesses and exempted stores below 185.8 square metres from the location restrictions. On the new advertising restrictions, we have included an exemption for small and medium businesses, brand advertising is out of scope and the online restrictions are limited to paid-for advertising, meaning owned media is out of scope.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy reduce covid-19 restrictions for care homes.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
We regularly review and update guidance to ensure it is necessary and proportionate, considering clinical advice and priorities such as maintaining safe staffing levels and ensuring residents have meaningful contact with loved ones. The restrictions are currently in place to keep care home residents safe and will be removed as soon as it is safe to do so.
We are currently reviewing our guidance in light of the lifting ‘Plan B’ measures and expect to publish updated advice shortly.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimates his Department has made of the number of NHS and social care staff who may lose their employment as a result of the introduction of compulsory covid-19 vaccination in that sector.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Decisions on the dismissal of unvaccinated workers, rather than redeployment, if an option, or unpaid leave, will be for individual employers, therefore no specific estimate has been in the Department’s the impact assessment. The impact assessment estimates the number of workers who may remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 at the end of the 12-week grace period and are not medically exempt. This estimated to be 73,000 for National Health Service staff and 38,000 for social care workers in scope. The impact assessment is available at the following link:
Actual figures will depend on individual decisions and the positive choice to take up the offer of COVID-19 vaccination. The Government is focussed on improving vaccine uptake within the health and care workforce and the numbers of vaccinated staff are increasing. There are now 75,000 additional staff working in the NHS who have received a first dose of the vaccine since September.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the diagnosis of Hyperparathyroidism.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There is National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance available on the diagnosis, assessment and initial management of hyperparathyroidism in order to support clinicians when a patient presents with possible symptoms. Guidance on diagnostic testing in primary care includes measuring albumin-adjusted serum calcium and measuring parathyroid hormone. Further details can be found at the following link: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng132
NICE updates guidance regularly and promotes it via its website, newsletters and other media. NICE published its current guidance on hyperparathyroidism in 2019.
There are no current plans to update the guidance published by NICE, which includes diagnosis, assessment and initial management of primary hyperparathyroidism. We would expect patients presenting with symptoms consistent with Primary Hyperparathyroidism to be treated according to clinical need and in line with current guidance.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled National Food Strategy: part one, published in July 2021, what plans his Department has to engage with the food and drink manufacturing industry ahead of publication of the Government’s Food Strategy White Paper.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department plans to engage with the food and drink manufacturing industry where appropriate. We will also engage with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as it develops its white paper on the National Food Strategy.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of PFI repayments on the budget of the Sherwood Forest Hospital Trust; and what support is available to help the Trust with those repayments.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Sherwood Forest Hospital Trust has submitted a balanced financial plan, which takes into account its Private Finance Initiative (PFI) payments, for the first half of the year. Officials from the Department’s PFI team are working closely with the Trust and NHS England and NHS Improvement to support their activities to manage the contract effectively.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2021 to Question 16206 on Coronavirus: Disease Control, if he will publish the first quarterly report by the University of St Andrews on the progress of the trials on evaluating the efficacy of viricidal Far-UVC light technology and its ability to inactivate virus in droplets, aerosols and on surfaces in simulated public locations.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The quarterly report is intended for future publication alongside the final report on the trials in spring 2022.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2021 to Question 10614 on Coronavirus: Disease Control, how representatives of industry can participate in such efficacy trials; and what steps (a) his Department and (b) the Health and Safety Executive is taking to explore the potential merits of using (i) photohydroionisation and (ii) other technologies to decontaminate single use FFP3 masks to extend their use.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
At the start of 2020, a review of technologies to decontaminate single use personal protective equipment (PPE) was undertaken. UVC was among the technologies assessed as it is used for sterilisation of pathogens in other settings. However, there are no regulatory approvals for UVC in healthcare settings, so HPV was selected for the pilot phase. This pilot found HPV was not effective, so further testing was stood down.
Given the resilience we have built through on-shore production of single use PPE and the piloting of reusable PPE, there are no current plans for further investigative work.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the ability of hydroxyl free radical air purification technologies to prevent the primary cause of covid-19 transmission via aerosol and water droplets.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Innovation and Partnerships team NHS Test and Trace concluded that there is a limited evidence base on the effectiveness of air cleaners which use hydroxy radicals as a method of purification against COVID-19. They also found that these cleaners may generate undesirable secondary chemical products that could lead to health effects such as respiratory or skin irritation.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support people whose mental health has deteriorated as a result of (a) the covid-19 outbreak and (b) having contracted long covid.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We published ‘COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing recovery action plan’, to ensure that we have the right support in place this year to respond to the impact of the pandemic on mental health and those affected by ‘long’ COVID-19.
NHS England and NHS Improvement’s ‘Long COVID: the NHS plan for 2021/22’ states that those with ‘long’ COVID-19 who are experiencing persistent mental health problems such as depression, anxiety or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be considered for referral to an Improving Access to Psychological Therapy service. Referral into other specialist mental health services should be considered where adults or children and young people present with serious mental illness. Psychologists should be part of the multidisciplinary rehabilitation team, providing individual and group input and advice to other staff.