Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies on prevention of the Cancer Research UK publication entitled, Longer, better lives: A manifesto for cancer research and care.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government welcomes the Cancer Research UK report which rightly highlights progress made against cancer. We have invested over £100 million into cancer research in 2021/22 through the National Institute for Health and Care Research. We are working closely with research partners in relevant all sectors and are confident the Government's continued commitment to cancer research will help us to continue to make progress, leading to continued improvements for cancer patients.
Cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage, more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types of cancer and the National Health Service seeing and treating record numbers of cancer patients over the last two years.
Our Major Conditions Strategy will set out how we will improve cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment and we have opened 135 community diagnostic centres offering over five million additional tests, including for cancer.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, by which date in early 2024 her Department plans to publish the Major Conditions Strategy.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Following publication of the Strategic Framework, we will continue to develop the strategy, informed by the Call for Evidence and ongoing engagement. Our intention is to publish the Major Conditions Strategy in early 2024.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Statement of 17 April 2023, HCWS710, on Achieving Smokefree 2030: cutting smoking and stopping kids vaping, whether his Department has conducted modelling on the potential impact of the measures outlined in the statement on progress towards the target of reducing smoking rates to 5% or less by 2030.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Annex 1 of ‘Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation’ sets out the modelling used to forecast changes in smoking prevalence over time based on legislating for a smokefree generation. This modelling is preliminary and will continue to be further refined ahead of publication of a full impact assessment.
Annex 1 is available at the following link:
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether it remains the Government's policy to meet its smokefree 2030 target of an adult smoking prevalence of 5% or less.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Smoking rates in England have been consistently falling and are currently at the lowest rate on record at 12.7%, based on 2022 data.
The Government remains firmly committed to the ambition of England being Smokefree by 2030, namely a smoking prevalence of 5% or less, and recognises that progress must be accelerated to meet this bold ambition. On 4 October 2023, the Prime Minister unveiled plans to introduce a new law to stop children who turn 14 this year or younger from ever legally being sold cigarettes, in a bid to create the first ‘smokefree generation’. This announcement was accompanied with additional funding including £70 million extra per year to fund local stop smoking services and £5 million this year and then £15 million per year thereafter to fund national stop smoking marketing campaigns.
This is in addition to a range of other measures which we announced in April 2023. The measures included a new national swap to stop scheme to provide vapes to one million smokers to help them to quit, and an evidence-based financial incentives scheme to help all pregnant smokers to quit.
We are confident that these new measures, in addition to the actions we are already taking, will set us on course to achieve our Smokefree 2030 ambition. We will continue to monitor progress.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's Guidance for government engagement with the tobacco industry, published on 19 June, what plans he has to disseminate that guidance to all (a) branches and (b) levels of government and public authorities.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has written to other Government Departments who may engage with the tobacco industry to inform them of the publication of Guidance for government engagement with the tobacco industry. A version of the guidance tailored to local authorities developed in collaboration with the Local Government Association will be published shortly.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much money NHSE planned to allocate to Integrated Care Boards to fully implement the NHS Long Term Plan tobacco dependence treatment services in 2023-24 as at February 2022; how much money was allocated to ICBs for those services after the publication of the Spring Statement 2022, CP 653; and whether any, additional funding has been allocated by NHSE during financial year 2023-24 to help reduce smoking at regional and national level.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
As at February 2022, NHS England had an indicative planned integrated care board (ICB) allocation of £65.6 million to fully implement the NHS Long Term Plan tobacco dependence treatment services in 2023/24. In line with the NHS Operating Model and in agreement with ICBs, broader funding allocations have been made in 2023/24 with tobacco dependence treatment allocations forming part of the wider universal and targeted Prevention bundles, totalling £69 million.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered the potential merits of increasing access to eye care services for (a) care home residents, (b) young people enrolled in residential special schools and (c) other vulnerable people.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
National Health Service funded access to domiciliary eye care services is already available to eligible individuals unable to leave home unaccompanied, including those living in residential care homes. Action is being taken to improve access to NHS sight testing services from high street optical practices for individuals with no fixed address.
The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment to ensure that children and young people with a learning disability and/or autism in special residential schools have access to sight checks in school. NHS England commenced a proof-of-concept programme in 2021 to pilot and evaluate a potential sight testing service model. The pilot has been subject to evaluation and will inform decisions about the future sight testing service in special residential schools.
Beyond the provision of primary eye care services, the responsibility for ensuring secondary eye care services meet local identified needs rests with integrated care boards and in some cases NHS England. NHS England’s transformation programme is also considering how eye care services should be commissioned to ensure future sustainability.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to meet representatives of London’s Air Ambulance Charity to discuss their campaign for two new helicopters.
Answered by Will Quince
Ministers have not currently received any invitations from London’s Air Ambulance Charity to meet. If and when they receive an invitation, they will be considered in the usual way.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
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 with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of introducing a national eye health strategy on economic productivity.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
We recognise the economic impact of sight loss, and this is why we continue to take action to improve the prevention, detection and treatment of sight threatening conditions. Furthermore, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has invested over £100 million over the last five years to support research into diagnosis, prevention and treatment of eye conditions.
NHS England’s transformation programme is also considering how eye care services should be commissioned to ensure future sustainability, taking into account local commissioning structures.
Asked by: Bob Blackman (Conservative - Harrow East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on campaigns to promote the cessation of smoking in financial year 2021-22.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 January 2023 to Question 125324.