Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that brain tissue (a) collection and (b) storage infrastructure is adequate to support research into brain tumours.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department-funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) invests in research, clinical expertise, specialist facilities, workforce and support services across a range of clinical areas, including brain tumour research.
NIHR has recently announced the outcome of the Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) competition in which six BRCs have been funded to support brain tumour research. The NIHR BRCs work in partnership with other research centres to collect samples for research purposes as well as local and national sample storage facilities to support research into brain tumours.
No specific assessment has been made as to the adequacy of the sample collection and storage infrastructure.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to increase access to early phase cancer clinical trials for brain tumour patients.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR has recently invested over £969 million to strengthen the infrastructure supporting Phase 1 trial capacity over the next five years. This includes funding for the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres, NIHR Clinical Research Facilities and Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres.
Additionally, NIHR ‘Be Part of Research’ is an online service, now also available on the NHS App, to help people find and take part in health care research including cancer studies.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of developing a strategic plan for the (a) funding and (b) other resourcing of (i) discovery, (ii) translational and (iii) clinical research into brain tumours.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department-funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) invests in research, clinical expertise, specialist facilities, workforce and support services across a range of clinical areas, including brain tumour research.
NIHR has recently announced the outcome of the Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) competition in which six BRCs have been funded to support brain tumour research. The NIHR BRCs works in partnership with other research centres such as the CRUK Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence to collect samples for research purposes as well as local and national sample storage facilities to support research into brain tumours.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an estimate of the number of people living with Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia in England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to improve (a) the diagnosis rate of Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia and (b) the co-ordination of care and access to specialist care, treatment and support for people with HSP.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Genomic testing for patients with hereditary spastic paraplegia is available on the Test Directory. Seven NHS Genomic Medicine Service (GMS) Alliances play an important role in supporting the strategic systematic embedding of genomic medicine in end-to-end clinical pathways and clinical specialities, as well as raising awareness among clinicians and the public of the genomic testing available through the NHS. More broadly, the government’s UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four key priorities for improving the lives of people living with rare diseases, such as hereditary spastic paraplegia, which include faster diagnosis, better coordination of care and improved access to specialist care, treatment and drugs.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
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 by the Baby Loss and Maternity All Party Parliamentary Groups entitled Safe Staffing: The impact of staffing shortages in maternity and neonatal care, published on 13 October 2022, what assessment she has made of the implications of that report's findings for her Department's policies; and if she will take steps to support (a) a reduction in the rates of baby loss, (b) increased provision of specialist bereavement care following pregnancy loss and the death of a baby and (c) sufficient and safe staffing levels for maternity services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No assessment has been made of the implications of the Baby Loss and Maternity All Party Parliamentary Group report on Safe Staffing on the Department of Health and Social Care’s policies.
Since 2010, the rate of stillbirths has reduced by 19.3%, the rate of neonatal mortality for babies born over 24 weeks gestational age of viability has reduced by 36% and maternal mortality has reduced by 17%. The progress towards reducing brain injuries in babies has been slower. The overall rate of brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth has fallen to 4.2 per 1,000 births in 2019, 2% lower than the 2010 baseline. DHSC has provided funding to the Avoiding Brain Injuries in Childbirth collaboration to accelerate progress.
In 2022, NHS England have provided £2.26m of national funding to support trusts expand the number of staff being trained in bereavement care and directly support trusts to increase the number of days families can access specialist bereavement provision.
The Government are taking action to increase the support available in the perinatal period, including expanding perinatal mental health services around England to include new mental health “hubs” for new, expectant or bereaved mothers. This expansion includes 33 new Maternal Mental Health Services, which bring together psychological therapy, maternity services and reproductive health for women who have mental health needs following trauma or loss related to their maternity experience. These will be available across the whole of England by March 2024.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, by which date the Government will announce the membership of the National Dementia Mission taskforce.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission was launched in August 2022. We are currently developing plans for the Mission and recruiting its Chair. Further information on the Mission will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, by which date the Government intends to begin allocating funding through the National Dementia Mission.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission was launched in August 2022, supported by an investment of £95 million. We are currently developing plans for the Mission and further information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of the additional funding announced as part of the National Dementia Mission will be spent on (a) research, (b) administration and (c) clinical trials.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
On 14 August 2022, the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission was launched, supported by a £95 million investment. We are currently developing plans for this Mission and further information on the allocation of this funding will be available in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase the level of dementia diagnosis rates in England to the the national target of 66.7 per cent.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In 2021/22, we made £17 million available to clinical commissioning groups to address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses. This included identifying areas of good practice in dementia diagnosis and provision of pre and post diagnostic support, which will be shared with dementia clinical networks and stakeholders.