Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to require medicine and medical device makers to declare all payments made to doctors, teaching hospitals, research institutions and charities.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government published the response to the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review on 26 July 2021, where we accepted in principle, the need for stronger reporting of payments made by industry to healthcare professionals and organisations. The Department continues to explore options to expand and reinforce current industry schemes, including making reporting mandatory through legislation.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to ban the use of animals in the testing of botox.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Cosmetic testing on animals was banned in the United Kingdom in 1998 and household products have not been tested on animals in the UK since 2011, with such testing formally banned in 2015.
Botox (Botulinum toxin) is regulated as a medicine in the UK. Unlike many biological medicines, a validated cell-based release assay has been approved for botulinum toxin in the UK and does not require the use of animals in the testing of Botox. There is no plan to alter this policy currently.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether people who have one dosage of a covid-19 vaccine as part of the Covishield programme administered by the UN are still required to quarantine when travelling to the UK from amber list countries.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Covishield is a two-dose vaccine and therefore we require people to have received both doses and completed the course before they are able to travel to the United Kingdom from an ‘amber list’ country without the need to quarantine.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to extend the powers of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body to include the investigation of (a) cosmetic and (b) aesthetic malpractice.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We do not plan to extend the powers of the Health Services Safety Investigations Body. The provisions in the Health and Care Bill mean that the Health Services Safety Investigations Body will have the power to investigate incidents which have or may have implications for patient safety. Its remit will cover healthcare provided in the National Health Service and healthcare provided in and by the independent sector.
In England cosmetic surgery may only be performed by doctors registered with the General Medical Council. Providers of surgery must also register with the Care Quality Commission and meet its fundamental standards of safety and quality. The Government is evaluating the existing education and qualification frameworks for practitioners of non-surgical cosmetic procedures operating in England and assessing options for improving standards. This includes consideration of whether increased oversight of practitioners performing the most invasive non-surgical procedures is needed and how to achieve a proportionate system of practitioner regulation that protects the public.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether members of the public who received doses of Astra Zeneca 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003 will be entitled to receive a third dose of a vaccination recognised by the European Medicines Agency.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Members of the public will not be entitled to receive a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccination on the basis of having received doses of AstraZeneca with batch numbers 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003. All AstraZeneca vaccine doses administered in the United Kingdom are the same COVID-19 vaccine and have been authorised for use under Regulation 174, having met the strict standards on safety, quality and efficacy.
The decision to accept a particular vaccine is ultimately for individual European Union Member States. The EU has published a list of vaccines it sees as equivalent to those authorised by the European Medicines Agency for the purposes of travel includes all vaccines administered in the UK, including all batches of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
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 ensure that third parties will not be able to access patient data through the creation of the NHS Digital database.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
Through the new General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection, applications must be made through NHS Digital’s Data Access Request Service. Access is strictly controlled and all applications are scrutinised and approved by the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data before access is granted. Organisations using this data must have a clear legal basis to do so for health and care purposes and only the minimum amount of data needed to meet the specific purpose will be made available.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
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 a possible rise in childhood obesity due to inactivity during lockdown and what steps he is taking to tackle this.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England has not made such an assessment as the data is not yet available.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
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 trends in the level of childhood obesity as a result of inactivity during covid-19 lockdown.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Public Health England has not made an assessment as the data is not yet available.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government's definition of a low risk visit in respect of taking care home residents out of the care home during the covid-19 outbreak includes visits to indoor hospitality settings.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The guidance on visiting, which came into effect on 17 May 2021, says that care home residents should be able to leave their care home to spend time outdoors or to go to medical appointments excluding overnight stays, their workplace, educational settings or day centres, without having to self-isolate on their return.
In addition, the guidance says that residents can go on other visits out of the home where an individual risk assessment is in place and they are essential to maintaining the individual’s health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to widen the scope of exemptions for quarantine on compassionate grounds to include people who have recently suffered a bereavement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have no current plans to do so. However, it is possible to request permission to leave managed quarantine for a limited period if a close family member or member of an individual’s household is dying. It is also possible to request permission to attend a funeral.