Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 estimate of the cost to the public purse of crime perpetrated by fraudsters posing as legitimate food wholesalers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) does not hold crime data relating to this question. Fraudsters posing as legitimate food wholesalers are committing theft, which would primarily sit under a policing remit.
However, the FSA has published research on the broader wholistic cost of food crime. Phase 2 of the Cost of Food Crime report was published in October 2023, based on data up until 2022. It estimates the cost of food crime to the United Kingdom economy to be between £410 million and £1.96 billion per year. The report is available at the following link:
https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/Cost%20of%20Food%20Crime%20report.pdf
Furthermore, in September 2024, the FSA published its Food Crime Strategic Assessment, in collaboration with Food Standards Scotland. This articulates our understanding of food crime threats and trends. The assessment is available at the following link:
https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/FSA-Food%20Crime%20Strategy%202024.pdf
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 implications for his policies of variations in levels of positive autism diagnoses at NHS foundation trusts.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism assessments and diagnoses, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
NHS England is aware of the variation between services that provide autism assessments in terms of the proportion of assessments which result in a diagnosis of autism. On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve prostate cancer (a) screening and (b) awareness in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committees (UK NSC). This is because of the inaccuracy of the current best test, the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test. A PSA-based screening programme will harm some men as many would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects, for instance sexual dysfunction and incontinence.
The UK NSC regularly reviews its recommendations, and an evidence review for prostate cancer screening is underway, and plans to report within the UK NSC’s three-year work plan. NHS England is taking steps to raise awareness of prostate cancer, where there are opportunities to do so. For example, NHS England partners with Cancer Alliances, charities, and local representatives to reach people through projects in the heart of their communities. Cancer Alliances have also been undertaking action to alert at risk groups about prostate cancer, which is determined at a local level and so will vary depending on local needs and priorities.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to improve awareness of the hereditary risk of pancreatic cancer.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Colne Valley on 14 October 2024 to Question 7305.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of NHS prescription fines that have been issued to people on (a) contribution-based Employment Support Allowance and (b) Savings Credit in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held. Contribution based Employment Support Allowances and Savings Credits do not qualify for an exemption from prescription charges. No information is recorded on the FP10 relating to these benefits, nor at the time of issuing a penalty charge notice.
Qualifying benefits for exemption from prescription charges are Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit Guarantee Credit, or Pension Credit Guarantee Credit with Savings Credit. Individuals who receive either Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit paid together, or Working Tax Credit including a disability element are entitled to free National Health Service prescriptions if the annual family income used to calculate tax credits is £15,276 or less. Individuals on Universal Credit may qualify for free prescriptions depending on the take-home pay in the last assessment period.
People on a low income who do not qualify for an exemption from prescription charges can seek help under the NHS Low Income Scheme, which provides income related help with health costs to people who are not automatically exempt from charges.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of sovereign cold chain partners on the safe (a) storage and (b) delivery of vaccines in healthcare emergencies.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The UK Health Security Agency has appointed, through a Commercial and Quality Technical Agreement, a third party to provide storage and distribution of vaccines in the event of healthcare emergencies. The United Kingdom-based provider must adhere to the relevant regulatory compliance to ensure this service is safe and ready to be utilised.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support people with anorexia.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to working closely with NHS England to ensure that people with anorexia and other eating disorders get the care and treatment they need, when they need it.
We will focus on improving the performance of the existing waiting time standards for children and young people’s eating disorder services. This will be supported by recruiting 8,500 additional mental health staff across children and adult mental health services.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will set a timeframe for introducing legislative provisions to reform the dental contract.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists.
There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of NHS dental provision in Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. In the 24 months to March 2024, 277,447 adults saw a National Health Service dentist in the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, equal to 36% of the adult population in the ICB. In the 12 months to March 2024, 132,424 children saw an NHS dentist in the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB, equal to 55% of the child population in the ICB.
Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance. NHS dentists are now required to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days to ensure patients have access to up-to-date information on where they can access care.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to defibrillators in (a) Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency, (b) Central Bedfordshire and (c) the UK.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
No assessment has been made on the adequacy of access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in the Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard constituency, Central Bedfordshire, or the United Kingdom as a whole. However, the Government is committed to improving access to AEDs in public spaces, and reducing inequalities in access to these life saving devices. We have made a further £500,000 available to fulfil existing applications to the Department’s Community AED Fund, launched in September 2023. The criteria specified for the original grant continues to apply and will go to applications for AEDs in areas where there is the greatest need, including in areas of high footfall, hot spots for cardiac arrest, and areas that already have low access to AEDs.