Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the backlog of breast cancer surgeries, treatments and screenings resulting from the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Health Service is restoring the full operation of all cancer services, with local delivery plans being delivered by Cancer Alliances.
Systems will work with general practitioners and the public locally to restore the number of people coming forward and being referred with suspected cancer to at least pre-pandemic levels.
Sufficient diagnostic capacity in COVID-19 secure environments will be supplied through the use of independent sector facilities, the development of Community Diagnostic Hubs and Rapid Diagnostic Centres, further all cancer screening programmes will be fully restarted.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of school children who have had HPV vaccinations delayed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
School-aged vaccinations, including human papillomavirus (HPV), were impacted by the closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. School-aged immunisation providers across the country are now working with NHS England and NHS Improvement commissioners with clinical advice from Public Health England to catch up those vaccinations that were previously paused.
Whilst we do not have an estimate of the number of school children whose HPV vaccination has been delayed due the COVID-19 outbreak, the priority now is to ensure that all those eligible are offered at least one dose of HPV vaccine, as per the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on allegations that Hezbollah is producing and storing weapons next to crowded civilian areas in Beirut.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We have long been concerned by Hizballah's stockpiling of weapons within Lebanon, in contravention of relevant UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs). We regularly raise this at the UN Security Council, and we call on the Lebanese authorities to abide by provisions of the relevant UNSCRs. Hizballah's destabilising influence only endangers Lebanon and its people.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the article published in The Lancet on 12 August 2020 entitled Effect of mammographic screening from age 40 years on breast cancer mortality, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the breast cancer screening age for women.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is aware of the The Lancet publication of the long-term outcomes of the UK Breast Screening Age trial.
The UK NSC will examine the findings carefully along with other initiatives in this area, which includes the use of artificial intelligence and digital pathology in the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme (NHS BSP). Currently there is a robust estimate that the current NHS BSP strategy is effective in preventing deaths from breast cancer. This involves regular screening in women aged 50 up to their 71st birthday.
The UK NSC also awaits the publication of the Age Extension Trial of screening in women over the age of 70 which is due to report in 2026.
The Committee’s overriding concern is that any significant change to the Programme should result in more good than harm and be cost proportionable.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women aged under 25 were invited for cervical screening in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The NHS Cervical Screening Programme provides all women between the ages of 25 and 64 the opportunity to be screened routinely to detect cervical abnormalities at an early stage, although women may receive their first invite up to six months before their 25th birthday.
However, women outside of this age group may still be assessed by the programme. Under 25-year olds will be included in the screening record if cervical abnormalities are coincidentally found as part of separate gynaecological assessments.
The number of women invited by the programme is published on an annual basis, and includes breakdowns by age group. The report can be accessed at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/cervical-screening-annual.
The data for under 25-year olds for the years requested is shown in the following table:
Number of women invited, by age-group, in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 (financial years):
Age group (years) | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
Under 20 | 53 | 39 | 25 |
20-24 | 189,978 | 189,955 | 189,176 |
Total under 25 | 190,031 | 189,994 | 189,201 |
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women aged under 25 have been invited for cervical screening in the last six months.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The NHS Cervical Screening Programme provides all women between the ages of 25 and 64 the opportunity to be screened routinely to detect cervical abnormalities at an early stage, although women may receive their first invite up to six months before their 25th birthday.
Data on women screened under the age of 25 in the last six months is not currently available. The most recent available data for number of invites by age is for the 2018-19 financial year (1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019). Data for the 2019-20 financial year will be published in the 2019-20 annual report, scheduled for publication in November 2020.
The latest available information can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of 13 to 24 year olds with cancer who were considered clinically extremely vulnerable and advised to shield in England.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
NHS Digital has produced a count of living patients that are classified as being on the Shielded Patient List in England, aged 13-24 years old inclusive as at 27 August 2020, who fell within one or more cancer disease groups at that point in time. The total number falling within one of these categories as at 27 August 2020 was 4,858 patients.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reconcile the different requirements of Sections 143(i) and 185 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 with Articles 1 and 3 of the Motor Insurance Directive 2009 with reference to the 2014 European Court of Justice judgment in Vnuk.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The issue of the impact of the Vnuk judgment on motor insurance in the UK is an important one. We understand the implications on motor sports, motorists and other road users, and the concerns raised by the insurance industry including the Motor Insurers Bureau. During the transition period, EU law continues to apply to the UK through the EU Withdrawal Act and options for after that period will be for Government to decide.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will take steps to ensure that the Motor Insurers’ Bureau is not required to compensate injured parties beyond its obligations under the Road Traffic Act.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The issue of the impact of the Vnuk judgment on motor insurance in the UK is an important one. We understand the implications on motor sports, motorists and other road users, and the concerns raised by the insurance industry including the Motor Insurers Bureau. During the transition period, EU law continues to apply to the UK through the EU Withdrawal Act and options for after that period will be for Government to decide.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take to (a) monitor and (b) mitigate potential safety matters during the trial of e-scooters on roads.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department is preparing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation plan for e-scooter trials which will assess safety impacts. The regulations to enable trials will set requirements for e-scooter users, among other changes, will set a maximum speed for e-scooters. We are also specifying minimum standards for the e-scooters participating in trials. These steps mitigate potential safety risks and we will keep this under review as trials progress.