Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce regulations for the sale of oral nicotine pouches.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Tobacco-free oral nicotine products are regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. We are reviewing the regulatory framework for these products. No assessment of the implications of the British Standards Institution document PAS 8877 has been made.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
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 implications for his policies of the British Standards Institution document PAS 8877:2022 entitled Tobacco-free oral nicotine pouches Composition, manufacture and testing specification, published on 28 February 2022.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Tobacco-free oral nicotine products are regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005. We are reviewing the regulatory framework for these products. No assessment of the implications of the British Standards Institution document PAS 8877 has been made.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
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 (a) collect and (b) analyse data on the impact in clinical settings of women requiring medical intervention following the use of medication related to early medical abortions at home; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maggie Throup
In accordance with the Abortion Act 1967 and the Abortion Regulations 1991, all abortions performed in England, including early medical abortions where both pills are taken at home, must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days of the procedure. Any complication known to the practitioner terminating the pregnancy, at the time the notification is submitted, should be recorded on the Abortion Notification (HSA4) form. All serious incidents should be reported by the provider to their commissioner, the Care Quality Commission and other relevant organisations in line with the serious incident framework published by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
The Department is undertaking a project to review the system of recording abortion complications data and we anticipate this work will be completed shortly. The review will cover all data on complications arising from abortion including home use of early medical abortion pills. To improve the accuracy of the data collected, the Department is working with a range of statutory bodies, professional organisations and abortion providers to identify additional sources of information that could be used to complement complications data collected via HSA4 abortion notification forms and improve the flow of data on abortion complications between different organisations, such as independent and National Health Service abortion providers and wider NHS health and care services.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of instituting the regular central collection of data in respect of early medical abortions at home with a view to improving policy decisions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maggie Throup
In accordance with the Abortion Act 1967 and the Abortion Regulations 1991, all abortions performed in England, including early medical abortions where both pills are taken at home, must be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days of the procedure. Any complication known to the practitioner terminating the pregnancy, at the time the notification is submitted, should be recorded on the Abortion Notification (HSA4) form. All serious incidents should be reported by the provider to their commissioner, the Care Quality Commission and other relevant organisations in line with the serious incident framework published by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
The Department is undertaking a project to review the system of recording abortion complications data and we anticipate this work will be completed shortly. The review will cover all data on complications arising from abortion including home use of early medical abortion pills. To improve the accuracy of the data collected, the Department is working with a range of statutory bodies, professional organisations and abortion providers to identify additional sources of information that could be used to complement complications data collected via HSA4 abortion notification forms and improve the flow of data on abortion complications between different organisations, such as independent and National Health Service abortion providers and wider NHS health and care services.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to introduce an advanced medical priority dispatch system code specifically for medical and ambulatory interventions following early medical abortions at home.
Answered by Maggie Throup
We have no plans to do so.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
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 potential therapeutic applications of Ivermectin as a protease inhibitor.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Protease inhibitors have an important role in the treatment of COVID-19. Therefore, the United Kingdom recently secured 250,000 patient courses of the Pfizer PAXLOVID protease inhibitor, as well as 480,000 patient courses of Merck Sharp Dohme’s polymerase inhibitor Lagevrio. Evidence for ivermectin as a treatment of COVID-19 is inconclusive at this stage. However, the Therapeutic Taskforce continues to monitor any emerging evidence for ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment from clinical trials worldwide. This includes clinical trials considering ivermectin’s potential application as a protease inhibitor.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
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 28 October 2021 to question 61122 on WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and with reference to the 2017 conclusion of the Independent Committee on Toxicity that heated tobacco may be less harmful than conventional cigarettes, whether he has commissioned or plans to commission further research on the health impacts of heated tobacco products.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The next Vaping in England report published by the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities will include a chapter with a summary of the Cochrane Collaboration’s systematic review of the health effects of heated tobacco products and analysis of data on patterns of use. The report is due to be published early next year.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
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 29 June 2021 to Question 21839 on Coronavirus: Ivermectin, what further assessment he has made of the efficacy of the use of Ivermectin as a treatment for covid-19.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department continues to monitor any new evidence for ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. While we are aware that although some clinical trials have shown positive signals for the potential efficacy of ivermectin, there are no supportive randomised control trials and insufficient evidence to support use for COVID-19. Results from the PRINCIPLE clinical trial platform, launched in June, are expected in early 2022 and we will monitor data from worldwide clinical trials on the efficacy of ivermectin.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will set out the positions the Government will advance at Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (COP9) on (a) e-cigarettes, (b) heated tobacco and (c) snus.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department’s policy position on e-cigarettes, heated tobacco, and snus at the ninth Conference of the Parties (COP9) of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will be in accordance with the current 2017 Tobacco Control Plan for England, the regulations set out in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 and our ambition to be smoke-free by 2030.
The Department continues to support the use of e-cigarettes as a safer alternative to smoking and as a tool to help people to quit and we will continue to monitor the evidence. In 2017, the independent Committee on Toxicity recommended that heated tobacco still poses harm to users but may be less harmful than smoking conventional cigarettes. However, information on the health impacts is limited and therefore we recommend that people quit tobacco use altogether rather than move to these products. Oral tobacco or ’snus‘, remains banned under The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016.
Asked by: David Jones (Conservative - Clwyd West)
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 help increase the number of general practitioners in practice.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement and Health Education England are working with the profession to increase the general practice workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encourage them to return to practice.
The updated GP Contract Framework announced a number of new retention schemes alongside continued support for existing schemes for the general practice workforce. These schemes include the GP Retention Scheme, the International Induction Programme, the Return to Practice Programme, the Fellowship Programme, the New to Partnership Payment and Supporting Mentors Scheme. In 2020, 3,793 doctors commenced training as general practitioners and we are committed to increasing the number of training places available to 4,000 a year.