To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Rare Cancers: Clinical Trials
Monday 8th January 2024

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding her Department has provided for research that has led to clinical trials for (a) paediatric cancer, (b) neuroblastoma and (c) other rare cancers in each of the last five years.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The information requested is shown in the attached table.


Written Question
Blood: Medical Equipment
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy apheresis capacity; and what plans her Department has to increase that capacity.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS England Specialised Commissioning, via the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinical Reference Group (CRG), is undertaking an assessment of the available apheresis capacity across England, working with NHS Blood and Transplant. The first phase of this assessment is complete and the CRG will define the next phase of this assessment at its meeting in November.

NHS Blood and Transplant is the largest provider of apheresis services and has been increasing capacity significantly over a number of years, averaging an increase of about 10% per annum. There are a number of projects expected in the next 12 months to both increase nursing capacity and the physical space in which apheresis occurs.

Horizon scanning within the advanced therapy area suggests that a significant increase in cell collection will be required within the next three to five years. The MedTech Funding Mandate for Spectra Optia in sickle cell disease has assisted in funding the expansion of services. NHS England is working in partnership with the Health Innovation Network to deliver the requirements of the MedTech Funding Mandate Policy which mandates the delivery of the Spectra Optia Apheresis System for the automation of red cell exchange for sickle cell patients. Funding has been provided to increase access to this technology across the country.


Written Question
Graft versus Host Disease: Medical Treatments
Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that (a) NICE, (b) NHS England and (c) he pharmaceutical industry work together to increase patient access to new therapies for Graft-versus-host disease.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically- and cost-effective use of NHS resources. The NHS in England is legally required to make funding available in line with NICE’s recommendations within 90 days of a NICE decision, ensuring consistent access for all NHS patients in England to NICE recommended treatments.

NICE works closely with NHS England and pharmaceutical companies throughout the guidance development process to ensure that companies can put forward as strong a value proposition as possible. NICE can recommend most new medicines for use in the NHS in England. Health is a devolved matter and decisions on access to medicines in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales are a matter for the devolved administrations.

NICE is currently evaluating the medicine belumosudil for treating chronic graft versus host disease after two or more lines of systemic therapy. NICE’s draft guidance does not recommend belumosudil but is subject to a public consultation and is not final guidance. NICE’s committee will carefully consider all evidence as well as comments received during the consultation in developing its final guidance.


Written Question
Graft versus Host Disease: Medical Treatments
Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to address regional disparities in access to newer treatments for Graft-versus-host disease.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically- and cost-effective use of NHS resources. The NHS in England is legally required to make funding available in line with NICE’s recommendations within 90 days of a NICE decision, ensuring consistent access for all NHS patients in England to NICE recommended treatments.

NICE works closely with NHS England and pharmaceutical companies throughout the guidance development process to ensure that companies can put forward as strong a value proposition as possible. NICE can recommend most new medicines for use in the NHS in England. Health is a devolved matter and decisions on access to medicines in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales are a matter for the devolved administrations.

NICE is currently evaluating the medicine belumosudil for treating chronic graft versus host disease after two or more lines of systemic therapy. NICE’s draft guidance does not recommend belumosudil but is subject to a public consultation and is not final guidance. NICE’s committee will carefully consider all evidence as well as comments received during the consultation in developing its final guidance.


Written Question
Graft versus Host Disease: Clinical Trials
Wednesday 22nd November 2023

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to support (a) IMPACT, (b) AGAVE and (c) other clinical trials for new Graft-versus-host disease treatments.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) have received funding from the Department to set up a process for manufacturing and supplying mesenchymal stromal cells for the treatment of Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). This process has been set up and the first batches of cells will be available for supply from NHSBT in 2024. These will be issued upon request from hospitals under the Specials program but is not routinely commissioned.

NHSBT funded the IMPACT clinical trials network and subsequently Advancing Clinical Trials Ltd (ACT). The network is currently running two trials in the area of GvHD. NHSBT with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) fund research into transplantation and cellular therapy via the Blood and Transplant Research Unit based in Oxford. While at an early stage, some of the projects leading from this aim to reduce and/or treat GvHD. The NIHR has further supported the delivery of the AGAVE clinical trial via the NIHR infrastructure.


Written Question
Poverty: North Wales
Tuesday 21st November 2023

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) adults and (b) children living in destitution in each constituency in North Wales.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

No assessment has been made of the number of adults and children living in destitution in North Wales.

This government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families and has overseen significant falls in absolute poverty since 2009/10.

In 2021/22 there were 1.7 million fewer people in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10, including 400,000 fewer children, 1 million fewer working age adults and 200,000 fewer pensioners. Rates of absolute poverty after housing costs for individuals in families in receipt of Universal Credit have also fallen by 12ppt since 2019/20.

In Wales, in the three years to 2021/22 there were an average of 500,000 individuals (or 16%) in absolute poverty after housing costs, including 100,000 children. This is 200,000 fewer than in 2009/10, or a 6 percentage point decrease.

Poverty statistics for all individuals are not available at the constituency level. The numbers of children living in low income families before housing costs by constituency are published in the Children in Low Income Families Publication, available here.

The UK Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. We are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising bills.

We are providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact for the devolved administrations, to enable a further extension to the Household Support Fund (HSF) in England over the 2023/24 financial year. As with all government spending in England, the HSF has led to consequential increases in Barnett funding, which the DAs spend at their discretion. As a result of the Household Support Fund extension, Wales has been allocated £50m.

With almost one million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting people, including parents, to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2021/22 children living in workless households were 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty, after housing costs, than those where all adults work.

To help people into work, our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. In addition, there is specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus and job seekers with disabilities or health issues.

To support those who are in work, from 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW. In addition, the voluntary in-work progression offer started to roll-out in April 2022. It is now available in all Jobcentres across Great Britain. We estimate that around 1.4m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.

To further support parents into work, on 28th June 2023, the maximum monthly amounts that a parent can be reimbursed for their childcare increased by 47%, from £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children to £950.92 and £1,630.15 respectively. Importantly, we can now also provide even more help with upfront childcare costs when parents move into work or increase their hours. This means that a parent who needs this additional financial help can now be provided with funding towards both their first and second set of costs (or increased costs), upfront, thereby easing them into the UC childcare costs cycle.


Written Question
Clinical Trials
Thursday 16th November 2023

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that (a) new clinical trials have the support they need to recruit patients and (b) patients are made aware of clinical trials as a potential way to access new medicines.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR invests in expertise, specialist facilities, a research delivery workforce and support services to support recruitment to clinical trials. The NIHR Clinical Research Facilities support the delivery of early phase trials and the NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) and Patient Recruitment Centres support delivery and participation in later phase clinical trials.

The NIHR also provides the online platform 'Be Part of Research' which allow users to search for and register interest in clinical trials, matching people to trials of relevance to them.


Written Question
Health Services: Young People
Tuesday 24th October 2023

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with representatives of young people on the development of the Major Conditions Strategy.

Answered by Will Quince

The Department is engaging with several stakeholders in the development of the Major Conditions Strategy including organisations that represent babies, children and young people.


Written Question
Land: Registration
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of registrations for new titles where a previously registered plot has been divided have been completed by HM Land Registry within (a) three, (b) six, (c) 12 and (d) 24 months since 2013.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The department does not hold the information in the format requested to answer question 201322, and it could only be provided at disproportionate cost. HMLR publishes information each month about its latest processing times on GOV.UK here


Applications to HM Land Registry (HMLR) are protected with priority from their date of receipt. Provided they contain the information required for registration, they are guaranteed to be processed. I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 187953 on 14 June 2023 for information about the steps HMLR is taking to improve its speed of service.


Written Question
Land: Registration
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Mark Tami (Labour - Alyn and Deeside)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps he has taken to help ensure HM Land Registry completes the registration of new titles where a previously registered plot has been divided.

Answered by Rachel Maclean

The department does not hold the information in the format requested to answer question 201322, and it could only be provided at disproportionate cost. HMLR publishes information each month about its latest processing times on GOV.UK here


Applications to HM Land Registry (HMLR) are protected with priority from their date of receipt. Provided they contain the information required for registration, they are guaranteed to be processed. I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 187953 on 14 June 2023 for information about the steps HMLR is taking to improve its speed of service.