Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the vaccine damage payment scheme at assessing (a) claims related to covid-19 vaccines and (b) other claims.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
All routine policy, including the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), is reviewed on a regular basis. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is currently looking into aspects of the scheme, following recent meetings with interested stakeholders.
Separately, work is underway with the scheme’s administrator, the NHS Business Service Authority, to review processes and make administrative changes, to improve the scheme within the current legislative framework. Formal consideration of whether any reforms to the VDPS are necessary will form part of Module 4 of the COVID-19 Inquiry, chaired by the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Carol Hallett DBE.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will require a review of the effectiveness of the vaccine damage payment scheme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
All routine policy, including the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), is reviewed on a regular basis. My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is currently looking into aspects of the scheme, following recent meetings with interested stakeholders.
Separately, work is underway with the scheme’s administrator, the NHS Business Service Authority, to review processes and make administrative changes, to improve the scheme within the current legislative framework. Formal consideration of whether any reforms to the VDPS are necessary will form part of Module 4 of the COVID-19 Inquiry, chaired by the Rt Hon Baroness Heather Carol Hallett DBE.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the operation of the vaccine damage payment scheme.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care meets regularly with other Cabinet colleagues to discuss a variety of issues, including vaccines.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the NHS of pipe smoking.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Tobacco is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes approximately one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS and social care at £3 billion a year.
All smoked tobacco is extremely harmful, including pipe smoking. Smoking is the main driver for conditions such as lung cancer and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and is a major factor for others such as premature cardiovascular disease.
Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco. As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of pipe smoking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to pipe smoking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of hospital admissions for issues related to pipe smoking in the last (a) 12 months, (b) five years and (c) 20 years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Tobacco is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes approximately one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. Latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS and social care at £3 billion a year.
All smoked tobacco is extremely harmful, including pipe smoking. Smoking is the main driver for conditions such as lung cancer and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and is a major factor for others such as premature cardiovascular disease.
Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco. As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of pipe smoking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to pipe smoking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of hospital admissions for issues related to cigar smoking in the last (a) 12 months, (b) five years and (c) 20 years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. The latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS at £1.9 billion a year.
All tobacco products are harmful. Tobacco smoke from cigars leads to the same types of diseases as cigarette smoke. Research has shown that using smokeless tobacco raises the risk of both mouth and oesophageal cancer. Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco.
As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of cigar smoking and snuff taking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to cigar smoking or snuff taking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of hospital admissions for issues related to the taking of snuff in the last (a) 12 months, (b) five years and (c) 20 years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. The latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS at £1.9 billion a year.
All tobacco products are harmful. Tobacco smoke from cigars leads to the same types of diseases as cigarette smoke. Research has shown that using smokeless tobacco raises the risk of both mouth and oesophageal cancer. Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco.
As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of cigar smoking and snuff taking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to cigar smoking or snuff taking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the NHS of (a) cigar smoking and (b) snuff taking.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Smoking is responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom, and causes around one in four UK cancer deaths. It also costs our country £21.8 billion a year, and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service. The latest estimates from Action on Smoking and Health put the cost of smoking to the NHS at £1.9 billion a year.
All tobacco products are harmful. Tobacco smoke from cigars leads to the same types of diseases as cigarette smoke. Research has shown that using smokeless tobacco raises the risk of both mouth and oesophageal cancer. Data from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Smoking Profile showed that in 2019/20 there were an estimated 448,031 smoking attributable hospital admissions, but we cannot differentiate by the type of tobacco.
As such, the Department does not hold data on the annual costs to the NHS of cigar smoking and snuff taking, nor data on the number of hospital admissions for issues related to cigar smoking or snuff taking in the last 12 months, five years, or 20 years.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to help support the mental health of people working in the companion animal welfare sector.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Mental health is a cross-Government issue as it affects everyone in society, and we continue to work closely with other Government departments in addressing the wider determinants of mental ill health. We are currently working with stakeholders to develop a Mental Health Policy Tool to support Government policymakers to take mental health and wellbeing impacts into account, and address disparities when designing new policies.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the Government is providing record levels of investment to expand and transform National Health Service mental health services in England, so that more people, including those working in the companion animal welfare sector, can get the help and support that they need.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will commission a review into the effectiveness of the requirement under the Calorie Labelling (Out of Home Sector) (England) Regulations 2021 to display calorie information on menus.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Department has commissioned independent research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the regulations, and these findings are expected in mid-2024. The NIHR is also funding research to explore the impact of the regulations on people with lived experience of eating disorders, with findings due in October 2025.