Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 HPV vaccination uptake.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
National Health Service commissioned School Age Immunisation Service providers have robust catch-up plans in place for the adolescent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme based on population need, utilising opportunities from the move to one dose in September 2023.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) works closely with several charities to develop resources that can be used to raise awareness of HPV. The UKHSA also publishes annual statistics to support local NHS teams in developing plans to improve uptake and reduce inequalities for the HPV universal programme. These statistics are available at the following link:
NHS England has improved digital communications on vaccinations, including expanding the NHS app, and has improved access to the vaccine outside of schools through community clinics at convenient times and locations. The UKHSA also produces a number of HPV resources, which are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hpv-vaccination-programme
Other materials are available on the UKHSA Health Publications website in a range of languages and accessible formats, which are available at the following link:
https://www.healthpublications.gov.uk/Home.html
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will provide an update on the status of the recruitment process for the Chief Executive of the MHRA.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is in the process of recruiting a Chair to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The application and assessment process has concluded, and an announcement will be made when all required checks and approvals have been completed.
The process will run in accordance with the Civil Service Senior Appointments Protocol. A Civil Service Commissioner will chair this recruitment process in line with appointments of this level of seniority, and will consider the role of any incoming Chair in that process.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role the incoming Chair of the MHRA will have in the recruitment process for the new Chief Executive.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is in the process of recruiting a Chair to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The application and assessment process has concluded, and an announcement will be made when all required checks and approvals have been completed.
The process will run in accordance with the Civil Service Senior Appointments Protocol. A Civil Service Commissioner will chair this recruitment process in line with appointments of this level of seniority, and will consider the role of any incoming Chair in that process.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will provide an update on the status of the recruitment process for the Chair of the MHRA.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is in the process of recruiting a Chair to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The application and assessment process has concluded, and an announcement will be made when all required checks and approvals have been completed.
The process will run in accordance with the Civil Service Senior Appointments Protocol. A Civil Service Commissioner will chair this recruitment process in line with appointments of this level of seniority, and will consider the role of any incoming Chair in that process.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she plans to announce the new Chair of the MHRA.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is in the process of recruiting a Chair to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. The application and assessment process has concluded, and an announcement will be made when all required checks and approvals have been completed.
The process will run in accordance with the Civil Service Senior Appointments Protocol. A Civil Service Commissioner will chair this recruitment process in line with appointments of this level of seniority, and will consider the role of any incoming Chair in that process.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 prevent patients from being discharged from hospital to no fixed abode.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to promoting safe and timely discharge for people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, to appropriate accommodation.
Between 2020 and 2022, the Department delivered £16 million to 17 local sites, to pilot Out of Hospital Care Models to people experiencing homelessness following a hospital stay. These models provide interim accommodation and support while a full assessment of individual needs is carried out. There are positive preliminary findings, with a final evaluation due imminently. We will share learning to encourage local areas to adopt similar models.
We have ensured that every acute hospital has access to a care transfer hub, to manage discharge for people with more complex needs.
Additionally, in January 2024 the Department published the guidance Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, to support staff involved in planning safe and supportive discharge of these patients from hospital. This guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 help ensure that (a) young and (b) vulnerable people have access to free contraception.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local authorities across England are responsible for commissioning comprehensive, openly accessible sexual and reproductive health services, which includes the provision of free contraception to meet local demand. Local authorities decide on commissioning arrangements based on an assessment of local need, including the needs of young and vulnerable people. Contraception is also widely available free of charge through general practices (GPs).
The Government is committed to improving access to contraception, and reducing reproductive health inequalities. The Women’s Health Strategy sets out our 10-year ambition and the actions we are taking to improve disparities in access to services, experiences of services, and outcomes for all women and girls.
As part of our work to deliver the Women’s Health Strategy we have launched a dedicated women’s health area on the National Health Service website as a first port of call for women’s health information, including contraception. We have also worked closely with NHS Digital to create a new YouTube series on contraception, which has been designed to help answer common questions often found in search engines, as well as more detailed information on the range of contraceptive methods available.
In 2023 we also introduced the NHS Pharmacy Contraception Service. This service offers greater choice in how people can access contraception services. It will also create additional capacity in GPs and sexual health clinics, to support meeting the demand for more complex assessments.
We are working with the Women’s Health Ambassador and others to provide health information to diverse groups of women, across their life course. We know that young people who receive effective relationships and sex education are more likely to use contraception and condoms, and less likely to have an unplanned pregnancy as a teenager, and in later life.
The 2020 roll-out of statutory relationships and sex education in all schools means that more young people receive support to prevent early unplanned pregnancy through learning about the full range of contraceptive choices and sexual health services available. The statutory guidance is available at the following link:
As set out in the Women's Health Strategy, the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Education are working to understand women’s health topics that teachers feel less confident in teaching, and we will work to improve provision of high-quality teaching resources.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 eliminate (a) cervical and (b) other cancer caused by human papillomavirus.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, alongside routine screening, is key to protecting people against strains of HPV that can cause some cancers including cervical, anal, head and neck cancer.
The NHS Cervical Screening Programme (CSP) provides all women and people with a cervix between the ages of 25 and 64 years old with the opportunity to be screened routinely, to detect certain types of HPV infection which cause 99.7% of cervical cancer. An in-service evaluation is being commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Research to determine whether HPV self-sampling could be used to improve the NHS CSP.
The HPV vaccination is offered to all adolescents in Year 8 of school, and catch-up vaccinations are available to those up to 25 years old, those born on or after 1 September 2006, for both females and males who may have missed vaccination under the schools’ programme, providing an additional failsafe. The HPV vaccination is also recommended to gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, up to and including those aged 45 years old.
NHS England’s vaccination strategy sets out a range of ambitions to improve uptake across the National Health Service’s vaccination programmes. This includes building on existing work and delivery to develop implementation plans for how HPV vaccinations, alongside cervical screening and pre-cancer treatment, can help achieve the NHS ambition to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NICE guidance entitled Integrated health and social care for people experiencing homelessness, published on 16 March 2022, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people experiencing homelessness have somewhere safe and secure to recover when discharged from hospital.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to promoting safe and timely discharge for people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, to appropriate accommodation.
We have ensured every acute hospital has access to a care transfer hub to manage discharge for people with more complex needs. In January 2024, the Department published guidance on discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness, to support staff involved in planning safe and supportive discharge of these patients from hospital. The guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
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 tackle disparities in access to medical treatment for heart valve disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the development of the Major Conditions Strategy, we are committed to focusing on the six major groups, which includes cardiovascular disease. As part of the policy development process, the Major Conditions Strategy will consider the full range of health disparities that may be experienced by different groups, including ethnic and gender disparities.